After a lovely nights stay at Palmer's Lodge Hostel in the Swiss Cottage Area of London ( I would highly recommend this hostel if you are travelling to London, it was a great deal for the price, about 40.00 a night with free breakfast, hot shower, internet, and friendly people) I headed out again to explore more of London. I started the day with a walk through Portobello Road, famous for the portobello market, and the various antiques and odds and ends you can get there. Unfortunately, because the dollar is so weak it is nearly impossible to get a good deal or score any awesome finds, but I did spend a good while admiring a vintage silk lined deerstalker cap with a vintage ribbon...it wouldnt find on my head, sadly. Too much hair.
Among the various bead, antique, and clothing stands I did find this awesome booth that sold antique phones! A useful place for any propmaster or set dresser.
After that I wandered over to the Natural History Museum, which is an amazing museum for anyone interested in science related things...They have a very impressive dinosaur exhibit, complete with a roaring animatronic T - Rex, and not one but two! gemstone exhits featuring diamonds, rubies, sapphires, the worlds finest nuggets of gold, and other awesome natural gems and minerals. I wanted to photograph all of it, but pictures cant do the sparkling gems justice, so I quickly abandoned that pursuit, and wandered through the bird and primate exhibit, both which were full of taxidermied specimins. It may be weird, but I really like taxidermied animals. I know it is pretty cruel, but I do find them very interesting to look at. Some of my favorites were a very odd looking stuffed slow loris and a case filled with over 200 stuffed hummingbirds - that piece was part of a victorian collectors "Cabinet of Curiosities"
One of the most amazing things about the museum is the actual building itself - it is quite beautiful. Here is a picture from the top floor:
That blurry white statue on the landing is actually a pretty impressive statue of Darwin...too bad iphoen cameras dont have a zoom (or a flash, for that matter).
After this museum trip it was time to repack my things and head on to my next adventure, post coming soon...
until then
goodnight and good luck
Heather
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