The Natural History Museum

For the last day of my mum’s visit, we decided to head to the Natural History Museum.

Getting there was a bit tricky – navigating London is a completely new experience with a pram.

Our train actually got us into London much faster than we expected though, as it had been running late and ended up skipping a bunch of stops on the way in to make up for lost time. It was very strange cruising past all the familiar stops and the train got up to a much faster speed than normal.

When we got to Victoria, we grabbed lunch at a Pret and then made our way to the coach station to find our bus stop. The C1 takes you right to the museums in South Kensington and also passes Harrods on the way.

While I knew that my mum would enjoy the museum’s exhibits, what I really wanted to show her was the building itself.

The Natural History Museum one of my favourite buildings in London. I love the stripey bricks and how all the details are based on a nature theme – for example, the grotesque gargoyles that are usually found on the outsides of old buildings are replaced with wolves, pterodactyls and hyenas.

And while the outside is impressive, the inside is breathtaking.

When you step through the doors, you are instantly face-to-face with the skeleton of a diplodocus.

You can walk under her head and tail and I always wonder if particularly tall visitors ever need to duck. 

In addition to the amazing dinosaur sentry, the stonework, staircases, vaulted ceiling, arches and stained glass make you feel like you’ve stepped into the cathedral of science… or Hogwarts.

The main hall isn’t just a hub for getting around the rest of the building – there are small vaulted sections that line the room, each one filled with a variety of specimens. The giant sloth is one of my favourites

I also think the giant armadillo is fascinating. He’s so similar to a Volkswagen Beetle and almost as big.

But, you can’t ignore the smaller details – this little bird carving caught my eye.

Picking a random direction to go next, we headed toward the back of the main hall, under the staircases and found ourselves looking at various aquatic creatures – such as fish, turtles, sponges, corals, alligators.

I think that the taxidermy versions of these things are the stuff of nightmares (let’s face it, many of the living versions of these things are pretty terrifying) so I didn’t take any photos. The blowfish, anglerfish and alligator snapper were particularly creepy.

After ensuring night terrors for the next week, we moved on to the mammals section. The blue whale room is particularly impressive.

There are many animals on display in this room – elephants, giraffes, moose, rhinos, narwhals, hippos, horses, zebras and warthogs to name a few. But the full-sized model of the blue whale, and the skeleton above it are the stars of the show.

It’s interesting, as well, to see the other whale skeletons around it – it really shows how enormous the blue whale is.

Next, we headed to the dinosaur exhibit. This is probably the most popular part of the museum. Unfortunately, when we got there, the lift was broken, so we couldn’t get the pram up to the upper level.

Since I’d seen it all before and Pumpkin isn’t old enough to appreciate any of it anyway, we went back out to the main hall and waited while Mum had a wander. Pumpkin and I will probably go back some time next year with Daddy-Man, so watch this space for another review in the future.

While she didn’t get to see any dinosaurs, I did get Pumpkin a new dinosaur toy. We’ve named her Tracey and Daddy-Man pointed out that she only has one horn, so she’s not actually a triceratops… she’s a ceratops. 🙂

Once we finished at the Natural History Museum, we headed across the street for a quick look around the V&A. I knew it wouldn’t really be my mum’s cup of tea, but I wanted to show her the Chihuly chandelier that graces the entrance.

Dale Chihuly is a glass artist from the Pacific Northwest – where my parents live – and I really love his work. The bright colours and organic shapes are both whimsical and beautiful if not a bit gaudy at times.

There’s also a Chihuly glass sculpture in Berkeley Square, “A symphony in glass: The Sun”, that I really want to photograph. I’ve walked past it a few times, but have never had the chance to stop and really look at it.

While we were at the V&A, we also had a look at the dresses on display. I’d love to go back to see the historical wedding dresses exhibition sometime soon. Anyone want to join me?

Finally, we walked down the road to Harrods. Like me, Mum’s not much of a shopper. But it’s not like we were actually going shopping. It was to see the store itself. We had a look around the food hall and then headed up to the toy department.

I’m not sure if you can see the price of that ‘toy’ horse. Even if you can see it, you might not think what you’re seeing is right. It was nearly £4,000. There were a number of these giant Steiff brand animals, all costing thousands. Mum pointed out that for £4,000 she could “clear out the feedlot” – meaning she could buy every horse at the auction house that she rescues from.

Moving on to happier thoughts, we explored the rest of the toy department and found some truly gorgeous dress-up clothes that I’ll certainly be thinking about getting for Pumpkin when she’s a bit older.

We also had an oggle at the ‘toy’ Hummer and Ferrari. With four gears (including reverse), adjustable seats, a maximum speed of 40 mph and a high-end sound system, they cost about £40,000 each if I remember correctly. There are plenty of real cars that don’t cost that much brand new!

Our day in South Kensington was busy and we were all exhausted as we headed home. Since it was so late, I had to say goodbye to Mum at the train station, which wasn’t ideal, but it’ll only be a couple of months until we see her again!

Have you ever been to the Natural History Museum in London? Or any other one for that matter? What’s your favourite part? Let me know in the comments below!

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The Natural history museum is open every day except 24-26 December. Entrance is free and the closest tube station is South Kensington. Since there’s no step-free access, you may also want to consider taking a C1 bus from Victoria Station if you have a pram.

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