Today, we decided to take advantage of our Singapore Science Center Annual Pass which will grant us free access into the Baltimore Science Center. We were all ready by 9am but most of the attractions in Baltimore do not open till 10am so I thought we stop by Federal Hill first. It is just opposite the science center anyways.
View of our hotel in the photo above and of the Inner Harbor in the photo below.
There was a small playground there too but we will come back next day to play :)
Almost 10am and time to explore the science center but not before taking a photo with the ducks resting on the pier.
Our hotel is the one on the left. The one on the right is the Legg Mason building next to our hotel and it is still under construction.
First, the dinosaur exhibits....
Digging for dinosaur fossil...
Assembling the skeleton of a dinosaur...
Comparing the size of Clara to the size of a dinosaur bone :)
Next, it was time to understand our planet Earth and how everything works.
This must be the most fascinating station where we saw how a small tornado formed.
The next section was about mechanics. This was the first time that Sonya pulled herself up. She has been surprising me with her increased upper body strength for the past 2 weeks. Before we went on this trip, she was so proud and eager to show me how she can just climb up a fireman's pole all by herself.
This is a cool twist to the spinning balls down the funnel. The kids got to use coins (your own of course and a great way to raise money) and see how the coins continued to roll perpendicular to the surface of the funnel right till the very end!
This was another cool station with draw-bots :)
This was an instant french fries maker. The staff shot a potato into a wire mesh using compressed air. Fun!
There were many other hands-on activities for kids and as you can guess, Sonya and Clara just didn't want to leave.
The one below measures height.
This must be the coolest of all! Everyone is invited to lay on a bed of nails :) Sonya initially only wanted to put her hands on the bed of nails but when we came back later and she saw a group of girls taking turns to do it, she decided to try it herself :)
First she lay down on a piece of perspex with many many holes where the nails would come through. When she was ready, the staff pressed a button and all the nails rose up together through the little holes and lifted her up. This is how I torture my kids :)
There was also a section all about the blue crabs in the Chesapeake Bay and these crabs are a speciality of the area. We tried the crabcakes and shrimp for lunch and surprisingly, both Sonya and Clara loved it.
With time to kill, we drove to Fort McHenry in the afternoon.
Mini Oreo cookies keep these girls going :)
This is the place where Baltimore's defense turned back a British invasion fleet during the war of 1812 and led Francis Scott Key to pen "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the first part is now America's National Anthem.
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
We didn't stay long as it was just too hot :(
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