PEM
A few weeks ago I finally took a trip to the Peabody Essex Museum with two great girlfriends and the leisure of an unplanned day! I wish I could say that I've been striving to make museum-going part of my regular routine, but I am shamefully off the circuit for such educational pasttimes! But the novelty of it all really amplified the experience for me, I think - it's been a while since I took a radio-guided tour of an exhibit! We walked through the transplanted Yin Yu Tang merchant's home from the Qing dynasty and entertained ourselves for at least three hours, wandering through its pocketed rooms. I was pleasantly surprised by the layout of the building itself, with an open-air courtyard in the center to catch and collect rain-water and light, with very few windows on the outside walls of the home. Definitely worth the trip!