London, Natural History Museum and Science Museum

London, the great sprawl of over eight million people. It seems like most are in the city center but thank goodness they aren't. We took a train in from Croydon to Victoria Station. Two things are immediately apparent. Its either very crowded on the under ground, or it isn't designed as well as other cities like Paris. It seems a little cramped and there's the inevitable queuing. The other thing is the very pleasant and helpful nature of the staff. In fact this seems to radiate from the people at large using the underground. It's a very different experience than we had thirteen years ago. I suppose it is a change directed by the Olympics. Hopefully they maintain this as it is very pleasant.

A couple of stops later we were outside the Science Museum. We had organised to meet a couple of Sue's cousins in the cafe. It was great to catch-up as we last saw them13 years ago. Hopefully they can come and visit us in NZ even though it is on the other side of the world. Or as many English refer to us as the antipodeans. 

For me the London Science Museum is a massive expensive waste. It has huge displays which look very impressive and are informative for adults. However, compared to NEMO the Amsterdam equivalent this one misses the mark massively. The kids learn't very little. The Natural History Museum on the other hand is very impressive and unfortunately we went there second with only an hour left. The dinosaurs are massive. However, the inside queue for the dinosaur area is over an hour long. Arrive early and plan on at least a three hour stay. If you ask the staff for a kids interactive area they will direct you to the basement. It is very good and Sophia and Julia loved using the microscopes and computers to answer given questions. They checked out a tarantula close up. However, it was the skeleton of the moa that we all loved.

Just outside we wandered into Kensington Gardens past the Royal Albert Hall. No visit is complete without seeing the Peter Pan statue.