Las Vegas Natural History Museum

This is the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, whose driveway we drove into, by mistake, while looking for the Lied Discovery Center. They are across each other on Las Vegas Boulevard North.

The museum has different sections but the most interesting part for the kids was a recreation of King Tut's tomb. They told me they knew all about Egyptian tombs and embalming because of the book, Beyond the Grave, Book 4 of the  39 Clues series.

G was happy to point out things she knew about, just like these Shabtis here below.

Both G and C love to read and the 39 Clues is one of their favorite series (there are 11 books).

Even if it's a small museum, there's still lots to see and fascinating things to learn about. We spent about 3 hours here.

After going through all the three floors and having a vendo-chip snack in between, we went back again to King Tut's room and went through all the displays all over again.

 
Our last stop was the Young Scientist Center, beside the dinosaur display, where you could play with the displays.

G took notes and wrote down her impressions of everything she saw. C liked the more interactive displays.

I had no idea this place was here, so I was happy to have discovered it by mistake.

Las Vegas Natural History Museum
900 Las Vegas Blvd N.
Las Vegas, NV 89101
(702) 384-3466

http://www.lvnhm.org/

Cafe Gourmand in Paris

I first saw them at Chez Dumonet, where we shared a beef bourgignon and confit de canard, B's most favorite dish in Paris. Our meal ended with regular cafe cremes and we were happy with what we ordered until...

I saw dessert plates on other tables on the way out. On each plate was an empty cup of espresso, with remnants of a macaron, a cookie, a small cake and a little pot of mousse. I was intrigued--what did they order?

Later that evening, I asked Bea about it and described what I had seen at lunchtime.  She said "oh, that's a cafe gourmand--an espresso with a sampling of the restaurant's desserts."  "Really? since when did they serve those things? This is the first time I've seen them! And why didn't you tell me about it?!" She looked at me like, "huh?.." (as in what's all the excitement about?)

Sometimes you don't realize what's commonplace and what's unique in a place where you've lived for a long time. Bea's been in Paris for almost nine years now.

I counted how many more meals we had on this trip. I was going to order a cafe gourmand after each one, and nevermind if I didn't drink espresso.

I had a cafe creme instead of an espresso here

Restaurants have their own versions of cafe gourmand--some more elaborate than the others.  It's a little surprise at the end of the meal because you don't know what you're going to get. Your coffee bill will go from 2 euro to about 8 euro, but it's a small price to pay for non-guilt-inducing, pleasurable dessert.

There Are Places I Remember...

No this is not a travel post. I just need to say I love my iPhone and Draw Something.

The Post Office on Hamilton Street, Palo Alto

On our list of errands was a stop by the post office to mail a gift to New York. The closest one to us was this Hamilton Street branch. I already liked the facade so told the kids to "hold that pose."

Love the grillwork at the top

The last time I was in a US Post Office was at a typically utilitarian one at the Ala Moana shopping mall in Honolulu. I didn't expect this post office to be any different so I was surprised when I walked in and saw this.

I was fascinated with the grills, the exposed wooden beams, the lighting fixtures, and the patterned floor. The PO boxes looked like they were straight from set of a period film.

Original ornate brass PO boxes

The kids were not interested in the interiors and was wondering why I was oohing and aahing, taking pictures of everything. They were more thrilled seeing and experiencing a real working post office.  I don't think they have ever been to the main post office in Makati. Come to think of it, neither have I.

They wasted no time trying to figure out how to use the Priority Mail envelopes and the self-serve station. They weighed their package, wrote the label and then got the rate by punching the zip code into the machine.

Package to Sloatsburg costs...

They could've printed out the stamp and dropped the package right here but they still wanted to talk to a live person and see exactly what a post office clerk does.  I think they also wanted to make sure their package was in good hands, and not just dropped into an impersonal box.

This post office was built in the 1930's by Birge Clark, Palo Alto's first architect. Clark was also responsible for designing many other Palo Alto landmarks, giving the city a cohesive Spanish Revival feel, or something Clark liked to call "early California." 

In the 30's, space was not a premium and lots of people were probably coming in to mail letters and packages, perhaps even socializing here like a community center. But in this age of email plus other alternatives for sending parcels around the country, dedicating all this space to a post office seems like a waste of prime property.

It didn't surprise me then when the post office staff mentioned they were moving to a smaller location sometime soon.

 

The post office experience must've made quite an impression on the kids because when we got home from this trip, they promptly set up a "post office" in their room complete with free envelopes and lots of stamping paraphernalia.

