Bateaux Jouets

There must be some reason why DH is dragging me all the way from school to Darling Harbour last Thursday. I get lazy to walk, courtesy of the Singapore heat. Temperature is lower here, chips DH, no reason not to walk is there? Walking has become part of life here. Bus fare threatens to burrow a hole in my pocket anways. I reluctantly agree. 'Cept for the $4.50 monorail ride, there wasn't any transport going into the harbour. "Why are we going there anways?" I complained. "You'll see. Just come along!" Yeah, the walk amost killed me. Chillier temperatures is fun for a while but when your legs start to freeze up and soon you'll feel like you're supporting your body on mere bones. I think my knees threatened to give way. Or maybe I'm getting old. Oh sigh. By the time I reached the bridge of the Harbour, I was too annoyed to appreciate whatever reason he had dragging me there. We're going to the Maritime Museum he says. What? Museum? Now? It was 3pm and I hate having to rush thru museum visit. I need half a day when I visit the MCA and almost 2 days when I go to the NSW one. Great, just great. That leaves us at most 2 hours for an exhibit. "If its expensive, I'm not going." I hope that deterred him. But nooooo. "Just a couple more steps" he quips, as I pulled my coat closer. The wind was cutting into my ankles, I won't be able to walk at this rate, soon. As we made our way down the wretched bridge, he pointed to the Bateaux Jouets sign hanging above.

Oh! Bateaux Jouets! I'd totally forgot telling him I wanted to see that a couple of days ago when we walked by but the museum was closed. The chill I had cursed non-stop a couple of minutes before was kinda forgotten when we walked into the museum. The bored lady knew what we were coming for so she handed us our admission stickers before pointing in the opposite direction behind us. Woo-hoo! Anything about transports, add in toys and French, I'm sold. I'm a firm believer in the theory that what we are right now, our every decision and behavior can be traced back to our childhoods. Let's leave that debate to another day. My earliest memory of transports was a blue cardboard box with a strap on top that goes from back to front, with a snap button for closure. It was blue with the Sanrio Runabouts characters on them. I loved that box a hell lot and I still miss it. I think I had crayons in it the last time I remembered. Its possibly long gone by now but it should explain a lot about me; the obsessions for suitcases, transports and perhaps has made me some sort of an escapist. I had dreams about packing clothing in the night and flying off to some faraway lands without telling anyone. I still want to do that! Shhh!



Needless to say, I enjoyed the little exhibition lots! Check out the collection if you can't make it here. It was a little dark cosy spot with enough wood and tin toys to fuel my obsession and set it alight. Each of them was such amazing detail and condition. Some of them had intact boxes with old child-like graphics on them. We stayed for the short french flim where they explained the history of the toys and how it relates to history in reality. There were also mini flim strips that showed how toys were made long ago - painstakingly made by hand by a smiling lady! That really hit home. It was hard to leave all the beautiful ships and boats behind when the announcement came for closing. I guess the other Australian exhibits would had to wait. We swung by the gift shop and I picked up a Levithan ship postcard for framing and a cute wood Bateaux as le souvenir.

"Was it worth it?" DH looked smug. "Yes dear." I didn't want to disappoint. :+)