Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
help settle your stomach (or conscience, if you find that you want mind-expand-
ing experiences when you vacation and not just mindless escapism).
“Is the art real?” That's the most common question asked at the museums
above, according to the staff members I polled. (The answer: a resounding yes.)
You won't get the same answer, however, at the
King Tut Museum
55
9
(in the
Luxor;
%
702/262-4000; www.luxor.com;
$
10 for just a ticket, combo tickets with
other attractions available as well; 10am-11pm daily; AE, DISC, MC, V).
This is
not the famous exhibit that has now toured the U.S. twice, drawing crowds of
millions of museum-goers each time. Instead, what you have here is an obsessively
detailed reproduction of the antechamber, annex, burial chamber, and treasury
rooms of King Tut's tomb, meant to look as they did when Brit archeologist
Howard Carter first peered into the tomb in 1922. Heading the effort to bring
off this impressive bit of fakery was Dr. Mahmoud Mabrouk, a revered Egyptian
sculptor and scholar, who created a similar replica in the city of Luxor on behalf
of the Egyptian government. For that effort, as well as this one, he was given carte
blanche to study and do detailed measurements of most of the original artifacts.
He also turned to the reams of excavation notes and photos of Howard Carter
himself—one of the world's most meticulous excavators, Carter spent a full ten
years digging up and cataloguing the tomb. Mabrouk then trained a cadre of arti-
sans in ancient stone and metalworking techniques to create these pieces, spending
2 years shaping and fine-tuning what you see here. It's a striking exhibit, despite
the Disney-esque setting, with its faux-stone walls and floors. Ignore those trap-
pings and concentrate on the exquisite gold-plated statues, the recreated coffin, the
mummified remains of two stillborn children, and the inscriptions on the wine
bottles that, like today, mark their date and vintage. It's actually all quite brilliantly
done. A dramatic, sometimes silly, but often quite informative audio tour accom-
panies the exhibit, narrated by an overly enthused “tally ho”-type Upper Cruster
(meant to be Howard Carter) and a spooky whispering guy, who tells the secrets
of ancient Egyptian religious rituals (he's “the priest”). All in all, you can take in
the video and exhibit in half an hour, though you'll get more out of it if you linger
a bit. The
Mystery of the Nile
IMAX movie, which can be purchased in conjunc-
tion with this on a combo ticket, is actually a good pair with this exhibit, telling
the tale of a crew of present-day explorers attempting to traverse the entire length
of the Nile (something that had never been achieved before).
The celebration of the unreal continues at
Madame Tussaud's
55
9
(in The
Venetian;
%
702/862-7800; www.madametussaudslv.com;
$
23 adults,
$
15 stu-
dents and seniors,
$
13 children 6-12, under 5 free,
$
50 for 2 adults and 2 stu-
dents or kids; daily 10am-11pm; AE, DC, MC, V),
the Vegas branch of the famous
wax museum chain, where the statues are no longer the dummies they used to be.
A number now interact with guests. What do I mean? Well, if you get into bed
with the Hugh Hefner look-alike, who's lounging in his pajamas (appropriately
enough), he'll murmur sweet nothings in your ear. If you're bold enough to touch
Jennifer Lopez' derriere take a quick look up at her cheeks—no, the ones on her
face—and you'll see that her blush has deepened to a dark, embarrassed red. And
if you're one of those coming to Vegas
not
to get married, you can shock all your
friends with photos of you tying the knot with some famous celeb (hunky George
Clooney was the groom when I was there, and yes, I do have a picture). In the
chapel-like room visitors are loaned Velcro-backed wedding gowns and veils.
Brave souls can sing in the
American Idol
area, eliciting snarky comments from
