At the End of the Universe at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston

Kusama's Love is Calling

The At the End of the Universe exhibit by Yayoi Kusama first caught my eye on my cousin's Instagram feed (@wanderng). Polka dotted, neon colored tentacles rose up from the ground and twisted down from the ceiling. An infinite field of incandescent lights exploded across a dark room. Curiously drawn to wanting to immerse myself in this experience, I knew that I would visit the Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH)  the next time that I was in town.

Moments Immortalized in Stone

Walking through the Galleria Borghese in Rome, you will marvel at its collection of classical and Baroque statues. The sculptors drew their inspiration from mythology and the Bible. David with his eyes intensely focused on Goliath and his arms pulled back to hurl that stone? Check. Apollo chasing Daphne while she turns into a tree rather than be his gal? Check.

Sculpture at the Galleria Borghese, Rome

Then there's this. It's a bit of a less grand subject. I shall call it "Something is Stuck in my Foot."

Villa Borghese: Enjoy the Outdoors in Rome

Taking a row in the lake surrounding the Temple of Aesculapius

Most tourists head to Rome for the ancient sites, churches, and charming but narrow streets. When you've had enough and just need a breath of fresh air and open space, head to Villa Borghese. This 148 acre park near the Spanish Steps and the Piazza del Popolo is the perfect place to run free and enjoy the outdoors in Rome, especially for kids. For centuries, it has been an oasis of greenery in a bustling metropolis.

Discovering Art with Kids at Galleria Borghese

Apollo and Daphne by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1625)

While visiting the Vatican Museum is de rigueur for any trip to Rome, I must confess that my family much preferred the art experience at Galleria Borghese. This private house turned public art gallery is located in the sprawling and verdant Villa Borghese park which itself has a ton of fun activities for kids like bicycles, rowboats, a zoo and a carousel.

Contemporary Art at the Vatican Museum

"Hey, you're not supposed to be in there. Don't touch that!"

Not exactly words you want to hear when visiting the Vatican Museum.

Sphere within a Sphere by Arnaldo Pomodoro

It all began when we walked into the museum's Courtyard of the Pinecone after buying our tickets. In the middle of the courtyard surrounded by classical architecture sat a huge, golden sphere. It almost looked like a DeathStar under construction or a globe in the process of shedding its layers. Creation or destruction? I couldn't tell what was going on. So, I asked our tour guide, an art historian with Context Travel specializing in family tours, what in the world I was looking at.

Made in Penang Interactive Museum for 3D Photo Fun

There's a new museum in historic George Town, and it's on the fast track to becoming one of the most popular attractions on the island. What makes the Made in Penang Interactive Museum so great? They've distilled the essence of Penang — its myriad ethnic cultures, foods, festivals, traditions, and landmarks — and highlighted them all in one place through cheeky artistic renderings. Best of all, YOU get to be part of the fun by jumping right into each scene. It's an outing that appeals to everyone, from families with young kids, to couples on a date night, to friends who just want to hang out for a few hours.  


You know how people like to take their photo with the twin Petronas Towers where it looks like they're hanging from the Skybridge? Or with the Leaning Tower of Pisa as if they're holding it up or pushing it over? Or as if they're pinching the top of the Eiffel Tower? They position yourself just right, and snap the photo for a great picture. That's what this place reminds me of.

Bring your camera!

First and foremost, remember to bring a camera whether it's on your smartphone, iPad, point-and-shoot cam, or your fancy DSLR. You will want to take photographs. That is the key to the interactive fun of this museum. You might even say that the artists have provided only part of each exhibit. You and your companions are an integral component, too.

One of the canons at Fort Cornwallis takes aim, shoots, and hits.

Sure, the above picture is a dynamic, 3D depiction of what the British who built nearby Fort Cornwallis intended. Canons were to defend the island colony which was then a valuable part of the British East India company. The cannonball has not only hit its target; its impact cracked the wall, broke the frame, and spilled seawater out into the gallery. 

But what makes this an interactive museum is...

Yup, it was my kids who fired that cannon.

You are part of the scene.

Up on the second floor, images pay homage to different, famous aspects of Penang. It's a good first stop for tourists to get an overview of the island, but it's also an ideal way to reminisce about what makes this place so interesting. You could almost make a series of postcards entitled "Penang is ______" with the printouts of your visit to this museum. 

