Saturday, 6th September - Denver
Having been inspired by the "Highlights of Denver" bus tour yesterday, we decided to visit a couple of local (and as it turned out, outstanding) museums.
Firstly we went to the Molly Brown House Museum. Who, pray, was Molly Brown? Best known perhaps as being a survivor of the sinking of the Titanic she was also a remarkably well travelled (5 of the 7 continents), well educated (she spoke many languages) not to mention extremely wealthy woman (she was married to the man who found the biggest gold seam in Colorado). She was also a political force of nature with particular interest in promoting women's and children's rights - she was very active in pursuing the vote for women.
We enjoyed a most excellent guided tour of her former home (the family had several):
The house had all mod cons including electricity, central heating, hot and cold running water and even a telephone!
From there we walked past the State Capitol building to the Denver Firefighters' Museum:
A real little gem of a Museum tracing the entire history of the Denver Fire Service - fascinating.
A late lunch sandwich - a Reuben at Henry's (corned beef, sauerkraut and Swiss cheese - yummy) - on our way back to our hotel for a short bit of r&r before we head to Coors Field for this evening's baseball game........
Quite an experience watching the Colorado Rockies go down 10-8 to the San Diego Padres. Hardly a fast moving game but it had its moments. The atmosphere was great and as the evening had a Harry Potter theme (not sure exactly why!) many of the kids were dressed up and making alot of noise. Another tick on the bucket list and we can say "we've been there and done that"
Is that why she was known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"? I was astounded that she had all mod cons in that house, I bet SHE turned her heating on before Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThe bus tour really helped us to understand the makeup of Denver, from the first settlers who camped on the wrong side of the river (as opposed to the native Americans who knew the river would flood) to the impact of the modern age with all the wall art and high rise buildings. Molly Brown's house could easily have been over taken by high rise apartments or a car park. Her story was fascinating.
ReplyDeleteThe visit to the Coors Field to watch the baseball was a real experience that we will never forget. Apart from winning the previous day the Rockies lost the game in front of a crowd of 43,000 and indeed went on to such a losing streak that they are reviewing the makeup of the baseball to see if it is actually suitable for playing at such a high altitude.