Why
did the Natural History Museum get
evacuated? Why didn't the alarms sound? Why haven't the NHM tweeted
about it? I have no idea, but on Friday 8th December
everyone walked out of the South Kensington venue. My guess is that a
school group were moving on, and that there were so many of them that
people thought it was an unannounced evacuation and walked out with
them.
Including
me. Weird. Shame, really, as the exhibitions were fascinating, and
the building itself- huge, Victorian-era sprawling halls large enough
to hold whale skeletons and, until recently, a diplodocus cast- are
packed with fascinating nature-related finds.
The
current temporary exhibition, Wildlife Photographer of the Year,
features some of the most stunning depictions of animals from across
the globe- beautiful, majestic and occasionally horrifying. The
section dedicated to the evils of poaching are enough to upset the
most jaded of visitors. It's on until the 28th
May. There's a cost for this section, but it's worth it.
Last
weekend I dropped into London with the parents to visit my sister and
do some sightseeing. I have a list of London activities, so we worked
though a few of them, as well as some other plans.
We
stayed at Thameside YHA,
a clean and tidy hostel. Good stay, with WiFi in reception (but not
in the room). Plenty of plug sockets, but no blackout curtains. Fair
prices.
Next
stop: Food at the Mayflower in
Rotherhite, the oldest pub on the Thames river, which was playing
some contrastingly-modern trip-hop through the speakers. Cosy
establishment with great pub food and plenty of history. A stroll
down the Thames led us to King Edward II's Manor House, or the
remains of it, The Mayor's Office, Tower Bridge, The Financial
District, The Tower of London, HMS Belfast and Haye's Galleria
shopping mall.
We
gut the tube to bustling, trendy Camden, and wandered around the
eclectic and fragrant stalls of food and trinkets. The artwork struck
me more than anything: the marrying of unique designs and well-known
brand logos make this borough younger-looking and artier than any
other I've visited.
Natural
History Museum was a few tube stops on from this, and after the
aforementioned evacuation, we found ourselves heading towards
Kensington Gardens, where the trees were populating with chirping
wild parakeets, past the Albert Memorial, the Hyde Park Serpentine,
and onto Regent Street and Oxford Street. We past the Scouts
headquarters, Baden Powell House, and then had more food in the
Plough Way Cafe,
a lovely local Italian
The
next morning, Saturday, I marshalled at the Southwark Park Run, where
my sister is an organiser. Park Run
is now an international event taking place in public parks across the
world- a 5K dash through a local park, where your time is recorded
and stored, meaning you could beat a PB in any Parkrun provided you
have your assigned unique barcode. As a volunteer, I stood at a fork
in a path, pointed people the right way and shouted encouragements at
runners- many of whom were dressed as Santa.
Good
fun. More so than running. We then dropped into another pub with the
Parkrun team, then said our goodbyes. Before leaving the city, we
found another contrast- Surrey Docks Farm, a local petting zoo of sorts, found
right at the foot of Canary Wharf. We said hi to the goats, sheep,
geese, turkeys, chickens and what I assumed was a ferret. Very
therapeutic. There were a few festive stalls to wander around this
particular Saturday.
A great few days. I
have loads of ideas for sightseeing in London. Will return when it
gets warmer!
|
YHA Thameside |
|
Tower Bridge |
|
Mayor's Office |
|
Tower of London |
|
Hay's Galleria |
|
Camden |
|
Camden Lock |
|
Natural History Museum |
|
Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition |
|
Baden Powell House, Scouts HQ, Kesington |
|
Royal Albert Hall |
|
Kensington Gardens |
|
Albert Memorial |
|
Parakeets in Kensington Gardens |
|
Hyde Park Serpentine |
|
Dorchester, Mayfair, Hyde Park |
|
Bentley dealership |
|
Southwark Park Run |
|
Canary Wharf |
|
Surrey Docks Farm |
|
Canary Wharf from the farm |
No comments:
Post a Comment