Tall, Dark and Terracotta...?

Just thought that I would do a separate terracotta army post as it was nothing short of let's see - AMAZING!

Ever since I checked out a copy of that National Geographic, I have wanted to see this site. I had built it up in my mind over the years so I thought that I would most likely be disappointed when I actually got to see it. WRONG. It was fabulous!

When you get to the site area, you are immediately accosted by vendors selling terracotta men in all shapes, qualities and sizes. They will follow you around with arms full of things to try to sell you. When you actually enter the site, there is a nice landscaped walk up to the hangars where all of the excavated sites are. The path was lined with lovely persimmon trees and more vendors hawking postcards and other highly portable items (easier to run after you with).

We went into Vault 1 first - the biggest vault. The mass of people in the front was unbelievable! I had to fight my way up to the front so I could get a glimpse of the money shot - all of the soldiers standing in rank, facing me, ready to get their orders. I actually did have to throw a few elbows to get up there - the little old ladies were the most vicious though! I'm not proud of it, but I did kinda "accidentally" trip a 70ish year old lady (not entirely on purpose - hey, she would have done the same to me) because she elbowed me really hard in the gut and hit me.

Once I was up at the front the only thing standing between me and the men was a metal rail that I was sandwiched up against and, very unfortunately, the railing was at bladder level. So what you say? Did I mention that there were hundreds of people trying to get into the building and many of them wanted to be standing right where I was. I was in a position where I couldn't move, there were so many people pushing on me that I couldn't back up or move to either side. So, the result - a massive amount of pressure on a very full bladder, pain, worry, a brief moment of relief (like I can hold it), then panic! I managed to get out (I honestly don't remember how, I just remember the focus) and eventually I was able to get some sweet relief. So, if you have seen my photos on my site many of them from Vault 1 are blurry - I fully blame the pushing and the bladder situation (definitely not my mad camera skills - hmmm...)!

Vault 2 and 3 were also very interesting, not as crowded though. It was really interesting to see the excavation going on in Vault 2. The museum was really crowded (note blurry pictures again) and it was difficult to enjoy the chariots. But the attention to detail is quite remarkable - the drivers have fingerprints.

After a little bit, we decided to leave the museum and go back to Vault 2 to be nerds. They have a photo room where you can get you picture taken as a soldier, with the soldier, etc. That is when this happened: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theunsinkablemb/51516139/in/set-1117303/. Yup, we are that stupid. We needed to meet the tour group back at a certain time, so we decided to take one more look at Vault 1 - and this time we were able to go down the other side of the vault to get a different view of the guys.

What a day - it was made even better because we were able to end it with pizza! What a great day!