The Free London Museums Experience

            Free London Museums

Tuesday was supposed to be our leisurely day on our London visit where we took things easy and just did the free museums in London and a bit of shopping. The original idea was to visit The Science Museum and see the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum. When we arrived at South Kensington Station I couldn't believe the crowds and assumed that there had been some trouble on the line, further down and passengers had been diverted to this station. But when we actually got out of the station we found a queue running past the station entrance was actually the queue to enter the Science Museum, so we decided to start with the Natural History Museum next door, but the queue there was equally as long. We decided to go and get something to eat and return to the Science Museum. When we returned we found that the queue had gone down, but inside the museum it was very busy. This was a new experience to me, in previous years when I had visited these museums they had been fairly empty and easy to get around. It was nice to see so many young children in there. The last time I visited there was still a charge to enter, but with free entry the numbers had more than quadrupled. I overheard a young mum talking on her phone saying that the kids had been wanting to go out, but she couldn't afford to take them anywhere, so she had brought them to the Science Museum, and they were enjoying themselves, if free entry brings in such numbers then it can only be a good thing. But more important than that I think it is teaching kids that Science can be fun and inspiring a new generation of Scientists.

The Science Museum has got to be one of the best of the free London Museums.It is such a huge place with so much to do that  previously we always did one floor with each visit. this time it was no exception, we explored the Ground Floor with transport and space. we went to the Imax cinema to see a 3D film on sea monsters, this film turned out to be a longer affair then I had thought. Both Joshua and I wanted to go on the simulation flight with the Red Arrows. This was a 4D experience and was very popular, so we queued up for 40 minutes. The 4D experience meant that along with the 3D glasses we had seats that moved and so created the motion of flying in the plane, and a more realistic experience. Although Joshua had been impatient at queuing we both agreed it was well worth it.

Since it was late afternoon and we had some shopping to do we left for Regent Street and Hamley's where Joshua happily spent all his holiday money. After that we returned to the hotel for a meal  relaxing evening in the lounge.