Where we are most weekends

We go cycling almost every weekend. The Girl has her bike & earlier this year, I bought myself a foldable bike too (already looking to upgrade but that's another post). Both our bikes fit easily into the boot of a car, so only X has to rent his bike.

I discovered Lifestyle Bike & Skates that has pitstops along the PCN (Park Connector Networks that goes around the island). The parks are connected & you can rent a bike from one of their 6 stops & then return it at any of the other stops (no need to backtrack). Depending on the bike, they charge $6-$8 for two hours.

Bistro @ Changi Beach Park

For that much needed beer after our ride

If you start from Changi Beach Park & do the route the other way

Then there is always East Coast Lagoon Food Centre

Singapore Biennale 2011

Going to the Singapore Biennale was a no brainer for many reasons, amongst them to check out the old Kallang Airport (I love the building), family day sundays (free entry & activities for the kids) & of course to check out the artists....

Gosia Wlodarczark - frost drawings on glass

One of my favorites

Elmgreen & Dragset Full size German barn

complete with Singaporean farm boys

installed in one of the old hangers

Michael Lin's "what a difference a day makes"

whereby he purchased the entire contents from a shop in Shanghai, shipped to Singapore & redisplaying all the items & the cartons used in the shipment

Thai artist Arin Rungjang "Unequal Exchange"

Creates a living space using Ikea furniture & then inviting Thai migrant workers to exchange one of their existing pieces of furniture with one of his

Another of our favorites

Rafael Lozano-Hammer "Frequency & Volume"

Based on the size of our shadows on the wall, a frequency is detected

A beautiful Sunday.

We finished the day by flying the kite she made

Of knobs & Da Vinci

I believe it was Eunice who recommended I go to the Singapore Science Centre. It must have been more than 30 years since I last went. The Da Vinci exhibition is on right now & from what I know, the Science Centre is air conditioned so we hopped onto the train & headed over to Jurong East.

The Science Center is every kid's dream. No knobs or buttons went untouched that day. The Girl insisted on trying EVERY.SINGLE.ONE. Many were not reachable but was that going to stop her ? No siree, she had a plan - stand on the stroller. See evidence below.

Photographic proof of bad mother allowing daughter to stand on stroller. Sorry for the grainy picture cos it's taken with my phone. Would you believe it ? I forgot to pack my battery charger for the camera. I left it in France !

We didn't really have time to check out all the display nor go to the popular Omni Theatre (more reason to go back again) cos I didn't want to miss the excellent Da Vinci exhibition. It has been around the world & I'm so glad we managed to catch it while it was in town.

The exhibition showcased all his talents, as an artist, sculptor, inventor, scientist, engineer, anatomist, biologist, architect, philosopher & musician (some of which I wasn't even aware of). I was most impressed with the display of his inventions. There were scaled down interactive models of his ingenious contraptions that were just so way ahead of his time. There were of course, many manuscripts showing his famous "mirror" writing & a huge section detailing the Mona Lisa. Don't kill me but in my opinion, not what he should be most remembered for.

No photos were allowed but you can check out more about the exhibit here.

Getting our routine back

Back in France, one of our routines were the trips to the mediatheque every 3 weeks. The Girl loves books & always looks forward to going there. Needless to say, it wasn't long before we headed over to the National Library. In fact it was one of the first things I did after we arrived - to get The Girl her very own library card.

When we were in France, one of the items we regularly borrowed were audio books. Not those read-aloud-by-some-random-celebrity books nor those motivational CD types but musical books. Sort of a children's version of a musical - the CDs are usually not more than 20 mins & the accompanying books will have lyrics & graphics to further enhance the story. Our mediatheque in Aubenas has a whole section of these books. The last one we borrowed was a story about a little girl who went round the house looking for her missing doudou (french term for one's favorite stuffed toy or doll) - not terribly exciting but when it's backed up with original music & catchy lyrics - makes for a very fun read.

So I eagerly signed up for a premium membership, which allows one to borrow the audio-visual items. Imagine my surprise when I browsed said section & there was nothing like that. Not even close. I can't believe the French has a monopoly on these types of audio books. Does anybody out there know if such books are available in English ? Maybe I need to enquire at Kinokuniya or Amazon (which is what I'm going to do right after I publish this post).

Although I didn't manage to use the premium membership for it's intended purpose, we're benefitting from the additional books. As usual, even my quota goes to borrowing The Girl's books. I'm happy I've instilled this love of books in her & hope that we will continue our routine of reading 2 books every night before she goes to bed.

Only on our last trip there, did I realise that the Toa Payoh Library is probably closer to where we live so I think we might go check it out next.

Stepping back in time

If you're living in Singapore, you'd know how hot it has been lately. I've been looking at non-mall-air-conditioned options for our activities. The very first place that came to mind was the National Museum.

It has always been my favorite. I've been dying to see it after the renovations. Good reviews of the Christian Lacroix exhibition. A really hot Saturday afternoon & we were there.

.

The exhibition showcases his work done for the stage - theatre & opera. Which means his pieces were dramatic, to say the least. The whole setting was theatrical & luxurious - think red velvet & chandeliers.

A dressing table was converted into an activity corner with paper dolls, coloring pencils & drawers of fabrics. When you have kids, you learn to appreciate stations like this to keep little hands busy.
I was now ready to see the permanent exhibition. This installation of swinging chandeliers had us mesmerised. I don't remember the name of the artist but it's visually stunning & we both enjoyed it very much.

Love what they did to the space.

There was, of course, an extensive display relating the history of Singapore but I was most fascinated with the nostalgic bits. Call me sentimental.

Do you remember when your parents owned one of these ?

There were also several galleries devoted to performing arts,
photography, fashion.......

and my favorite, food

Does anybody out there still remember these ?

or these ?

I need to get me one of these
hopefully to kick in my baking mojo