Natural History Museum - Camagna-geddon, the final chapter.

For Jo..





Today we met John, Nora and all THREE cherubs at the train station. (welcome back N). And caught the train to Waterloo. O, P and V are now fully aware Krispy Kreme has a stall in the station. We no longer can just sashay out the door unless you want to be turned on by rabid children foaming at the mouth for a donut. Ankle biters in a pack are scary. In part as well we thought we should get some because N missed them the day before, and in true teen logic he refused our peace offering. I think next time we'll just try a group hug.

From there a cab to the Natural History Museum. And the dinosaur exhibit was closed. DOH! Can you hear O's lower lip hit the floor from here? Ya sure? Fortunately we walked in to an amazing skeleton and a huge grand hall. The Brits do "impressive" well. At the far end of the hall? One of my favorite sights we've seen.


Mr. Darwin I presume. If he wasn't roped off I would have sat on his lap and asked for Michele Bachman to be the republican nominee for Christmas.

Great displays everywhere. Darwin wing with the original jars from his travels. He was certainly prolific; starfish, turtles, squid, birds, fish.

All sorts of beautiful animals stuffed and mounted. Creepy? Yes. Awesome anyway? Yes. This is one place we could have spent a few days. We purchased great quizzes from the information desk that helped the girls navigate the huge collections of stuff. I actually got P to write and draw a few pictures.


The exhibits weren't the only fabulous stuff, people watching was fa-boo.

Mom peeled out to meet her friend Clair for tea at Harrods. £25 for scones and cucumber sandwiches. John, Nora, Dennis I and kiddos ate at the cafe and had baguettes. Both girls ended up with slices of chocolate cake half the size of their craniums. The girls and V talked Dennis and Nora into taking them to the animatronic dinosaur exhibit and I peeled out to peruse the gift shop. P was terrified. Apparently there were only 3 of them. Wasn't the best money spent on vacation.

After a solid three hours of museum we headed out to meet up with mom at Harrods. Nora was on a quest for Hermione wand so we headed up to the fourth floor. Lush would be an apt description.


Lego Harrods door man. Huge floor of all sorts of toys. And of course you couldn't swing a dead cat without coming across an employee doing a demo. Dennis always one for any infomercial anywhere, back me up Jackie. (ahem) Which is how we ended up with a £20 pack of stickers. From O, "but Mom they're gold". Read that again $36 for stiiickers.

Suitably fleeced we departed Harrods and headed back to Waterloo and trained home.

We posed the kids with their "Mind the Gap" shirts with Noni for one last photo op.
My iPhone camera didn't do it justice so you'll have to wait until I can download a good shot for you.

We had dinner at Bistro George and introduced the boys to pazzerotti. Tomorrow every pore will gush the stench of garlic, perfect for their flight 10 hours home. Mmmmmm, Garlic, the gift that keeps on giving.

And, heart be still, (defibulators ready?) John picked up the check.

The Camagna's and Mom head for home tomorrow. They will be greatly missed. Even the teens.

We'll be flying solo for two more weeks and still have a few things on our 'to do' list. Let me know if we need to see something or you have recommendations for us. Science museum will probably be up next. P is saying she's tired of museums so we might do a couple days just at home, plus the public schools have just let out I'm sure the lines will be longer from here.



Much love,
Sarah