Around and About

We had a Saturday day to fill and decided to go to the Artscience Museum. That is not a typo. This small but wonderful museum was built as part of the Marina Bay Sands complex. It is dedicated to highlighting the melding of art and science rather than the differences. It is a wonderful place (no photos inside) and we saw four exhibits. One is about the reasoning behind the museum and the collaboration between idea, concept and execution. It is wonderfully done. There was an exhibit of Salvadore Dali works that include sketches, paintings, furnishings and sculptures. It was quite comprehensive and very enlightening. Another exhibit showcased the treasures from a sunken ship discovered just a few years ago which dates back to the 9th century. The main cargo was ceramics from China. It is hard to believe when you look at the artifacts that they are as old as they are and that they survived virtually unscathed for centuries. The fourth exhibit was my favorite. It is entitled VanGoghAlive. Though there were no actual works by VanGogh on exhibit, the power of his paintings was showcased in a multi-media exhibit that was eye popping. VanGoghs works are projected onto huge walls and parts of the floor in several interconnected galleries. The pieces are shown in full, in parts, layered in by color and layered back to sketches. The music is powerful and for a while you feel as if you are living inside of a painting. The supporting exhibit pieces are also very informative. We wound up spending several hours in the museum (cloudy day anyway) and loving every minute of it. We even bought a video of the Alive exhibit that will never have the impact but will still be amazing. As we left the exhibit we were even entertained by a student string ensemble featuring mandolins and a traditional instrument whose name I cannot remember which looks like a Dali interpretation of a guitar and has only two strings.

The walk to the museum was almost as entertaining. To get there we had to cross the Cavanaugh Bridge and transfer to the Helix Bridge. 

 The bridges interconnect half way across with the helix bridge (pedestrian only) giving access to the amphitheater, the Artscience Museum, the convention center and Marina Bay Sands. Cavanaugh Bridge continues for thru traffic. The views from the bridge are terrific.

This view is pretty great, too.

Singapore means Lion City and the Lion Fountain in the harbor is a great tribute to the city.

We arrived at our destination and were wowed by the architecture. It is stunning from a distance, but even more impressive up close.

In case you were wondering how all of the exhibits fit into such a structure, Two of the largest galleries are below the water level.

This photo is for the girls whose favorite tie of Dad's is the one with Dali's melting clock on it. (They picked it out for him.) Sorry no ants out here.


We were very lucky on the timing of our visit because it was rehearsal time for the Independence Day celebration. The festivities will take place at the amphitheater and displays will be both on land and water.

Later in the day were were treated to the army skydiving team practicing, a helicopter flyover with a gigantic Singaporean flag in tow, a military jet flyover and even a few practice fireworks. Independence Day is in August, but we were told they like to know well in advance if there are any kinks to work out. We didn't see any.


After a brief respite at the hotel, we were off to our sky high dinner.