This museum is literally just next door to the Victoria & Albert Museum, so it was an obvious choice to go to after my spending a couple of hours at the V&A. However, I am not used to so much walking so my body, namely my back and legs were complaining.
In addition, there were two other issues I had. First, the place was crawling with tourists and kids on school trips or with parents. You could hardly walk. Second, the focus of this place seemed to be on dinosaurs, and I have been to a lot of dinosaur and other such museums, and this did not seem to be interesting to me or my aching body.
However, and this was a huge thing, I could not get over the incredible building that housed this museum!! So, even though I did not look at any specimens, I was entranced with the brick and tile work that makes this building an incredible artistic structure. Check out the photos below. I need to go back some time early in the morning when it is not so busy and spend more time taking photos of the building.
One very interesting thing about this museum is what they call the dinosaur garden. What they have done is plant the things that dinosaurs and other creatures alive millions of years ago ate.
A hint of the architectural detail to come. It looks a lot like a cathedral, I think, not a basic structure to house bones and specimens! And notice all the cycads in this picture above.
As I was walking past, I noticed a pair of strange looking pine trees. Indeed, these were samples of Wollemi pine trees. That was a surprise because I knew that these very primitive trees were thought to be extinct until a few were found in a couple of deep canyons in Australia. The location has been kept secret since their discovery in 1994. However, in order to make people resist the temptation to illegally dig up and propagate these valuable trees, they have been heavily cloned and grown from seed so that you can actually buy some for your yard or to keep in your home! They are not cheap, but these two came as gifts from the Australian government.
The pines have two types of cones. You can see the yellow feathery-looking structures on the top of the tree.
If you look very carefully, you can see the other types of cones in the middle and far left of this photo.
As you enter the museum, the first thing you see is the giant Blue Whale hanging from the ceiling. But you cannot ignore the size and detail of the ceiling and walls of this building.
However, if you closely at the ceiling, you will see that the ceiling is made up of dozens of panels, each illustrating a plant or animal.
And even more detail. I had a good friend who once gave me very good advice for seeing things that others missed and taking good photos of those things. She said to always look up and look down, not just looking ahead of you.
At the advice of one of the docents, I took some stairs to a balcony to get a better view of the ceiling and upper building.
Very impressive building, even if you don't want to see any more natural history specimens!!
Both this and the V&A museum are free, so if you are in London, at least stick your head in here to take a look.
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