Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

I loved the vision/ concept "A journey across cultures and across time" and this was partly what inspired me to make the visit from Sussex. I missed the "orientation galleries ... to provide story trails to be followed..." Where were these? I needed more guide posts on the journey. Better signage to the galleries and introductions, explanations to the galleries would have helped. I loved the open staircase and glass bridges from which you could view the whole atrium. I thoroughly enjoyed the lunchtime lecture on ceramics. The lecturer clearly knew and loved every item on display and communicated this well. There were some really great displays, I particularly enjoyed the display about the work of conservation and authentication in the gallery. Having reviewed the excellent web site before going I was a little frustrated at how little of the total exhibits I was able to see before getting exhausted and running out of time. I had thought we could browse the museum and view our own highlights and spend time on what interested us most, but in reality it was hard to do this effectively. There was also a lack of labels and descriptions in places. Even temporary summarised overviews would have helped until all the permanent labels could be finished. I enjoyed the day, but I spent about 81/2 hours travelling for about 4hours viewing - I'm not sure if it was worth that. I would thoroughly recommend the museum to anyone living or staying in the Oxford area however. Plan to go several times if you live there abouts . NB the cafe was barely adequate, poor choice of food and slow service inspite of being quiet. The food we had was good however.