Museums!

Today is mostly about museums, but first we headed by tube to Knightsbridge for a quick peek at Harrods. We saw the food hall with its elaborate mosaics, the Egyptian rooms and the art gallery / showroom, but we were really there for the toys.

We didn't take a picture of the real Harrods, because the lego one on the toy floor was so good:

Despite looking around very hard, we didn't find anything to buy, although Thomas was sorely tempted by a voice activated UFO being demonstrated by a sales person. But this isn't the only toy stop on the itinerary, so he decided to keep his power dry for the moment.

We wandered through Knightsbridge to Hyde Park.

The Serpentine seemed quite busy with bird life, but only in particular areas. it took us a few seconds to realise that this was because large parts of the lake were covered by ice.

Robert showed us how skimming small pieces of ice across the frozen surface makes a cool skittering sound, so we spent a good 5 minutes freezing our hands and enjoying the sense of being in a proper winter.

One feature of this holiday has been Thomas meeting new dogs. The English take their dogs everywhere - into cafes, on the tube, and into every park and green space possible. Thomas has perfected the art of asking dog walkers whether he can talk to their dog and then chatting with both owner and dog, which leaves the owners charmed. Thomas met several new dogs in Hyde Park, along with a number of green-wellied owners.

Form Hyde Park we crossed over into Kensington Gardens and headed towards the Albert Memorial. We had talked to Thomas about the Memorial ad told him the story of how Victoria had been a bit sad when Albert died and so had erected a discrete little memorial to him. Thomas can spot sarcasm when it's dropped from a height on to his head, but even so, he was taken aback by the elephants. And the camels. And the gold leaf. And the sheer size of the thing.

From there it's a short stroll to the Victoria and Albert museum through Brompton, which is a very expensive area packed with 'mansion flats'. Thomas has been car spotting all holiday, focusing mainly on the occasional luxury vehicle. In Brompton he was seriously spoilt. He had to abandon his count of Audis and eventually gave up on BMW's 7 series (which had previously been considered gold) in order to concentrate on the Maseratis and Lamborghinis.

The V&A is one of Helen's favourite things in London; we started (as traditional) in the cafe for morning tea, then wandered about looking at the eclectic collection, from well heads and swords to costumes, bed covers, architectural models and book binding. Thomas particularly enjoyed the architecture room.

We had lunch sitting in the sun on the front steps, before heading down the road to the Natural History Museum.
 

Sadly, the Natural History Museum's entrance hall with it's complete diplodocus skeleton was closed, as the skeleton is being dismantled before going on tour around the UK, but they had plenty of other dinosaur skeletons and the occasional animatronic version as well. The also had a bewildering variety of other animals.

The building itself is also gorgeous, with some rooms traditionally plain, but most beautifully decorated.

After leaving the museum we were pretty tired, so we stayed on the tube for an extra stop and got out at Holloway Rd to get someone else to cook our dinner. We found a pub called the coronet which was in a converted 1930s cinema. We had dinner and stumbled home.