A Visit to 21C Museum Hotel Durham
Yesterday, I told you about all our adventures on the bachelorette dinner crawl hinting on how cool the 21C Museum Hotel Durham was. Since it was so interesting, I decided to dedicate a whole post to this cool and free contemporary art museum that doubles as a restaurant and hotel.
I had heard so much about 21C from my friend Kathi, so I knew that was going to be on the must list of things to do during our weekend in Durham. I knew that it would appeal to everyone attending the bachelorette crawl. Mikaela, the design student, for the architectural history of the building. It was designed by the same people who created the Empire State Building. Gracie and Maria because they have a love of art. Gracie wants to go into Art Therapy when she grows up. Maddie because she loves to go to new and unusual places. And finally, myself, because it just looked cool.
We had initially planned to eat dinner there but decided at the last moment that we wanted to save the museum as the end of our adventure downtown. So we ended up having after-dinner drinks at the Counting House, the restaurant inside 21C after we toured the museum.
The museum was interesting, that is for sure. Contemporary art is not my thing. But I can still appreciate all the hard work that goes into creating a piece. There were undoubtedly some unusual pieces of artwork on display. But I will have to say my favorite one is the one below.
It is an American flag, but when you get closer, you find that it is made of toy soldiers who have fused together and painted the colors of the American flag.
Another cool thing about the hotel is that it used to be a bank. So some of the original features still remained. They even have the original bank vault and safety deposit boxes. As we were touring the museum making our way down to the Vault, Mikaela and Gracie both said that this looked like something that would be the setting for American Horror Story. ( I am not going to lie, I saw that too. They were right).
Once we entered the basement, we came upon the Vault, which was set up as a private lounge area complete with money art on the floor.
Around the edges of the Vault was a private walkway that opened up to the back of the Vault. That was very unique, but I will warn you if you are claustrophobic you don’t want to stroll down it. It was tight quarters for sure.
I will say that this was the coolest part of the museum, I mean seriously how many times can you get your picture taken in a bank vault??
After we relaxed in the Vault for a while, we headed to The Counting House for drinks. Settling into their comfortable seating area by the window with our drinks we people watched. I love that all the drinks on the menu were all about art. And even the food was a work of art in itself.
You may remember I posted this picture on my Instagram asking if anyone could guess what it was? I got all kinds of guesses from pork skins to couscous, but nobody got it right. They were sweet potato chips. They were so good, they had a bit of lemon, avocado, and pecan on them. So yummy.
This was by far, our favorite place, and we are hoping to go back to see it again. Why? Because just like every museum, their exhibits change so our experience will vary with each visit.
If you are ever in Durham, check out the 21C Museum Hotel Durham, just for the experience.