A written description in both English and Chinese accompanies each piece of 3D art along with a suggested pose. Of course, if you're like my kids, you're free to improvise as well. 

That Tom Yam is spicy hot!
Originating in Thailand, the sour and spicy flavors of Tom Yam are a popular part of Penang cuisine.

Suggested pose and explanation of the Tom Yam artwork.

Look for the round sticker of red clogs on the floor in front of each scene to figure out where to stand to get just the right angle for taking a photograph. Museum staff members can take your photo for you if you want to be in the picture, too. On crowded days, staff also help block people from straying into your photo and keep the queue in order. The "Will you Marry Me? Love Lane" mural even has a charming bouquet of flowers that a staff member will hand you when it's time for your snapshot.

Here are just some of the thirty murals highlighting the best of Penang. Visit the museum to see the rest and insert yourself into these photos. 

What's an Aunty's favorite way to tour Penang? On a Trishaw, of course.

Betting on Siamese fighting fish was a popular past time among rural folk.

Crafting handmade wooden clogs is a vanishing heritage trade.
(Trivia: Famous shoe designer Jimmy Choo is from Penang.)

The waters around Penang are a dolphin habitat, and the Penang Bridge stretches 13.5 km to the mainland.

The Penang Ferry started operating in 1920 between George Town and Butterworth on the mainland.

Water fights break out at the Thai Buddhist temple during Songkran, the Thai New Year celebration, each April.

Kids love visiting the turtle pond at Kek Lok Si, the largest Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia.

Carniverous Monkey Cup pitcher plants are native to Malaysia and have their own garden up on Penang Hill.

Durian orchards dot the back side of the island.
Although it's the King of Fruits, my son would like to give its stinky aroma the boot. 

Char Koay Teow is pretty much my all time, favorite hawker food.
If only the prawns were truly that big.

The Indian influence on Malaysian mamak (food) is seen in Roti Canai (flatbread) and Teh Tarik (pulled tea).

Spider Man atop the Queen Victoria Clocktower built in 1897 to commemorate 
her Diamond Jubilee when Penang was still a British colony.

Peranakans are the descendents of the Chinese who immigrated to the British Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca and Singapore). This decor is typical to their homes in the mid-20th century. 

What also impressed me is that most of these pieces are actually 2D. They only look like they're popping out of the wall, and there's usually nothing to hold onto. You really have to pretend! Some gals were doing wall sits in the Peranakan room to make it look like they were sitting in the chairs. They must have good quadriceps.

Augmented Reality

Another interactive part of the museum has a few kiosks specializing in Augmented Reality. Step up to one set where a video camera shows your face on a screen with a Chinese opera mask superimposed upon it. With all my family's different head shapes, the mask adjusts itself to fit just right and moves along with the person.

Two kiosks require the QR code on the entrance ticket. Hold it out to the camera, and you are suddenly holding KOMTAR in your hand. Since it's the tallest building on the island and home to Penang State government offices, you couldn't do that in real life. Turn your ticket sideways, and KOMTAR rolls sideways, too. The other kiosk requiring the QR code on your ticket reveals the Penang ferry floating around on the water. 

Your entrance ticket's QR code lets you try out a little Augmented Reality. 

Historical Dioramas

The ground floor houses a few dioramas shedding light on Penang's history. Sculptor Khoo Chooi Hooi created these tiny depictions of life in bygone days from the 1960's Indian Barber to the Nasi Lamak sellers on the sidewalks. When I look at the small sculpture of the Durian stand, I am immediately transported to the smells of the durian stall across the street from my home. 

Historical dioramas of Penang life in years gone past.
(Clockwise from top left: Penang Jetty in the 19th century; smell the Durian stall from blocks away; Teh Tarik is milky, sweet and frothy; pungent and spicy Nasi Lamak for sale; roadside stalls selling Lemang (bamboo rice) are popular during the fasting month of Ramadan)

How the Penang Jetty looked over a century ago.
Also, the building now occupied by the Made in Penang Interactive Museum

A small movie theater on your way out of the museum shows "Pearl of Malaysia," a film about Penang's story. The English version and Mandarin version alternate with one movie starting every 30 minutes. 

