February 13, 2008

• Some Natural History

  
  
  First off, yes, I did post
  three entries in one day. I do not expect that anyone will read and
  comment on all three. But, it makes life nicer for me since Xanga is my
  journal as well as my Xanga.
  
  We had thought to go to London on Monday as the weather was to be lovely. But,  poor Hunter came down with the cold that’s been plaguing my kiddos. So, we deferred until Tuesday, and the weather was just as mild–in the 50s. But, the train to London was packed.  The boys and TGD stood the whole hour-long trip. LibbyK found the luggage rack to lean against. LittleMiss camped out under the luggage rack, and I sat next to her.

  
  

  
  
  Our London destination this week was FREE museums!  We decided on the Natural History Museum for our first stop.  First stop in the museum was a bathroom break and to eat our packed-lunch sandwiches. TGD was excited to see that the tables all had the Mathematical Association of America symbol on them.  (What it meant to the museum, we have no idea.)

  

  The entrance.  All of my pictures turned out slightly blurry. I think that it was probably the lighting, but you never know. 

  

  Before you got to this escalator, you passed through a row of statues
  of Greek gods and things which had to do with Natural History.

  Welcome to the museum!
  

  It’s nice to see you!
  

  We toured through the rock and earth’s processes area first. This was nice, as Lib and Gock have been studying rocks and all those things in science lately. 

  

  
  

  The museum was also fairly hands-on, with displays to touch and participate in to understand processes better.  One display was set up to resemble a Japanese supermarket. They had a number of TV screens around “the market” showing actual in-store footage of an earthquake going on.  Plus, as the TV screens went through a brief explanation of the stages of the earthquake, the whole floor shook and swayed.  After I was on that floor for about 45 seconds, I was nauseous.  And, I had even taken Dramamine for the train ride.  I guess I should avoid moving to Japan or California.

  
  

  

  We also enjoyed TGD’s impromptu lectures.  When faced with this “display,” he explained to the children how they were now using the wood from petrified trees to make Subway drink cups. 

  

  
  We laughed even more in the dinosaur exhibit when we saw a life-sized model of a dinosaur, but it was all white like a plaster mold. “This is an albinosaur, kids. It’s amazing how they found one fully intact with its skin still on it.”  What was even funnier was the expression of the guy behind us who thought TGD was serious–seriously deranged, possibly! 

  “It’s a leopluradon, Charlie! A magical leopluradon!”

  

  This is one of my favorite pictures of the day. 

  

  And this is my second.  Believe it or not, this is called a Dorcas Gazelle.  Doh!
  

  Don’t mess with the Rhea. He’s Rheal bad.
  
  

  Wit checking out the skeletons and models of things

  
  

          

  Being England, they didn’t just have a building full of cool stuff. Nope. The building itself was gorgeous, too.
  

  

  

  
  

  I didn’t mention standing in a claustrophobic line for about a half an hour to see a mechanical T-Rex (which was cool and scary) or the glass elevator or the gemstones or many other things we saw. But, you get the idea.  It was well worth it for a free museum!

  
  

  
  

  • 5:21 pm
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