This Monday

Exploratorium

On Saturday, Nemanja and I finally got our acts together and did something planned! It was actually his idea! I was so proud. We decided to go to the Exploratorium in SF. Nemanja even knew about the tactile dome, and that you had to call ahead to get reservations. So we did. How organized is that?

Saturday morning we had our usual waffles. Then we got in the car, and Nemanja drove us to SF. We only got totally screwed by the one-way streets once! We even quickly found a place to park.

The museum is in kind of a weird place. Its next to the Palace of Fine Arts, I think, which as far as I can tell is the beautiful remnants of what was once a very nice structure, but now totally looks out of place. I am sure there is a reason why there is a beautiful dome next to the Exploratorium, but I kept looking for signs or something to explain its presence, but I couldn’t find it. And I mean, the dome and surrounding structures were gorgeous.

The Exploratium wasn’t quite what I expected at first. It’s basically a wherehouse, which kind of looked dingy. The first couple of exhibits we saw were totally lame. However, once we stepped a few feet more inside, we got to learn some cool stuff, like how waves don’t actually carry air or water, and how condensation on cold surfaces happen. There was also a thermal camera that proved I am just generally colder overall compared to Nemanja. It was nice to have scientific evidence.

You can see in this picture how excited I am to be learning about DNA. Did you know that small differences in our DNA are what cause us to be different from each other? Wow. I really liked the sight section. There was this neat display which tracked your eyeball movements when you looked at a picture. It was funny, and kind of embarrassing, to see what parts of an image you focus on when you first see it.

Then we went into the tactile dome. Wow. You basically crawl and walk around in the dark, and sometimes in really tight places. The first time I went through, once or twice I could not find the way out of the room I was in for the longest dime. Imaging being in a small room, in the dark, on your hands and knees, and unable to find a way out. You even go down a couple of slides. It was nuts. I wasn’t claustrophobic before I went in, but I was when I came out!

We ended the day with a trip to Ghiradelli square. I had chocolate chip ice cream, which is my favorite.

posted by This Monday Morning @ 10:08 AM