IF YOU GO:

• Bring a camera. I repeat... bring a camera.
• This museum is best enjoyed without a crowd around. Weekdays or at opening time on weekends are the quietest and the ideal time to visit. (Let's just say that when we were there on a Sunday afternoon that was also the 3rd day of the Chinese New Year holiday was NOT the best time.)
• Hours: 9AM - 6PM daily; Plan on spending 1-2 hours at the museum.
• Hungry? A small kopitiam selling drinks, snacks, Cendol, Ais Kacang, and Penang Laksa is located by the ticket booth.
• The walkway leading into the museum has Malaysia's longest and widest 3D mural. You can enjoy it and take photos for free here without actually entering the museum.

Entrance Fees:

• Non MyKad holder (non-Malaysians): RM30
• Non MyKad holder, students and children: RM15
• MyKad holder: RM15
• MyKad holder, students an children: RM10

Location:
No. 3, Pengkalan Weld, George Town, Penang
Across from the Church Street Pier


This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox, "Oh the Places I've Been" on The Tablescaper, Travel Photo Mondays on Travel Photo Discovery, and Our World Tuesday. Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.

Modern Art and Confusion at the Pompidou Centre

Outside Paris' Pompidou Centre, you can see blue air ducts, green pipes for liquids, yellow electricity conduits, and red escalators and elevators.

The Pompidou Centre was not on my original itinerary for our Paris trip last June. My daughter was the one who suggested it. Since I gave my kids the Lonely Planet Not-for-Parents Paris Everything you ever wanted to know book prior to our holiday, I should have suspected that it may inspire them to make requests.

"Well, why are you interested in the Pompidou Centre?" I asked.

She replied, "The book says it's inside out and upside down."

Kids and Nintendos at The Louvre

The Louvre (You probably figured this out on your own.)

"Mom, we're going too fast," my son said as he hung back with his eyes lingering on the painting before him.

I couldn't believe my ears. Had some art-loving, fairy changeling switched places with my kids? All three of them? How else could I explain the vast difference at the Louvre versus the other art museums we'd visited in Paris? At the other places, they seemed oblivious to the masterpieces on the walls and more interested in playing the annoying game, "Squash a Sibling." In the Louvre, they stood quietly engrossed in the works of art surrounding them and were reluctant to move on to the next room.

"Honey," I said gently, "Remember the guide book said it would take nine months to look at everything at the Louvre? We don't have nine months." And I tugged him into the next gallery.

So, what was the magical element that caused this transformation? A Nintendo 3DS XL. Yes, I let my kids stroll through one of the greatest art museums in the world with a Nintendo DS firmly gripped in their hands. But it wasn't just any ordinary Nintendo. This one doesn't play MarioKart, Minecraft or any other games. It's loaded with commentaries on approximately 700 pieces in the Louvre and acts as the official audio/videoguide for the museum. Costing just  €3 (US$3.95) for people under 18 years old, it was cheap enough for me to rent one for each kid and completely worth the price. 

Learning about the Winged Victory

The Nintendo hangs from a handy neckstrap, so they did not need to worry about dropping it. In fact, the attendant was quite insistent that the kids keep the strap on at all times. The headset fit comfortably over their ears, and we were ready to go.

The guide offers a choice of doing the Masterpieces Tour, roaming the museum, or asking it to take you directly to one of the popular pieces at the Louvre.  An "Egypt for All the Family" tour with multimedia games is being developed that aims to be both humorous and informative.

The Nintendo has a built-in GPS. This enormous set of buildings is exactly the type of place where one could easily get lost wandering through all three wings and four levels. Knowing exactly where we were was wonderful. Beacons are posted around the museum's interior; hence, we did not need to worry about poor satellite reception inside the stone walls. The device also gave us the locations of food outlets in the Louvre and their hours of operation.

As we'd enter each room, the Nintendo would highlight a few key pieces on the map, drawing the kids towards artwork they may have not otherwise noticed. If you're on the Masterpieces Tour, it shows you the route and doesn't start playing the commentary until you reach the right area, even if you wander off for a bit. It also operates like a traditional electronic guide where you can type in the ID number on the work's plaque in order to find the particular commentary of a piece that catches your eye. Keep in mind, though, that with a collection of over 35,000 items, not every single piece has an accompanying explanation. This was a bit of a disappointment for the kids, but as I pointed out, we only had a few hours. As it stands, it would take over 35 hours to listen to what's already been recorded.

No blog post about taking kids to the Louvre would be complete without a photo in front of the Mona Lisa.

