Scene Three: Seeing the Sights

Posted at 6:30 PM, Saturday, January 3, 2009

Adelaide is a place of many charms, including its magnificent beaches, fascinating Central Market, cool city walking mall, and excellent art museums. However, it does not have a single museum with interactive exhibits. Melbourne has two: Scienceworks and the Melbourne Museum. Yonatan and Nadav were lucky enough to enjoy two fantastic children's museums in Pittsburgh, and they'd missed the experience terribly. As far as they were concerned, this was the main thing that had brought us to Melbourne in the first place.

On Friday, we spent a relaxed morning in our cabin and walking the shore in Williamstown (and eating some really excellent pizza). It was Boxing Day--December 26-- so Bobby decided to bypass the museum and instead take the train into Melbourne to do a little clothing shopping. Big Mistake! He spent several horrible hours jammed into the city's main department store with thousands of other shoppers. He couldn't even get close enough to the clothes to ponder buying any, and returned thoroughly discouraged.

The good news was that, since everyone in Melbourne was out shopping that day, Scienceworks was absolutely deserted, and we had a phenomenal 3 1/2 hour visit. Yonatan and Nadav were so excited to be there that they spent the first twenty minutes or so literally dashing around the place just pushing buttons and turning dials. Finally they calmed down enough to start taking in some of the exhibits. We went to see a delightful planetarium show in a nearly empty hall and were treated to an extra talk guiding us through some of the constellations of the southern hemisphere. The kids also spent 30 minutes doing geology experiments, while I got to visit the cafe for a coffee. Mostly, they just enjoyed themselves more completely than they have in a long time--almost in a nostalgic way. It was very endearing, and enough to convince Bobby and me to bring them back for return visit on Sunday morning.



Everything went really well until about the fiftieth time Nadav tried to race Cathy Freeman. Let me explain. Those of you who are familiar with Sportworks in Pittsburgh will know the exhibit in which aspiring runners can race against Jackie Joyner Kersee on a short track. (Note: she always wins. There's no way anyone can run that fast.) There is a similar exhibit in Melbourne, only this time the competition is against legendary Australian runner Cathy Freeman. Nadav adored racing in Pittsburgh, and he took it up again in Melbourne. He ran that 30 foot track like there was no tomorrow, and his time steadily improved the more he raced. But ultimately he got so absorbed in watching his time that he failed to notice the very small person racing hell-for-leather in the opposite direction. The two collided, and Nadav ended up with a sprained elbow. He spent the remainder of our trip with his arm bandaged and in a sling, and he still complains that it's a bit sore after nearly a week.

On Monday, we made our big trek to the Melbourne Museum. This was the one day we relied entirely on public transportation. Melbourne's mass transit system is justly famous. There is a huge network of trains throughout the suburbs, with dozens of trams and buses available closer in. $6.50 for adults and $3.50 for the kids bought us a day pass for unlimited rides. Nadav was thrilled by the train, because within the city limits it runs underground, just like the Metro in Washington, DC! And he loved the trams too, because they're just so cool. Yonatan didn't say anything, but I suspect he enjoyed himself.

The Melbourne Museum itself is housed in a spectacular building, and it's one of the best-conceived museums I've visited. It focuses on general knowledge, but cleverly integrates stuff for kids along with stuff for adults. So, for instance, Yonatan and Nadav were fascinated with interactive exhibits on the Human Mind, while I got to read up on Freud's theory of dream interpretations. We spent an exhausting four hours wandering the halls (including a half-hour break for lunch), and topped up on knowledge on Melbourne's city history, the human mind and body, and the ecology of the forest (complete with live trees and birds). The boys adored an exhibit called "The Virtual Room," where they got to wear 3-D glasses and watch complex shapes float through mid-air. They also enjoyed the Children's Gallery, which is designed for very young children. Some of the exhibits were reminiscent of Pittsburgh's fantastic Children's Museum, and this made them even happier. They're already planning a return visit.