For a couple of weeks they got everyone in the house to write notes to each other,  which they  delivered to the rooms in the evening (for a fee of course, just like in the post office!).

These would look good on my porch trellis

I wonder what will happen to the building when the post office moves out. Would the new tenants preserve the building exactly as is, with grills and light fixtures intact? I look forward to my next trip to see what becomes of this historic building.

A Clear Bathroom

This is a bathroom at the Fairmont Hotel in Singapore. I thought it was an ingenious way to treat a small bathroom--everything was glass, even the counter top.  It probably isn't practical for a home bathroom because not only would the glass counter be hard to maintain, the design only works if you can keep it as sparse and neat as a hotel bathroom--meaning no toiletries on the counter, or any other clutter that comes with regular life. 

But it works for a hotel where you'd probably spend only a few days, and keeping it neat and clean isn't really your problem.

 

I like the idea of the shower being partitioned off together with the bathtub. It's a space saver that also allows more elbow room while showering. Notice too that the shower controls are on the wall nearest the stall opening--you can turn on the water before even getting under the shower.

The glass partition of the toilet doesn't serve any purpose except to terminate the glass counter which would otherwise be floating, exposing an unsafe sharp corner.

The all-glass strategy makes this bathroom feel spacious. What I also found very interesting were the vanity lights. The whole mirror protruded about 5 inches from the wall, creating a space to embed a fluorescent tube on each side. A narrow frosted glass panel is hinged from the inside and opens up like a cabinet door for easy access to the bulb. Flat chrome strips form a border on it tying it into the main mirror.  I thought the application was pretty clever specially since it's hard to source sleek vanity fixtures.

I kept telling myself I needed to photograph the details but kept putting it off. Now I don't have those pictures.

Before coming to the Fairmont, we were at the Marina Bay Sands, which I admit is very impressive, but is also circus-like with so many people walking through the lobby. Since the place is massive, the elevators can be a trek away depending on which tower your room is located.

In comparison, the Fairmont is compact so more design tricks are needed to create a feeling of spaciousness, like this "clear" bathroom. After being in the middle of all the activity at the busy Marina Bay Sands, I appreciated the intimate feel of the smaller and quieter Fairmont.

Lied Discovery Children's Museum, Las Vegas

The kids were looking forward to visiting the Lied Children's Discovery Museum. While driving to this place the day before, I erroneously drove into another driveway and we ended up at the Las Vegas Natural History museum. We went there instead. They enjoyed that, but their hearts were set on Lied (pronounced LEED) so they made sure I drove into the right parking lot this time.

Lied is located north of the strip. I was actually surprised that Las Vegas had something like this for kids. Our first experience with a "Discovery Center" was in Honolulu many years ago. The girls absolutely loved it (and still do), so when I found Lied online four  years, I knew we had to visit.

The girls didn't remember being here in 2008 (that's one of the main reasons I write this blog--I want them to remember where we went--and of course I want to remember too!). Here they are four years ago...

They're growing faster than I can blog.  Stop growing until I catch up with the posts, guys!

I appreciated this plumbing display. You pretend to be a plumber and connect the pipes. So that's how they are connected inside the walls! Now if only they also showed how the drains work.

 I can't seem to find this wall niche contraption for the washing machine here in Manila.

There's an airport set up here too. They get to push suitcases through security.

The bubble stations hold their attention for a really long time. I have to remind there that there are other things to see and do.

This display about food was useful for me.  You choose food cards and put them on the plates, and the calories are added up on the screen. It shows you the calorie effects of choosing your food wisely. I wanted the kids to spend time here,  but they ignored me.

This picture above is, for me, the most useful display for adults in the whole museum. Based on this, a standard restaurant serving in an American restaurant should be able to feed a whole family of four.

On one side of the second floor, there's an art room offering a daily craft. The girls love being creative so they plopped in and did the featured craft--a dragon head made out of scrap colored paper. After twenty minutes, they were back out exploring.

This place is a bit worn, but it's still amazingly fun for them. Kids, unlike adults, don't really notice aesthetics as long as they can play.  But look, a  brand new center is going to open in November and in a new location too.

I thought at 11 and 9, they would've outgrown their Discovery Center stage, but they still loved it. They always find something new, or they just play with something in a different way.  This is a fun way to entertain the kids in Las Vegas, without having to be near the casinos. Remember too that the Natural History museum is just across the street.


Lied Discovery Children's Museum

833 Las Vegas Boulevard North

Las Vegas, NV 89101

(702) 382-3445