Yesterday I had another 'Grand Day Out' in London with DN and my sister.
There was the usual trip to Hamley's, this time to add a couple of Ben 10 toys to DN's growing collection, although the Spiderman toys also had to be given a quick perusal.
Then it was on to the Natural History Museum for the dinosaur exhibition.
I had never been to one of the London museums before, and I was amazed at how large and grand the building was. The whole building, both inside and out, is made of this creamy stone in the style of some huge baronial castle.
Inside much of the stonework is beautifully carved
and it is amazing to think that this building was purpose-built 125 years or so ago for the edification of the general public. Those Victorian benefactors must have been extraordinarily generous.
This huge dinosaur skeleton is the first thing you see when you get into the museum.
Which gives you some idea of the sheer scale of the whole place.
The dinosaur exhibition is totally 21st century with a life-size animatronic model of a T-Rex as the 'piece-de-resistance'.
This model was amazing - and well worth the half hour or so wait to get to see it. Who knew that dinosaurs were that popular!!
A visit to the dinosaur shop resulted in a roaring 'head on a stick' going home with DN.
Afterwards there was a trip around the 'Earth' section where you can ride an escalator right through the centre of the earth.
And experience for yourself what it feels like to be in an earthquake in the life-size mock-up of a Japanese supermarket.
There were also lots of 'hands-on' experiments like this one that demonstrated how vortexes (vortici?) work.
The amazing thing is that all this educational entertainment is still absolutely free. What a wonderful resource our museums are, and long may they continue.
PS Apologies for the 'fuzziness' of the pictures of DN but you just can't get the little beetle to stand still long enough to have his picture taken.
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