The Last of London

On the third full day I braced myself for some serious museum action. Look out, a thrill a minute, really. I had planned to see the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum.

Doesn't look that British to me

The great court, inside the BM

The British Museum was just a short stroll from the hostel, through Russell Square. I was there pretty early, and at first it was quiet, but that changed quickly! I had budgeted two hours per museum, but after over three hours I decided I needed a coffee.

The BM was full of the most bizarre and unusual things. Old things, significant things.

The BM itself is, as you probebly already know, world class. The exhibits that really stood out included some of Captain Cooks stuff, Greek and Egyptian artifacts. The collection of mummies was huge, kinda creepy, but totally enthralling. The rosetta stone, wow, old school, was that in like Indiana Jones? I don't know, pretty rad none the  less. You can kind of just feel the importance.

Good stone, bad camera

Doesn't seem that complicated to me...

What was even more amusing was the collection of Greek statues and carvings. I remember when I was last in Athens hearing alot of 'this or that statue is a replica, as the real one is in the BM', yes they are. In fact I think most of ancient athens is in the BM. Pretty funny really.

Oh hey, I'm a pile of bones

Ok, so coffee, pret, and a sit down. Then onto the Natural History Museum, via the tube.

The foyer lobby main area thing

Started off with the Mammals, then reptiles, fish, crustactions, squids, insects, blah blah blah, I saw it all. It was all very good and informative, but alot of the exhibits were models of animals. Which I guess is good because it means they didn't kill a whole bunch of rhinos. hah

Fake!

What really took the cake was the Geology section. A whole building dedicated to it. I spent hours and hours in there. They had a great section on volcanoes, formation of rocks, erosion, gemstones, weather, resources, even an earthquake simulator! It was pretty much it's own museum. I spent hours in there just soaking it up, even with an espresso break in the middle there was too much. I'll have to go back.

Pretty sweet entrance to a museum yeah?

Earthquake simulator... I went for a ride.

So I was pretty tired by then, but I got a snack and headed for the science museum. I wandered in through the massive lobby, checking out some huge old steam engines on the way. I arrived at the entrance to the exhibits, looked up at the directory.... Five levels.... Nah. No way. I turned around and walked out. I would have dropped dead from exhaustion by the second level.

Pretty science-y, I guess.

Everyone needs unfinished buisness, and London is somewhere I could see myself living and working for a while. It's an international city, it never sleeps. It sees you more than you see it. You take the tube and rarely hear english. There is a kebab shop, fish and chip shop and usually two pubs on every block. It's trendy and touristy, cultured and chic. Guess I'll be back next year.