February 13, 2008

• The Science of Kensington
  
  

  Picking up the day where I left off…
  
  We were worn out from all the looking we had done. It was time for a soda, a candy bar, and a romp in Kensington Gardens.  Some of you may remember from my comments this past summer that I loved Kensington Gardens. It was one of my most favorite places on the whole trip.  I was pleased to see that my children shared my love.  Gockle even said, “Next time we come to London, we should just spend all day here.”  Peter Pan had the right of it.
  

  
  

  Checking out the Royal Albert Memorial.  “Is that real gold?”

  
  

  
  

  

  On our way to see the Peter Pan statue, we saw a real, live rat!  We are used to squirrels and pigeons and such, but the rat surprised us.  Plague! Plague!

  
  
  

  The kids were not as impressed with the Peter Pan statue as I was and still am. Every time I take a picture of one of the fairies or woodland creatures on it, I’m disappointed. The magic doesn’t transfer to film.  I must need to sprinkle my camera with pixie dust.

  

  

  

  We fed the birds, which was neat.  Gockle has been dying to catch a pigeon this trip. He stalks them down the crowed streets of Cambridge, and I reprimand him.  But, Tuesday, he got to pet a pigeon, and I think that will have to suffice. There were two pigeons that ate right out of the children’s hands and let themselves be petted.

  
   

  

  

  And what good is a large, grassy area unless you can play Frisbee on it? Wit and Hunter take good advantage of the situation.
  
  
  

  After we reluctantly left Kensington Gardens, we went to the Science Museum. We had an hour and a half before it closed. NOT enough time! We will have to go back.  The first thing we saw was a flight simulator ride. I thought that it would be fun, and at 1.50 gbp, it wasn’t a bad price. I knew better than to attempt the model roller coaster ride in space given how I reacted to 30 seconds of model earthquake, but the four who did it said it was jolly fun. (Actually, they said, “I’d like to do that again.”)

  
  

  We spent the first part of our time looking through a hangar with displays on the history of flight. There were real planes, models, photos, and so much. We could have spent an hour or two just in that room alone.  The next room I wanted to head to was called “Launchpad.” I thought this would be about space exploration. It turns out it was a huge set of rooms with all sorts of cool hands-on experiments and activities. We watched the most amazing Rube Goldberg machine on a movie. It involved everything from a torch to a tank to pink, mechanical poodles.

  
  

  Wit and Gockle race wheels to determine the best placement of weights on a wheel.
  

  
  

  The family triumphant–a freestanding arch of foam blocks

  

  This is a body heat sensor screen. That’s LittleMiss in the front with the frown mask.  One funny thing–the screen showed purple for cold things. The plastic masks, glasses, etc. showed up purple. And, my nose was dark purple!  I guess it was colder than I thought.

  
  

  We rounded out our day by having supper at Burger King. (Our cashier and food-getter, Pintu, struggled–to put it mildly.) But, the food was good and the restaurant close to the train station. 

  
   

  • 5:21 pm
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