Thursday, July 03, 2008

London's Natural History Museum

So, I went to London . . . and spent most of my time there in the Natural History Museum. I don't know why I had never been there before - I love that kind of stuff!

Imagine a massive building that is one of the most beautiful buildings you have ever seen - it kind of looks like a large cathedral. The architecture was amazing - especially the detailing on the inside, covering the walls and framing the windows. Truely spectacular and accurately themed, as it all had to do with flora and fauna (aka plants and animals, in case you were wondering).

Anyway, they certainly know how to do first impressions. The first room I walked into had an escalator that went up to the third floor through a sculpture of the world. That's right, you actually travel through the work of art! I was pretty impressed . . . especially because this was one of the "side" entrances. At the main entrance they had a dinosaur. Meh! I say!

One of the cooler things I got to see while I was there was a stuffed dodo bird (see pic!). It is massive! The dodo is one of the birds that is now extinct in the whole entire world. That's right - there are no more dodos and there never will be. Except in museums.


In a related note, I also got to see a fossil of Archaeopteryx - which is essentially the evolutionary species link between birds and reptiles. It was amazing to see for me because I remember reading all about it in text books in school and seeing it's picture. But now, I got to see one in person.



Last but not least, I also saw an amazing bed of Myophorella shells - a type of bivalves very similar to clams. Ironically, these were found in the exact location that I had just left. It was like they were mocking me. We can find those on the beach by where I used to work . . . although this was a very impressive collection!



Perhaps the most impressive attraction was the robotic T-Rex. I've included a video I took of it on my blog - just click the play buttion. If you have sound, you should even be able to hear it roar!

Overall, I would give the Natural History Museum two thumbs up! Well worth the trip - plus you can see all these items for free!!!

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