Thick as Thieves with Physics, or a walk for fans of science, discovery and experiments
Means of transport
How does it work? Where does it come from? How fast does it go? When was the first aeroplane flight? Children’s questions never end, so let’s try to find answers to at least some of them!
We start our scientific and motoring journey at the Polish Aviation Museum to explore the fascinating world of the skies. The museum is located at the former Rakowice-Czyżyny military airfield – one of the oldest permanent airfields in Europe. Parts of the exhibition are outdoors. The museum presents aeroplanes, helicopters, gliders and aviation engines, including many unusual and unique examples of aviation from around the globe. Stop to admire one of the first ever French planes dating back to 1909, one of only two remaining Polish RWD-13s from the 1930s, a Russian Grigorovich M-15 biplane flying boat, and the German Aviatik C.III observation craft. The educational hall features aircraft seats, a flight simulator and a cockpit.
We come back down to earth for a rest at the Polish Aviators’ Park. The vast open space covering over 30 hectares is home to playgrounds, basketball courts, bike paths and outdoor gyms. Make the time to relax: young kids will enjoy the Dragon’s Playground filled with slides, climbing frames and climbing walls, while their older siblings can race around the pumptrack dirt bike track and test their strength at the Street Workout Park Arena. Pumptrack is a specially designed obstacle course featuring moguls, banked turns and jumps spaced so that once the riders gain full speed, they can keep going without having to pedal. The park by Lema Street is also home to the Voyagers, Discoverers and Explorers Avenue dedicated to Marek Kamiński, Arkady Radosław Fiedler, Jan Potocki and Tony Halik. It has been planted with 30 oak trees, which are interspersed with plaques describing Polish explorers.
Next to the Polish Aviators’ Park lies Poland’s largest sports and exhibition arena, famous for hosting major competitions and concerts. You can take a peek inside the state-of-the-art Tauron Arena Kraków (Tauron Arena Kraków is just 4 km east of the Main Market Square.) during guided tours held several times a month. Visitors can explore parts of the venue which are usually inaccessible to the public, such as technical rooms, changing rooms for participants in sports competitions and VIP lounges. You’ll visit each level of the arena and learn the secrets of its construction. Previews and more information on the arena’s website: tauronarenakrakow.pl.
We end our walk with a real treat for young physicists: the Garden of Experiences is perfect for everyone who gets a kick from finding out for themselves how things work. The entire site is outdoors, so the Garden of Experiments is open between April and October. We will learn more about the laws of physics by conducting experiments and experiencing things with our own senses. Covering around six hectares, the park is home to over sixty exhibits demonstrating myriad phenomena from the worlds of mechanics, optics, hydrostatics, magnetism and acoustics, such as a Newton’s cradle, 3D maze, speaking tubes, stone xylophone, kaleidoscope, prisms and water vortex generators. There is also the geological Geogarden exhibition, the sensory exhibition exploring smell, and a green Lem-byrinth maze adorned with quotes from Stanisław Lem’s works. Who was Stanisław Lem? He was Poland’s most famous science fiction writer and futurologist, and the author of the stories about Pilot Pirx. The minor planet 3836 Lem has been named after him.