Famous Lady Day

Today turned out to be "Famous Lady" day for me. It's Friday, I have the day off, and it's a beautiful day to go downtown and see some famous ladies. 1) Myself 2) Betty Ford, and 3) Diana, Princess of Wales.

My first stop was a Woman's Expo, hence the "myself" in the famous ladies. Since it was there, and at DeVos Place, decided that would be a good central place to park for the day. The expo wasn't all that great, only filled one exhibit hall of the three, but interesting stuff to look at, some giveaways, and I got a great free massage as well as a 15 minute one that I paid for (and wasn't as good as the freebie either.) Hope I win some of the door prizes but not counting on it, of course. They had a display of a rentable photo booth and I got some absolutely stunning (just kidding) pictures of me, will have to scan it if I add it to this post or facebook.

Moving on, I decided I had time to walk across the river to the Gerald Ford Museum and see the new exhibit on Betty Ford. This was mostly dresses. She sure had a tiny waist! Maybe I should say has since she's still alive, but not sure of her size at this point in her life. She definitely made a difference in how First Ladies were perceived and the things they could accomplish.

At 1:15, I headed toward the Grand Rapids Art Museum for my highlight of the day. I visited the new Diana, Princess of Wales exhibit. This is the exhibit that comes directly from Althorp, her ancestral estate, and includes her wedding dress. You had to buy timed tickets for the exhibit, $20 but worth it to me. (Steve's comment was, "You know she's dead, right?") So 2 p.m. today was my time to go.

I got to the museum about 1:30 - asked if I could go in before my "time" and was allowed to do so since it wasn't too crowded. The advantages of not going in a group! Anyway, no photography whatsoever was allowed, that was disappointing as I did want a picture of the dress! First exhibits were family history, then we were introduced to Diana as a young girl, complete with some of her family home movies as well as other memorabilia. Then we moved on to Diana as a young woman, concluding with her engagement to Prince Charles. Turned the corner and there was the dress. It's displayed in its own case, with the full 25 foot train trailing behind. Also included in the case were her shoes, tiara, and little Clementine Hambro's bridesmaid dress. I just stood there for a while, absorbed in the memories of getting up very early one July morning and watching a fairy tale unfold before my eyes. Memories of seeing Diana emerge from the glass coach in that dress, and watching that train unfurl as she walked up the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral (which I got to see when we were in London!) Took me quite a while to move on, thankfully there wasn't a time limit.

The next room had some displays about her life as a princess and a mother, then I moved on to the next room which was all about her untimely death and the immediate aftermath. The final room brought a view of (I think) 28 of her gowns and dresses, each on display as well as most having a picture of Diana wearing the gown. After leaving the gown room, there was an Althorp gift shop with some very pricey Althorp items. Having seen the rest of the museum during Art Prize, I finished my day with a walk in the nice late fall weather back to DeVos Place and my car. $9.00 to park but it is what it is.

I definitely enjoyed my Famous Lady Day! Only thing that would have made it more fun was to have my mom with me as she also enjoys the Royal Family. But she's seen the exhibit when it was closer to her home in Florida, so I'm sure when she reads this she'll remember how much SHE enjoyed it, too!