Natural History Museum

The breakfast spread was nice but the service was typical of a London hotel. The toast didn’t arrive and had to be re-ordered.

Our first port of call for the day was the Natural History Museum.  We got there before the museum was open and there was already a queue to get in. When the gates opened we were able to jump the queue because we had paid for tickets to see the ‘Mammoths: Ice Age Giants’ exhibition in order to see baby Lyuba, the most complete woolly mammoth ever found. We got into the exhibition early which meant it was quiet and we were able to enjoy the display without people being in the way.  The exhibition was very well done. I was surprised to learn that there are three types of elephant not just two because there are two types of African elephant; plains and forest.

Blue Whale

It was obligatory to go and see the model of the blue whale which is stunning due to its size. Due to the school holidays there was a long queue to visit the dinosaurs so we gave them a miss.  There is always next time ;-) The other must visit part of the museum for me was the large escalator ascending into the giant earth sculpture.  This took us to the display on earthquakes and volcanoes and the moving plate that simulates the Kobe earthquake in Japan. By this time the museum was heaving and we decided it was time to leave and visit somewhere a little quieter.

Ascent Into Earth

Our destination was Foyles book shop. Earlier this year it moved locations to the shop next door to where it had previously been.  The sections I enjoy seem to have expanded and had larger selection of books to be tempted by. I was very restrained but someone next to me at the till clocked up a bill of £460!!!

After the days walking it was nice to get back to the hotel to put my feet up and have a nice relaxing bath before dinner. We dined in an Italian restaurant just of Sloane Square.  The food was delicious, the service was excellent and it was wonderful to sit outside in the warm English air enjoying the atmosphere. After our meal we caught the tube back to the hotel for a nightcap before retiring for some well earned sleep.

Fine Dining

12 Comments CherryPie on Aug 20th 2014

12 Responses to “London – Day Two”

  1. james higham says:

    Sloane Square, eh? No … er … Rangers wandering about by any chance?

  2. ....peter:) says:

    i missed day one because i couldn’t get into you site last night Cherie… but i love this presentation… they are all superb images….peter:)

  3. Sackerson says:

    At all costs, don’t miss the V&A:

    http://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/sunday-in-london.html

    … and what woman could resist the stunning Jewellery Collection (see the animal carvings by Faberge, for a start):

    http://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/pic-of-day-v.html

    • CherryPie says:

      I have visited the V&A and we so nearly did this time…

      I need to go back, you have shown me some interesting things that I did not see on my brief visit.

      Thank you :-)

  4. ubermouth says:

    You mentioned earlier that this was a celebratory getaway…what was the occasion?

    Sounds like a great day out!

  5. The NHM is always so crazily busy!
    Oh you did see the poppies at Tower of London?
    I took a lot of pictures there too. :)

    Oh, actually there’s a Book bench there!
    On the square overlooking the Tower.

    • CherryPie says:

      I have never seen it this busy before!!! But I usually visit in autumn/winter and not the school holidays ;-)

      I missed the bench I was too focused on the poppies. I took nearly 100 photos in the short space of time I was there…

  6. Bernard says:

    Hi Cherie,
    Well’ I’m a ‘gentleman of a certain age’ and I’m about to have a birthday, but I’m sure you did not venture this far south to see me. :-)
    You are very brave to venture into London. Having worked there (Hammersmith), and hated every day of the seven years of it, I swore, on retirement, never to set foot there again. Unfortunately my ’swear’ didn’t last long as my ‘little part-time retirement job’ required me to visit the British Library once a month! Well, I swallowed my pride and took the money for a few more years and then said, enough is enough. Never again.
    When I was a wee lad, we were taken into Birmingham on the tram to visit the Museums and they were nothing like you show us today. They were wonderful, fascinating, interesting and awe inspiring all the same to us boys even without all the ‘hi-tech’. Today they do seem to me to be a bit more like a ‘theme park’, but hey-ho, I expect the kids of today still find them – wonderful, fascinating, interesting and awe inspiring?
    Cheers Unc B.

    • CherryPie says:

      Well if I had known it was your birthday perhaps we could have made it a double celebration ;-)

      I love to visit London and see the museums and parks, I can’t get enough of them, but I would hate to live or work there. I intensely dislike traveling from A-B by tube, I feel worn out before I get to my destination!

      The best museums are the ones that strike the balance between a traditional static display and a more interactive display with hands on for the kids to explore and find out for themselves. If the line is breached it can become ‘theme parky’ and that is not so good for learning.