Visit to the Natural History Museum

What struck me most about the Natural History Museum is the extent to which it is quite literally a "Temple of Darwin"--complete with a marble of statue of him sitting on a throne at the top of a grand staircase. Very interesting.

There are lots of cool exhibits to see here about all aspects of nature, many visits worth.

 We didn't make it into the official "dinosaur" wing, but there were these impressive sea creatures (largely assembled by a particular 19th-century British woman) displayed along this long hallway.

Even without seeing the official dinosaurs, we saw a few very large creatures. This one is "Giant Sloth."

The obligatory stuffed creatures with the obligatory "we don't collect these anymore...but aren't they cool?" signs abounding.

 There's a grand gallery with life-size models of animals displayed in front of the gargantuan blue-whale. The elephant seems small.

 Noelle: "This is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my entire life."
Me: "Well, then, we must take a picture of you with it!"

 Noelle also enjoyed the arthropods gallery. It was here that as she chatted with the museum employee that a teenage schoolgirl walked by...and stopped short. "Oh my goodness, is she an American?! Oh, I've never seen an American before!!" I do believe she was serious. (Noelle is reading over my shoulder as I type this. She says, "I was terrified.")

This is the museum that Noelle has been most fascinated by so far, tied with the Museum of London. We went back on another occasion with just the two of us, and they were having a lovely outdoor "hedgerow festival" where we learned about hedgehogs, birds, and various British garden trees.

Seeing these pictures has reinspired Noelle to go back again before we leave England. I still want to see the dinosaurs, for my part.