If you are at a loose end on a rainy day with no money in London (I grant this would be a somewhat unlikely and unlucky position to be in), head to the Natural History Museum.
Free entry into one of London’s most entertaining museums. Whether you are into fossils or mechanical dinosaurs, there is something here for you.
I went on a whim on Monday afternoon (yes, unlike many museums it is open on Mondays) with my sister, as we were in a similar scenario as described above. We spent a good few hours entertained by the minerals, the animal facts, the skeleton casts and the impressive array of taxidermy. I think our favourite part was the mechanical T-Rex which is surprisingly realistic even at this age, and it is hard not to envision some kind of Jurassic Park dystopia. Or possibly this animal...
Before this particular trip, I had always remembered the blue whale to be the museums piece de resistance but I was underwhelmed by this part. It is undeniably vast, but sort of unfathomably so. Furthermore, I’m sure it has been said that humans can swim down the veins of a blue whale so I can only imagine that this must have been a relatively small one or else their vessel structure must be somewhat different to our own.
Check it out, you have literally nothing to lose. And if you are in a marginally better financial situation, go to the Animal Inside Out exhibition; another of Dr Gunther von Hagen's disgusting exhibitions, which was described by a friend as "the best exhibition she's ever been to'. She even bought the book.
