{"id":53,"date":"2014-11-03T14:46:00","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T14:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.diningtraveler.com\/2014\/11\/corning-museum-of-glass-learning-to-make-glass.html"},"modified":"2015-04-03T19:30:07","modified_gmt":"2015-04-03T19:30:07","slug":"CorningMuseumofGlass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diningtraveler.com\/2014\/11\/CorningMuseumofGlass.html","title":{"rendered":"Corning Museum of Glass: Learning to Make Glass"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n
It takes seven hours (in mild traffic) to drive from Washington, DC to my hometown of Rochester, NY. Plenty of times I have seen the signs for the Corning Museum of Glass<\/a> but my curiosity is always eclipsed by my desire to get home.  Thousands of miles away from Corning in Cancun, the curiosity was sparked again when I got to hear all about the museum at the TBEX Travel Blogger Conference<\/a>. The director of public relations, Kim and I bonded over Western NY and travel blogging (check out her blog here<\/a>).  After our meeting, baby glass pumpkin in hand, I was sold. The Dutchman and I decided we would make the visit to Corning a few weeks ago as we headed back home from Rochester. <\/o:p><\/p>\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Glass Pumpkin at Corning Museum of Glass Gift Shop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

As we took the detour on the highway, we were impressed by how massive the Corning Museum of Glass is, nestled in a sleepy town in Western, NY.  We walked into the gift shop, which had an interesting selection of glass items from Christmas ornaments to large glass pumpkins to jewelry made by local artisans.  The shop is one of the largest museum shops in the United States and in my opinion one of the most diverse.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Art Made with Microscopic Tiles of Glass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/o:p><\/div>\n
The museum was quite crowded with a diverse set of visitors: Chinese tourists on their way to Niagara Falls, local families, and couples like us.  As we walked through the museum to the many exhibitions we were fascinated by something so essential that seems to be overlooked in our everyday lives: glass.  The exhibitions included works of ancient glass from the Romans and Egyptians to modern glass installations from modern designers such as Dale Chihuly<\/a>.  The level of detail from modern to ancient was incredible such as the work made from microscopic glass tiles disguising itself as a painting. Truly makes you see glass in a different light. <\/o:p>