Last full day in London – so we head for the Museums – well we do after breakfast 
British Museum first. Head for Holburn from Kings Cross by tube. We got there soon after the doors had opened at 10 am, even then it was busy. I always thought the the roof of the British Museum was distinctive:
The Central Area is certainly distinctive:
The museum has a deserved reputation for research and is well laid out. I know that Susan was eager to go round the place as I was, initially. I like museums and visit the Museum of Scotland (Chambers Street, Edinburgh) regularly, but as I progressed through this museum I felt disconnected from it. As we made our way round I found myself feeling estranged from the exhibits almost like drifting through time and very little interest. We strolled through America the took lift up to the third floor to walks through Asia – Europe, by that time I had lost all interest in this museum and it’s extensive exhibits. I wandered away from Susan and left her to take her time looking at the Pre-Roman, Roman and Saxon exhibits. Susan found me sitting near the floor exit, I guess she saw from my face that I was not enjoying this visit so she curtailed her tour and we headed to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
We took the tube from Holburn to South Kensington then the underground passage to the three museum – Natural History, Science Museum and the V&A. Taking this rout was a mistake, we should have gone above ground then, as Susan said, I would have seen the magnificent Facade of the V&A. As it was we entered a sort of back way – but it was worth it as we made our way to the cafe for a cup of coffee etc. The cafe is split into two – the modern side – which is plan and straight lines – and the older three rooms with splendid decorations. One was designed as a casino room (the Green Room) the central room was a salon and the third room a smoking room (I think). We chose the middle room and sat among Victorian splendour – which helped ease the shock of the prices of Diet Coke etc.
Time was pressing as always, and we had two other museums to visit – The Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, thankfully both were near to the Victoria and Albert. Although we did not see very much, what we did see was of top class quality, well exhibited and this time I did not feel cut off from the exhibits. Every time I think of the Natural History Museum I also think of the wonderful Walt Disney comedy film “One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing” starring Helen Hayes. (She of Miss Marples Films Fame). Not the best thing to recall about the museum and I’m sad to say that despite a wonderful tour of this Museum from the Enter Earth Exhibition to the Dinosaurs which all were high class and informative, I still link the museum to the film:
especially after I got the proverbial scared out of me by a Mr T Rex
The “Great Lizard” – “Dinosaur” exhibition is very effective as well as informative it also has a surprise at the end of the walkway. As you approach the end you hear a rustle then a growl and finally a roar. As your turn the first corner you see mist and it is dark, again you hear a rustle, then it looms, the Terrible Lizard “Tyrannosaurus Rex“ .
Once again we had entered a time warp – as it was approaching closing time when we noticed that there was a wild life photographic exhibition so we paid our fee and entered a wonderful display of wildlife captured by photographers of all ages. Finally the time came to leave not just the exhibition but also the museum and make our way back to Kings Cross. However, instead of going straight to Kings Cross we took the tube to Westminster and a walk up Whitehall.
Where, London being London, we walked straight into a security check – I have no idea what the alert was, but we walked down a subdued Whitehall.
Our final tourist spot was Trafalgar Square:
As it was now 8:30 we headed to Charing Cross tube station and returned to Kings Cross where we dined out an Italian resteraunt befre we returned to our hotel, tired out from our days adventures.
Slide show of London Images
