How was your weekend?

No barbecuing or grilling news to report from the WhiteTrash BBQ world today. We spent Saturday in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute's King Tut Exhibit and Sunday catching up on chores. But I did have a real Philadelphia Cheese Steak on the streets of Philadelphia.

I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the King Tut exhibit. While some of the pieces exhibited were breath taking, the exhibit seemed more focused on other pharaohs and not Tut himself. There was very little gold in this exhibit compared to the show that came to America in the late 70's. The flash that accompanied Tut in the 70's wasn't there this time.

Part of my disappointment with the exhibit was caused by The Franklin Institute's lack of crowd control. This event overwhelmed this museum. You were unable to really enjoy the pieces as the crowd pushed you on to the next item.

That being said, there were a couple of pieces that took my breath away and made the trip worthwhile. There was a bust of Nefertiti that was so life like you could have sworn it was alive. The same with the mannequin of Tut himself that was used to hold his royal robes. You could feel Tut's presence.

I saw a statue of Tut's apparent father Akhenaten that blew me away. He was a radial king who dropped all of Egypt's gods and tried to create a one god religion focused on the aten or sun god. Akhenaten's reign was marked by a major change in the style of sculpture and painting from traditional Egyptian art. From what I've seen in the past these paintings and sculptures looked odd and unpleasing to the eye. Here they presented a statue of him, that again I could have sworn was alive, but had outstanding presence and power. I felt as if I was looking on a powerful king. Which I guess was the point.

It's hard to believe that these items were created over 3,000 years ago. The skill of the Egyptian artist has rarely if ever been surpassed. All in all though, this was an incredible event.