Valencia Part II

25 Sept 2011
After heading back to the City of Arts and Sciences, we're heading back to Alicante. This was a pretty short trip, but I'm sure that there will be others. Although I have Monday off, I have plenty of errands (applying for my identity card and going to the grocery store!) that I need to take care of today and tomorrow.
Around 11 AM, we went to the Museum of Science in the City of Arts and Sciences. This museum was pretty interesting. It had a lot of interactive experiments and games. There was one room full of the typical experiments you find at a children's museum--such as experiments dealing with light, sound, and movement. This room was full of kids--which meant that we couldn't really try out anything. Then, we went to an exhibit that talked about well-being. As you entered, your picture was taken and as you went from one section to another the screen would recognize you. For example, one of the sections talked about muscles and I was able to test my muscle strength. When I left, I could print out a report about my general well-being.
Next, we went upstairs--where the most interesting exhibits were! The first exhibit (and probably the group favorite) was about soccer (fútbol) and the muscles/strength necessary to play. You could test your strength by doing pull-ups and find out how high you can jump. This floor also had a Marvel comics exhibit. I'm not entirely sure what this has to do with the sciences--other than most of the comic book characters have some sort of bizarre encounter with science in order to get their special powers.

Lastly, the floor had an exhibit about genes. There were a ton of different sections that discussed different organs, diseases, mutations, etc... I really liked one of the displays. It says, "Why do we say that the flame of a candle isn't alive?" In the middle, it's says, "Life," and it's surrounded by all the things that we characterize as part of life--"growth," "ages," "dies," "breathes," and "moves."

After going to the museum, we had lunch and returned to the train station--which by the way is beautiful. This train station is like a work of art. It has magnificent stained glass windows, mosaics, and tile work.