Lots and lots of history

We had another full day of exploring and learning in London. We saw lots of natural history at the Museum of the same name, and lots of cultural history at Westminster Abbey. Both were enjoyable, in very different ways.

The Natural History Museum is an interesting combination of old-fashioned museum-ness and modern, interactive displays. They have a great many fossils and reconstructed skeletons (the dinosaurs are quite impressive) as well as stuffed animals of all kinds. They do inform you, frequently and somewhat contritely, that these unfortunate creatures are from the Museum's historical collections. Current museum practice, of course, puts a greater value on animals in the wild than on capturing them for displays. However informative these historical displays are, they definitely have an old-fashioned look.

But there are also all kind gee-whiz exhibits that are geared, and quite successfully, I would imagine, toward 21st-century kids, mixed in with the stuffed dodos and pygmy shrews. We actually liked the "red" section of the Museum's exhibits, that deals with earth science, better than the life science sections that we saw. The impressive escalator ride shown above takes you from one level of this section to another. I'm looking forward to my next visit here, with the next set of visitors.

A long walk and a short bus ride later found us at Westminster Abbey, which is a very impressive structure absolutely chock-full of cultural/artistic decoration. It was our first pay-for-admission attraction but was well worth the £12. No photography allowed in the Abbey, but the cloisters are a different matter and I was able to take this nice shot looking through the ornate windows there.

Although these were two prime sight-seeing spots, we weren't finished yet! A pleasant walk through part of St. James Park led us to Buckingham Palace, which is a must-see, I suppose, but not nearly as photogenic as a lot of the other buildings I've seen. Then a somewhat over-priced, but good, dinner at a neighborhood pub closed out the day.

Now we're vegging and watching insanely difficult British tv quiz shows. The next few days will be short on blog-worthy action, since I've got to get back to work, but I'll try and find something interesting to post.