On 4th of July with nothing much to do,we went visting the Cincinnati Museum and Arts Center.The center boasts of an impressive facade-a semicircular dome at the backdrop of a bubbly fountain and lush greens all around.We were greeted by a smiling and courteous parking attendant who announced "Parking $4.50"....I gingerly rummaged through my wallet and came up with the requisite change.It was already late in the afternoon and we had just under a couple of hours at our disposal.Once inside the museum I marvelled at the grand lobby with a beautiful dome.We decided on a combo deal of a wade through the Natural History Museum and a movie at the Museum's widely acclaimed Omnimax theatre.The Natural History section was interesting as expected and we checked out the portals on Ice age,the dinasours and the works.I spent quite some time looking at exquisite pollen shapes under a user friendly microscope(reminded me of Biology lab back in school!!).There was even a sample from Pune,Mahrashtra India.I felt a little proud and smiled to myself.
What I found most interesting was the section on Apollo Missions.The 'piece-de-resistance' was a rock sample collected during the historic Apollo's lunar mission in 1969.A couple of months back Niel Armstrong was in Cincinnati to present the rock sample to the museum. I was intrigued to discover that Armstrong is almost a local boy and he used to teach Areaunautical enginnering at the University of Cincinnati in the late seventies.He also delivered a lecture at the Museum during the presentation.I got to know about this event a little late and will always rue the chance of seeing in person one of the personlaities I really admire.
After an hour at the Natural History museum it was time for the omnimax show.The theatre was astounding with the circular dome and the walls serving for the gigantic screen.The documentary was "Greece-Secrets of the past".The view was almost 360 degrees and it was truly an incredible experience.Though I have seen couple of Imax shows including one at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC,this was an absolutely rivetting experince.The documentary itself was fabulous with fantastic commentary and soothing music.It was close to being in Greece for that matter.
It had started to drizzle lightly by the time we came out but that didnt deter me from clicking a couple of grand pictures on my camera.
In the end it was a day well spent and I'm sure what we saw was hardly a quarter of what is there to explore in the museum.But I leave that quest for another day.
What I found most interesting was the section on Apollo Missions.The 'piece-de-resistance' was a rock sample collected during the historic Apollo's lunar mission in 1969.A couple of months back Niel Armstrong was in Cincinnati to present the rock sample to the museum. I was intrigued to discover that Armstrong is almost a local boy and he used to teach Areaunautical enginnering at the University of Cincinnati in the late seventies.He also delivered a lecture at the Museum during the presentation.I got to know about this event a little late and will always rue the chance of seeing in person one of the personlaities I really admire.
After an hour at the Natural History museum it was time for the omnimax show.The theatre was astounding with the circular dome and the walls serving for the gigantic screen.The documentary was "Greece-Secrets of the past".The view was almost 360 degrees and it was truly an incredible experience.Though I have seen couple of Imax shows including one at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC,this was an absolutely rivetting experince.The documentary itself was fabulous with fantastic commentary and soothing music.It was close to being in Greece for that matter.
It had started to drizzle lightly by the time we came out but that didnt deter me from clicking a couple of grand pictures on my camera.
In the end it was a day well spent and I'm sure what we saw was hardly a quarter of what is there to explore in the museum.But I leave that quest for another day.
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