
Counting by rongo rongo
January 1st, 2011 10:44 AMWe spread a little extra fun around the museum. Quite a few kids and families were doing the scavenger hunt, including one young child who wanted to ask us a question but was too embarrassed. His Dad later came over to ask us if we were students at Hogwarts. We explained that of course we'd been there, but it had been quite a few years since our school days. A different Dad asked if he could get a picture of his young son standing with us, but then the boy was too embarrassed to stand near the funny looking people, so instead Dad got a picture of his older sister with us. It was fun seeing so many kids excited about going around a museum, dragging their parents from one display to the next.
Final tally:
5 more like French Toast (thestral, Nagini, Snape's Patronus, Dobby, Harry's wand)
6 more like Spanish Omelet (invisibility cloak, dragon, Hedwig, werewolf, Ron's boggart, sword of Gryffindor)
Conclusion: The intersection of items in a natural history museum and Harry Potter are surprisingly evenly divided between resembling French Toast or a Spanish Omelet.
Rubies

The Mineral Hall has an extensive collection of crystals, including rubies (featured in the sword of Gryffindor). We decided that the rubies on display were more like a Spanish Omelet, because there were components (crystals) embedded inside a matrix (rock) in the same way that onions and potatoes are embedded in an omelet.
Tools of the trade

The museum is famous for its glass flower collection (which is more accurately a collection of botanically accurate glass plant reproductions).
Harry's wand

Holly is more like French Toast than a Spanish Omelet, because the holly plant sometimes has berries, and so does French Toast.
Giant spiders have pointy fangs

Giant spiders are more like a Spanish Omelet than French Toast, because they are round.
Skeletal horses

Thestrals are more like French Toast than a Spanish Omelet, because although the idea sounds kind of disgusting (bread dipped in egg goop?), they turn out to be pretty nice.
Dragon fossils

Dragons, even fossil specimens, are more like a Spanish Omelet, because they might involve flipping over a high flame.
Big gulp

Large whale skeletons are suspended over displays of stuffed mammals, with birds around a second floor balcony.
Owls

Owls are more like a Spanish Omelet than French Toast, because they are closer to the essence of an egg.
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Thanks!
When I was explaining this at a NYE party, someone suggested that perhaps I had limited the scope too much by using two different types of breakfast foods, but my feeling was that if I had selected two wildly different objects as standards, there was a good chance that every single museum item would have been closer to the same one of the two.
you are a hugenormous geek, and it's charming. you're also incredibly knowledgeable, gracious, and generous. respect.
my favorite part of this is the explanations for why things more closely resemble one kind of breakfast.