The kids could visually explore the artwork on-screen, too. Sometimes, the Nintendo displayed related or influential pieces in regards to one we were viewing. They could see Winged Victory of Samothrace in 3D, no special glasses needed, from the back without a pesky wall getting in the way. My boys also liked zooming in on sections of the high definition images, especially ones that were hard to see from our vantage point of standing on the floor. "Look mom," said my 10-year-old, "even the frame has pictures painted on it," while showing me an area he had focused in on way at the top of an immense work. They could zoom up on the details of the mountains gracing the background of the Mona Lisa, unhampered by the crowd around it, the railing or the bulletproof glass protecting it. It was like practically touching the painting with their noses.The one downside is that I had to keep reminding the kids to actually look at the real piece in front of them, not just the image on their screen. Otherwise, they may as well be sitting at a computer in some place much, much cheaper than Paris.

My mom forgot to take a photo of me in front of the real Mona Lisa, so I had to settle for posing in front of a sign.

Our time at the Louvre exceeded my wildest expectations. After earlier museum visits during our week in Paris, I had set the bar rather low by this point, merely praying that we'd be able to escape without, for example, accidentally causing the Venus de Milo  to be headless in addition to armless.

The moments when my kids would come over to me to quietly share some new insight were a dream come true.

"Mom, this room was painted by the same guy who did the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles," whispered my girl, instructing me to take a picture of the Galerie d'Apollon. Then, my younger son came over and said the same thing.

Studying how the  Louvre's Galerie d'Apollon  resembles the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles

My heart loved hearing this. I smiled hearing it again weeks later as my girl showed her grandmother our vacation photos and whenever she tells people about our visit to the Louvre.

Isn't that what we hope for both ourselves and our kids when we visit some place? That something captures our senses and makes an indelible mark on our minds that we long to share with others.

After we'd seen all the Masterpieces, my younger boy wanted to take a look at The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds. He'd heard his dad talking about it and seen it on the iPhone app we'd downloaded. He entered the title into the Nintendo, and a map came up showing him how to lead the family there. Good thing because I seriously think that we'd been completely lost if it'd been up to me to find it!  Also, my analysis of the painting would have been, "I think that guy with the Ace of Diamonds is cheating." I am clever that way. The Nintendo, on the other hand, went into much more detail.



Listening to commentary on The Cheat with the Ace of Diamonds

The device may look like a toy, but it's an upper level textbook in disguise. The audioguides are actually intended for adults. The excellent commentaries are by the Louvre's curators, lecturers and other experts. It's full of concepts that kids may not comprehend, but they still walked away learning so much more about art appreciation than I had expected.

By the time we were deep into the museum, I wished I had rented a Nintendo for myself. Even though our Rick Steves guidebook had tons of info on the artwork, I didn't really like having to glance back and forth between the book and piece. Listening to an audio commentary while looking at the art would have been better. When I got them for the kids, I was simply hoping to buy myself some extra time before they started asking to leave. Now, I felt like they were getting more out of the museum visit than I was.

I highly recommend the Nintendo guides for both adults and children. If you want to learn more about the Nintendo 3DS at the Louvre, watch this video by Nintendo Life (and marvel at how uncrowded the galleries are) or take a look at the Louvre's audioguide information page.

Details on the Nintendo 3DS XL guide:

• These customized Nintendos do not take game cartridges  and cannot be used outside of the Louvre. There is no worry that your kids are surreptitiously playing a game with it.
• First, pay for the guide at one of the ticket counters, ticket machines, or at the entrance to each of the 3 wings. Get a coupon from the machine.
• Exchange the coupon for a Nintendo at the Audioguide counters located at The Group Reception area, under the pyramid or at the top of one of the escalators leading to the 3 wings.
• You must leave a form of ID (passport, drivers license, etc.) as a deposit to guarantee return of the Nintendo.
• You must rent the entire device. You cannot use your own personal Nintendo for the tours.
• Available languages are French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese and Korean.
• Full Price €5; Under 18 years €3

Bonus: Read about a restored copy of the Mona Lisa that was supposedly painted by an artist sitting next to da Vinci as he created the original. The interactive feature reveals what the masterpiece looks like centuries ago.

This post is part of Travel Photo Thursday on Budget Travelers Sandbox and Friday Daydreamin' at R We There Yet Mom? Check them out for more around-the-world travel inspiration.