On 7th January and the crew and I decided a raid on the Natural History Museum was in order. Achievable because by fortunate coincidence the Monsters school had InSET (training) day. The opportunity of a “quiet” day out was too good to waste. So we made our plans to raid London.
Getting There
For those of you who have been to London you will know it has a marvellous underground system. The problem is it is so busy. And for the parents of two young children a bit of a daunting prospect. Now happy is not the right word to describe it, but the the pandemic has had some upsides. Today was one of them. Travelling during the first few days of the new term during the new culture of more working from home meant this was about the quietest I’d ever seen London.
We zipped into London on the East Coat Mainline arriving at StPancras. A short route march later and we were on the underground after some stern conversations about what a 7 or 8 year old does if they get separated from their parents. The kids loved it, maybe not the long walks but the underground was new and exciting. After a slightly unnecessary number of changes because I couldn’t make my mind up we arrived at South Kensington. You enter via the East Gardens and approach the very imppressive frontage. The building itself is beautiful and a worthy competitor for Hogwarts. The queing arrangements deny you the chance to climb the main steps. Instead looping you round to approach the entrance via the ramp from the West.
The Natural History Museum
We spent a good 4 hours mooching around the Natural History Museum. It was a wonderful experience and they have made a huge effort to make it entertaining for kids. Naturally we started with the dinosaurs. The displays were well pitched with adults and children of all ages catered for.
Some of the highlights for the kids included Andy’s Clock from Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures. The huge blue whale and the stegosaurus were impressive too. We zoomed around the displays of mammals, birds, fish and more before finally calling it a day. For 2 relatively yound children the experience is about seeing things up close and interacting with the hands on exhibits. They lack the patience for the full learning experience that was available. I think we’ll be visiting again when they are a year or two older.
The Retreat
After another subtereanean dash across London we arrived back at the King’s Cross. We had a “magical meal” at one of Mr Weatherspoon’s establishment more Hog Head Inn than Three Broomsticks but service was quick and the price not too painful.
Finally we surpirsed the girls with a trip to Patform 9 3/4’s. I snapped a few photo’s and bought some sweeties. The monsters tried out every wand in the place and Ollivanders competitors were required to answer a stunning number of questions before I could drag my pair away. I really liked the shop, it’s obviously a tourist trap and I in this instance am one of the tourists. Some really lovely gifts and the quality of the merchandise seemed good. We settled on some Bertie Bott’s Beans and some Fizzing Whizzbee’s. Ouch, they cost a pretty penny to say the least but I was expecting to be mugged so I can hardly claim I wasn’t complicit.
I thought the beans were particulalry good. Although we only ate a few on the train home the flavours including the gruesome ones were very nicely done. Bogey seemed have clove and maybe vanilla in the mix. The vomit flaboured one reminded me of Durian fruit for any of you have been to South East Asia. I wasn’t offered any of the “nice” ones by the monsters, how strange.
The Whizzbee’s were lovely and I think everyone in the coach heard when my eldest bit into a particularly large clump of popping candy it sounded like an emergency trip to the dentist…. which thankfully it wasn’t.
I rounded out the day by reading a a dozen pages of Harry POtter and the Philosophers Stone as we neared the end of our journey.
