While the British Museum is my top favourite museum in London I keep going back to again and again, the Natural History Museum comes very close. Warning: timed slot booking is compulsory, it’s packed full with families with very young children, therefore it can be very noisy, it gets really hot and stuffy on upper floors. One visit is barely enough and I recommend taking at least a litre of water.

Dinosaur skeletons (genuine as well as casts) aside, I loved ‘In the Beginning’ section depicting the history of Earth through the ‘greenhouse’ and ‘icehouse’ periods and associated life explosions and mass extinctions (we are currently entering a new greenhouse age and we’re also facing a 6th mass extinction, both triggered by human activity…). Everything from volcanos to rocks and gemstones, to human evolution, to ancient fossils and meteorites is beautufully laid out and explained.

2005 vs 2022: Dippy the dino replaced by equally magnificent Blue Whale:

More skeletons and models of animals big and small:

Now, to the bridges. Despite spending 5 hours in the museum I still fancied a nice little walk so I headed towards Chelsea Embankment and continued along Thames until I reached Westminster. I really liked this different perspective and I thought that the Halloween long weekend we are planning could be inspired by London bridges – starting with the Chelsea one. MI6 headquarters are among many cool buildings seen from across the river:

People picnicking by the Houses of Parliament and the newly restored Big Ben:

I can’t wait to use the new Elisabeth tube line – I might just hop on and see where it takes me:

“The Elizabeth line will increase central London’s rail capacity by 10 per cent, the largest single increase in the capital’s transport capacity in more than 70 years. The railway is more than 100km long with new trains operating in 42km of new tunnel and track under central London, connecting 41 stations and bringing an additional 1.5million people within 45 minutes of London.” – see https://www.crossrail.co.uk/project/our-plan-to-complete-the-elizabeth-line/

Exciting as it is, I can’t help thinking about the eastern leg of HS2 cancelled over high costs and having to wait until 2035 (!) for the Birmingham – Manchester leg. I might not even be living in the UK by then.