IQLandia

It was quite a pleasant weekend at the cottage, as much as possible.  Picked a lot of cherries and red currants, and took a couple of nice, long walks, but the highlight, the thing that made it an  exceptional weekend, was today’s visit to IQLandia.

It was my first time there but I wholeheartedly recommend it to any of my friends living in the Czech Republic, who have kids.  We spent almost 5 hours there and the kids were still going strong.  I was worn out, but they were still finding new stuff, even on our way out the door.

Sam’s friend is visiting, so we had two 12 year old boys, which was kind of rough on Isabel, but she gives as good as she gets.

The first thing you see in the lobby is a musical fountain.  You can press buttons for different instruments and the fountain co-ordinates with the music, but the backdrop is even more amazing.  Water that drops corresponding to whatever you draw on a pad with your finger.  It was pretty amazing.

Then you walk up a spiral ramp (we never did make it to the ‘secret weapons of WWII exhibit, with which I was fairly pleased) and it’s an interesting structure, because there are views of Ještěd (Yeshtyed) all the way up, and the Babylon water park just across the street, giving the impression that Liberec is actually kind of a futuristic city, even though Ještěd was built in the 1960s.

My favorite exhibits were the journey to the center of the Earth, the Faraday cage rock show, and the giant bubbles.  Isabel liked the water course where you could play with dams and water wheels to control the flow, and try to balance ping pong balls on the fountains.

The boys thought they were being funny when we went into the sex exhibit, saying “It’s about biology” because Sam got a 4 in biology and I’ve been on his case about it, but many a truth is said in jest.  I was thrilled.

They spent a lot of time giggling, but I think they learned a few things.

It’s an amazing place, with a lot of variety.