One of my favorite things to do when traveling in Essays

One of my favorite things to do when traveling in a new city is to visit the museums. I have never been to a city that did not offer the usual museum fare, usually in the form of the "Anytown Art Museum", or the "Anytown Museum of Natural History". While these types of museums house some incredible artifacts, and I do visit them often, I also like to seek out museums of a more unusual sort. Museums are mostly the same just about everywhere you go, both in the United States and Europe. They offer the visitor a glimpse into the past culture of any given city or country by displaying relics found throughout the world. But there are also many museums that showcase artifacts of the culture in a much more specific way. Some fine examples of these kinds of museums include the Pez Museum, close to San Francisco, dedicated to the little candy dispenser, the Muzeum hracek in Prague, dedicated to toys of the world, both past and present, the Dungeon, a history of Medieval torture, also in Prague, and the Liberace Museum in Las Vegas, dedicated to all things Liberace--and I mean all things. The Pez Museum is not actually in San Francisco, but is located south of the city in a town called Burlingame. If you are in the Bay Area for any reason, do not miss this museum! Remember when you were a little kid, and you loved to collect Pez dispensers? Well, times have changed, and now Pez c ollections mean big money, and big business. The most expensive Pez dispenser to date is the short lived Mr. Potato Head dispenser, complete with a make-it-yourself face. This Pezsells for $5,000 at auction! This museum contains literally hundreds of Pez Dispensers, collected since their inception back in the Fifties. While Pez may not compare to a Rodin sculpture in terms of being considered classical art, obviously there are some people out there who appreciate the finer nuances of a mere candy dispenser. Toy museums abound throughout the world. I have been lucky enough to have visited two toy museums in my life, both in Europe. The first one was in a quaint town in Germany called Rothenburg. This town dates back to the Medieval era, and is one of the few towns in western Europe that is still contained within its original defense walls. Because most of the buildings inside the walls are original, this town has become a major tourist attraction for European tourists. The Toy and Puppet Museum in Rothenburg is displayed in a 15th century house just outside the walled part of the city. It contains over 800 dolls and puppets from France and Germany dating back some 200 years. When you walk into this museum, you are immediately overwhelmed by all of the faces staring back at you. Most of the dolls and puppets are in cases, and as you wander through the halls, you get this creepy feeling of their eyes following you as you go. The puppets are fascinating. Once upon a time, puppet shows traveled throughout the countryside, entertaining the masses just like the movies do today. Puppet shows were also a vehicle to bring news of the current events and developing politics of the cities to those in the countryside. It is fascinating to see the development and evolution of these puppets through the ages. As the cultures of France and Germany changed, so did the puppets facial expressions, clothing and accessories. The other toy museum I visited was located in the Count's chambers in Prague Castle, the Museum hracek. This museum offers more of a variety of toys than just dolls and puppets like the one in Rothenburg. The museum showcases toys from the last 150 years including intricate toys made oftin and toy clocks that really work. The delicate workmanship of these clocks and tin toys speaks volumes about the evolution of toys from then to now. Children love technological toys no matter what age they live in. The Barbie doll collection here needs to be seen to be believed. Hundreds of Barbie dolls live in their own separate room of the museum. They range from the