School Break Fun #2 - The Karen Blixen Museum

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A view of the house from the driveway.  I did not get a photo myself of the property so I found this on the internet.

Recently, I finished “Out of Africa” by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen’s pseudonym).  This was the book on which the 1985 film was based.  When I saw the film, I fell in love.  The landscape, the love story, the determination of Karen Blixen all captivated me.  I had heard that the book was better than the movie but I never took the time to read it – until, of course, we moved to Nairobi.  The book was a compelling view into Colonial Nairobi.  It was also fascinating to read about places in the city I had been and then to try and figure out where the places were that I was unfamiliar with.  One review of the book that I read said that the book was subtly racist.  I would actually say that it was just racist (no subtly).  However, that was kind of what made it so compelling to me.  Karen Blixen wrote about the world as she saw it and about the people as she saw them.  Almost 100 years later, I see things differently and it is interesting to compare.  

Since I had recently read the book, I took the kids to visit her house/museum during their school break.  It was very interesting.  I thought it was much smaller than the movie or the book made it out to be but it was beautiful.  Inside the house looks very similar – yet not exact – to the way it was when Karen Blixen lived there.  The best part of the visit was seeing the Ngong hills behind the house.  As I saw them, I couldn’t help but recite the line from the book, “I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong hills. . .”  I would definitely recommend both the book and the museum visit to anyone that plans a visit to Nairobi.