on sunday we went to the sixth floor museum at the texas book depository, where lee harvey oswald shot kennedy.
omg. it was one of the best museum experiences of my life. seriously: top 10. (then i tried to name 10 museums i LOVED, and this is as far as i got: newseum in DC, the british museum, the national gallery in london, the getty in LA, all the national monuments in DC (but are those museums?). these are the museums that stand out to me as powerful to me personally since, you know, it's my top 10 list.)
the museum is devoted to kennedy's presidency and to his assassination, with exhibits leading up to the assassination and then dealing with the aftermath. being an american history teacher maybe made this museum extra powerful. and having seen the zapruder film made it eerie - being in the exact spots where the film was shot and knowing that real life happened here. the museum is on the sixth floor, where oswald was, and the corner where he supposedly holed up is glassed off, original floors, original walls and beams in the ceiling. you can very easily imagine what it was like. the audio guide was awesome. i teared up. i made becky look out the windows a lot so we could picture the motorcade route. then we went outside.
the texas book depository is the light red brick one on the left in this photo, and the window oswald was supposedly in is below the corner one you can see clearly. the trees would have been 50 years shorter, of course. in the center of the road there is an "x" where kennedy's car was when he was hit. creepy. the road is still in use, and after our visit we drove on it (becky drove in the middle lane so we could have the full experience) to get back on the highway and go to brunch. it was so REAL. maybe that's why i was so affected by it.
this is across the street from where i took the previous picture: book depository on the right, grassy knoll in the center.
closer to the building: the window on the 6th floor is permanently cracked open for maximum creepiness factor.
EXCELLENT dallas-visiting experience. overwhelming. nerdy. awesome.
The Sixth Floor Museum is one of my very favorites, too! For all the same reasons you said :-)
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