We went to GWIZ last week to see the Titanic exhibit.  It was better than I had expected.  As you enter you recieve a boarding pass.  On the back of the pass is the name of a passenger and some information about that person.  I had Miss Dagmar Jenny Ingeborg Brylh, age 20 from Skara Sweden.  She was accompanied on the Titanic by her brother, Kurt, and her fiance, Ingvar Enander.   They were going to Rockford, Illinois to visit family.  Kurt was immigrating to America while Dagmar and Ingvar were only planning a visit.  They travelled 2nd class.

The exhibits featured a chronology of time; when the passengers left port, when the iceberg was spotted, who spoke to whom, how long it took the vessel to sink, and who survived.  It also had a reproduction of the cabins for 1st and 2nd class. 

 The next large exhibit contained a wall listing who survived and who perished and in which class they travelled.  Dagmar survived.   Both Kurt and Ingvar died.

The exhibit continued with recovered artifacts from a woman’s glove, perfume bottles, a chandelier, dishes, and several other items.  They were all under glass with humidifier control.

The last room explained the expeditions for both research and artifact recovery. 

The exhibition was first class.  I met the lady who had put together the “Expedition Logbook”, an informative booklet with a scavenger hunt, trivia, word search and more.  If you have the opportunity to track her down, she just adds so much more the experience that looking and reading. 

Oh, and there is one really cool part which I’ll keep a secret.  My kids loved it.

The exhibit is at GWIZ until February 8, 2009.   There is an extra charge above the GWIZ entry fee to see the Titantic but it is so worth it. 

There are some cool websites recommended in the Logbook which would be fun to see ahead of time.  They are: www.webtitanic.net, www2.sptimes.com/titanic (sinking animation).  The exhibit’s website is www.titanic-online.com.

GWIZ is located in Sarasota at 1001 Blvd of the Arts.  www.gwiz.org