Meandering

A couple of weeks ago we had to go get our laptop fixed, Singapore phone plan, and get some photos off our computer hard drive. We found this mall down by city hall that is entirely dedicated to electronics. If we had time Lyndon would have spent a long time there. Electronics paradise. But ya know with kids it's another story. We had a few hours to hang around while our laptop screen was getting fixed. We were going to go pick some stuff up at the grocery store, but on the way we saw some pretty neat stuff and just decided to forget the grocery store and explore this area.

After we picked up our laptop and hard drive we went outside to see the Central Fire Station across the street from the mall. Henry is our fire truck loving boy and he was super excited to see it. This building was awesome. It is constructed in the Edwardian architectural style and looks completely out of place in Asia. It looks like something that would be in the UK. The architecture was awesome and there is a small museum on the side of the Station that I will be taking the boys to while Cosette in in school.

The first place we found was the Armenian Church of St. Gregory. It is the oldest church in Singapore built in 1835, so not that old, but Singapore has only been a country for 50 years. It was beautiful. In the midst of all these skyscrapers stood this beautiful church. We really enjoy touring churches and cathedrals when we travel. There are not a lot of what we westerners would consider a traditional looking Christian church. The architecture really stand out in contrast with the other buildings around it. The steeples are what stand out the most.

We walked around the garden and went inside the church. It was just one circular room. It reminded me a lot of the Greek Orthodox Churches we saw in Greece. There were sculptures that dotted the garden area. They were lovely depictions of angels and Christ. Singapore is not a Christian country, it is a hodgepodge of so may different religions. It was just really nice to see some Christian symbols, a connection to our religious heritage and beliefs.

We then walk down the street to what we call the "rainbow building" or "skittles" building which is actually the Old Hill Street Police Station. Of course Henry ran through a door that you were not supposed to enter in and we had to chase him down. That lead us to a art lover's paradise. There were several galleries with original pieces from local artists. We have collected art from several places we have lived and traveled to. I would love to get a piece in Singapore and this has given us a good start to know what to look for. There was also a kids section that was closed, but had several lion statues targeted towards kids. Cosette said she was the pink one, Henry was the blue one, and Raphael was the green one. They are called the kindness lions each teaching a lesson about being kind and spreading kindness around your community. We have seen several of these statues dotted around Singapore on our outings. Finally nice to know what they are.

This outing reminded me of something I read in my Paris travel book. The book talked about how Paris was the greatest city for meandering around (and it is!) and you could just leave your flat without a destination and just have the most glorious day because that is the kind of city Paris is. You can turn a corner and find a fabulous cafe, or charming store, or beautiful secret garden. The point of that explanation is, that this outing was like that. We did have a destination we were sort of trying to get to, but we got side tracked with all these different exciting to us sights. It was wonderful. That day had started out really stressful, and getting the errands taken care of was not an easy one, kids. Finding these sights was a silver lining of our outing. And it makes me want to try and meander around our neighborhood. Since I have the three kids whenever we do go out I always have our destination we need to get to. Writing this is inspiring me to meander around our neighborhood more. I see different things that are close by that we should check out on our cab rides. I'm going to make a list. This will not be the last meandering post I write.