London – My favorite museums Pt. 2 – The Natural History Museum

Finding a museum in London is like finding a Starbucks in downtown Vancouver – if you spit, you have a pretty good chance of hitting one.  But unlike Vancouver Starbucks, the majority of these gems are free (although a donation is greatly appreciated).  Thank the British lottery for that.  With availability like that, if you tell me you didn’t visit some of these incredible museums, I’m going to smack you.  Seriously, I will smack you.  I know all that choice can seem overwhelming, but allow me to help steer you in the right direction with a spotlight on my must-sees.  This one proves that looking at Dinosaur bones isn’t just for kids and nerds, the Natural History Museum.

I admit, I have a bit of a passion for architecture.  Maybe it’s because I’m a painter, but the incredible, graphic things being done with stone and glass always fascinates me.  The Natural History Museum holds a special place in my heart, architecture-wise, as it’s an interesting mix of classical and whimsical, and I love whimsical.  Technically it’s an example of the German Romanesque style, with spires and sweeping arches, all done in a mix of buff and cobalt blue terra cotta, circa 1881.  What makes it stand out are the relief carvings of plants and animals that crawl all over the outside, so subtly included in the design that you could easily walk by and not notice them.  But upon closer inspection it becomes “ooh, there’s a monkey climbing up that tower!”  and “is that a Pterodactyl on the roof?”  The western winghas living forms while the eastern’s are all extinct. I spot more creatures every time I’m there and, as I learned firsthand, it makes waitingin line to enter a rather pleasant experience.  Inside it’s just as cool, particularly the ceiling of the central hall, which is covered with a patchwork of more than 160 painted botanical panels, each depicting a different plant.  There are more monkeys crawling the columns and girders in here, too.

I love a good entrance, and this one greets you with a fully-assembled diplodocus skeleton smiling at you.  Well, if he had skin and muscles, I’m sure he’d be smiling.  Anyway it’s sure an impressive way to greet the visitors.  He’s just the first of many dinosaurs, some real, some animatronic that fill the gallery to your right.  That’s an interesting gallery, as are the Earth (earthquakes, rocks, weather, etc.) and Ecology ones (bugs, big trees, recycling), but personally, as a girl who’s been hauled to zoos around the world her entire life, the real draw for me are the animals.  The stuffed animals.  Taxidermy still kinda creeps me out, but when you remember that this was the norm back in the 1800’s when most of these samples were collected, and that they’re incredibly well preserved and displayed, it takes some of the “eww” factor away.  Some are even faded from sun exposure over the last hundred and fifty years or so.  This is also the only way to actually see a dodo, sabre-toothed cat and more species of animal than any zoo could hold, all life-sized and not reproduced by computer, so I guess it’s worth it. The bird, primate and mammal galleries are my favorites, specifically the animals that are elusive to see in the wild, like lemurs (only in Madagasgar), lorises (damn that nocturnal thing) and duck-billed platypusses (what is the plural of platypus?  Platypusses? Platypii?  Whatever it is, they’re so damned hard to find they were thought to be a myth for years).

Another thing the Natural History Museum has going for it is their food, specifically the cafe by the bird hall in the green zone.  No, we’re not talkinghigh gourmet here, but as far as museum food hall fare goes, it’s pretty darn good with a price point and selection to match.  You can get everythingfrom a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to fresh plated pasta.  A couple of years ago I had a bowl of tomato-basil soup that tasted exactly like my homemade spaghetti sauce, and I love my spaghetti sauce.  I cannot tell you how good this was.  It’s making me hungry just thinking about it.  Once we were wanderingaround South Kensington around lunchtime and couldn’t decide on a restaurant, so, because of it’s free admission, we went into the museum cafe just to eat.

The Natural History Museum is totally not just for kids.  Granted, the kids will love it (lots of ooh-ing and aah-ing), but you adults will enjoy it too.

Tags: animals, architecture, birds, BlogSherpa, cafe, England, free, London, monkeys, museum, terra cotta, UK, weird