A Day in Amman

Today's writer Tim (in foreground)

Friday, June 17, 2011

by Tim Plowman

Today, we stayed in Amman and went to 2 museums. We went to the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts and had a "behind the scenes" tour of the upcoming Jordan Museum. The Jordan National Gallery of Arts had works by artists from Jordan, and other Arab and Muslim countries, and was split into 2 buildings. In the first building, one of my favorite pieces of art was called Sand Sculpture, and was one of those boxes with holes where sand falls through. The most interestinng thing about it was that you could turn it when all the sand fell to the bottom. Another interesting thing was that it had different

sections in it and it seemed to make a mountain shape at the bottom. An idea I had about it was to put 3 different color sands in it and see the colors blend. The second building had much more artwork than the first building, but in my opinion, it didn't have any as memorable as the Sand Sculpture.

Faris Nimry, Ed, & Mark - manager of Guiding Star Tours

Dan, at the bazaar

The Jordan Museum has not opened yet. It is scheduled to open by August. So we were given a "behind the scenes" tour by  Executive Director Faris Nimry. It is supposed to explain the country of Jordan from the Stone Age to the Modern Age. It starts out with the fact of how humans are unique creatures. It is going to have several interactive exhibits and will have great backgrounds and displays. One of the biggest exhibits the museum will have is the Copper Scroll. The Copper Scroll is one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which held writings from biblical times that we use to understand the Bible. The Copper Scroll is said to contain a writings about hidden treasure.  If I could go back there in August, I would because they are going to have a "thousand and one" inventions exhibit--- and to find the location of the hidden treasure!

Amman's mountain city architecture

After lunch, we went shoping in a street bazaar. There wasn't anything that I wanted except this interesting food that was a french fry on a stick. It was a potato that is circle sliced in a machine in one piece and then skewered by a stick, fried, and eaten like a shish-ke-bob.  Good, good, good!