Turns out that one of the advantages of traveling with other people is that they take photos too.
Lots of them.
Thank You, Steven!
Brace Yourselves.
Here are some decent shots of the mirror maze.
As I said before, I was really impressed.
They’ve done everything they can to make it difficult to tell Mirror from Non-Mirror. I honestly can’t tell whether that’s a hallway in front or not, and I’m not at all sure where the kid in the yellow shirt is.
And I’m putting in this next picture because I rather like it.
One of the oldest … exhibits? … dating back to 1933, is about coal mining.
You’re taken up, down, and through a coal mine; Specifically Old Ben No. 17, which they relocated from Southern Illinois.
I’ll let that sit there, shall I?
They took slabs from the walls, transported them, and reassembled the mine in the museum. The first guides were the former miners, and once upon a time they’d demonstrate mining by having a go at the walls with a pickaxe.
They don’t do that no more.
More pictures of U-505.
It’s worth mentioning that one of the things recovered was an Enigma machine & various code books.
At least, it’s worth it to me.
Probably the Captain’s quarters.
Or maybe sixteenths, or sixty-fourths.
Oddly, with the wood paneling, it reminded me of the hostel I was staying in at at the time.
Tour guide showing off one of the bunks.
From memory, this was one of the better bunks, in that there was a privacy curtain. From the look of it, it’s a pretty good one, and would block the light; The ones at the Freehand Chicago were more for space exclusion.
There were apparently two toilets on the boat, but because they’d be filling every available space with supplies & consumables, only one would be accessible at the start of the voyage, and they’d eat their way to the other one.
“The beds at this hostel suck, and there’s no privacy, but it has really unique architecture.”
Including this one because I think that’s me on the right.
You can’t entirely make it out, but she’s got a Chicago Flag pin where the little red stars are little red Daleks.
This is a submarine driving simulator, where you’re controlling just the forward planes.
Note very serious reading of instructions.
In which I try to extrapolate from Mein Deutche Nicht Gut; Sprechen Sie English? to This Is The Forward Planes Operator; I Have No Idea What I’m Doing, And We Are All Going To Die.
Ohhh, that can’t be good.
Ooops.
My Bad! That was me; Sorry.
Fortunately, due to my innate skill, we have escaped.
Because I’m clever.
Teslacoil!
This thing is really loud; First couple of time it went off while we were elsewhere in the hall, I thought it was a siren of some sort.
And finally, here I am playing with the MSI prototype teleporter.
It’s not capable of remote-location to remote-location yet, so instead they go through an intermediary step.
Here’s the beam-up/takeoff/whatever – You can see the next person in line getting into place behind me.
This is the intermediate step; Unsurprisingly, it really stings, hence the expression.
And finally, the destination.
Kind of a relief to be out of the rushing airflow of that little chamber, as you can tell from the much more relaxed pose & expression.
