The Natural History Museum was amazing. Gorgeous exterior, gorgeous interior, and a vast array of well-organized and informative exhibits. Unlike the Imperial War Museum, it was easy to navigate and there was just the right balance between displays and textual information, plus a few interactive panels in most exhibits. I know I still have a little over two weeks to go and much more to see, but it might quite possibly be my favourite place in London.
I began my museum experience in the Dinosaurs exhibit, which is probably one of the museum's most famous; it's quite good and very well set-up, neither too long nor too short. After that, I went through the Human Biology exhibit, followed by the Mammals exhibit. I was a bit disappointed by how much more space was dedicated to the mammals section compared to the other animal exhibits, but the others were still interesting and not too small.
A good number of the museums in London - including the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and the Science Museum - are free. The catch is that there's usually one special exhibit that you have to pay for if you want to see it and the items in the gift shop and food courts are terribly expensive. Nevertheless, I bought a piece of shortbread and a cup of tea in the museum's café for lunch. While good, they weren't really worth the price, though it was the first cup of tea I've actually had here in England.
After lunch, I went through all the rest of the exhibits, except for those that were closed for renovation. This included displays on a vast array of topics, including ecology, volcanoes, birds, and human evolution. After finishing the free exhibits, I even paid for the special exhibit - called Ice Station Antarctica - because I was so impressed by the rest of the museum and spending a few minutes in a sub-zero room sounded very nice just then. The only thing I didn't do was sign up to take a tour through the Darwin Centre as I didn't think I'd have enough time left after I finished the museum.
As it turned out, I did finish before closing time, but it still took me over six hours. Unfortunately, this description doesn't do the museum justice at all, though it will probably take me a while to upload the 150+ photos I took, plus a few videos.
Since it was before 5 PM when I left the museum - the time when most of the free museums close - I decided to try and find the Science Museum. Once I got there, the first section I visited was the one on space exploration, which included a miniature model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Surprisingly, the text that went along with the NCC-1701 didn't say anything about Star Trek, though I find it hard to believe that the museum staff would just assume that all of their visitors would be familiar with the show.
This Star Trek homage was the highlight of my Science Museum experience; I wandered around all of the other floors, but the Science Museum suffered from some of the same flaws of the Imperial War Museum - confusing navigation and displays scattered everywhere with too much text. Some of the exhibits were even similar to those in the Imperial War Museum. All and all, it was a great disappointment, especially compared to how incredible the Natural History Museum was.
I began my museum experience in the Dinosaurs exhibit, which is probably one of the museum's most famous; it's quite good and very well set-up, neither too long nor too short. After that, I went through the Human Biology exhibit, followed by the Mammals exhibit. I was a bit disappointed by how much more space was dedicated to the mammals section compared to the other animal exhibits, but the others were still interesting and not too small.
A good number of the museums in London - including the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum, and the Science Museum - are free. The catch is that there's usually one special exhibit that you have to pay for if you want to see it and the items in the gift shop and food courts are terribly expensive. Nevertheless, I bought a piece of shortbread and a cup of tea in the museum's café for lunch. While good, they weren't really worth the price, though it was the first cup of tea I've actually had here in England.
After lunch, I went through all the rest of the exhibits, except for those that were closed for renovation. This included displays on a vast array of topics, including ecology, volcanoes, birds, and human evolution. After finishing the free exhibits, I even paid for the special exhibit - called Ice Station Antarctica - because I was so impressed by the rest of the museum and spending a few minutes in a sub-zero room sounded very nice just then. The only thing I didn't do was sign up to take a tour through the Darwin Centre as I didn't think I'd have enough time left after I finished the museum.
As it turned out, I did finish before closing time, but it still took me over six hours. Unfortunately, this description doesn't do the museum justice at all, though it will probably take me a while to upload the 150+ photos I took, plus a few videos.
Since it was before 5 PM when I left the museum - the time when most of the free museums close - I decided to try and find the Science Museum. Once I got there, the first section I visited was the one on space exploration, which included a miniature model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A. Surprisingly, the text that went along with the NCC-1701 didn't say anything about Star Trek, though I find it hard to believe that the museum staff would just assume that all of their visitors would be familiar with the show.
This Star Trek homage was the highlight of my Science Museum experience; I wandered around all of the other floors, but the Science Museum suffered from some of the same flaws of the Imperial War Museum - confusing navigation and displays scattered everywhere with too much text. Some of the exhibits were even similar to those in the Imperial War Museum. All and all, it was a great disappointment, especially compared to how incredible the Natural History Museum was.
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