This morning I woke up early (despite being out late last night) and got breakfast at the hotel. Another bacon and egg toast sandwich and some coco puffs.
I left the hotel about 9 AM for the Natural History museum. Normally I skip these because all large cities have them, but I decided to give it a try – plus it was free and I hadn’t been there yet.
Having the DLR station practically attached to the hotel has been great. I took the DLR a few stops then changed to the underground where I exited in South Kensington.
I had booked my ticket for entry at 10:15 AM and the museum opens at 10 AM. When I arrived a few minutes before 10 AM there was a massive queue. As soon as they allowed the queue to enter the grounds it was moving fairly quickly. In fact they only funneled everyone through a voluntary donation area. They never checked tickets or the bags.
I first headed to the Dinosaur area. There were quite a few dinosaur skeletons (mostly from America).
After that I went to the special exhibition I got a separate (free) ticket to see with a large dinosaur skeleton. I found the room on the opposite side of the museum. I flashed my barcode and they let me in without even looking at it. The dinosaur was really long and had a very long, thin tail.
Most of the rest of the museum was about volcanoes, earthquakes, rocks, rocks, rocks, and did I say rocks? Okay so some of the rocks were crystals.
There was a section on marine mammals and even a skeleton of an extinct stellar sea cow.
There also was a skeleton of an extinct Moa (which I have seen before in New Zealand).
There was a newer section with a lot of preserved animals.
Overall it was a very good museum, however not much of it had anything to do with the UK.
After the museum I was very thirsty. One would think a museum with artifacts would be climate controlled – well it was very warm inside with very little air movement. So I decided to visit the US Embassy (McDonalds) where I could get something fairly quickly and use the bathroom.
I got the chicken wrap of the day – it was sweet chili flavored (sauce) and fried. At first I had no idea how to get the wrap out of the box, then I found the tear strip that tears the box in half. It was actually pretty good and filling. The main problem was the straw – it was paper. I didn’t even bother and took the lid off the cup.
The bathroom at McDonalds was a complete failure – they didn’t even have soap. So I decided to walk back to the Victoria & Albert museum so I could use their loo (free museum + free toilet).
I’ve been to the museum in the past, so I wasn’t planning to make a visit. It was actually nice re-visiting the museum. You forget some of the amazing things you’ve seen. And I identified the huge glass chandelier as one of Dale Chihuly’s works – I went through a museum with his work last year in Seattle. It took a while to find the plaque, but I was right it was his work.
I walked through some of the old items from Britain and also the sculpture area. I also made a quick visit to the Japan room just before they closed the museum.
I decided from here to go to Chinatown. I took the tube from South Kensington to Monument. Immediately after stepping out of the monument station there is a huge monument.
It was easy to find Chinatown. It was a nice, busy area with tons of Chinese lanterns and British flags. There was also a banner for the Jubilee celebration of the Queen.
I was still thirsty so I bought a couple of cans of Fanta at a small store before everything closed (it was Sunday).
I walked over to Covent Garden and found a cool street with huge flowers in the air.
I walked through the Apple Market in Convent Garden, but everyone was packing up their wares. I was still able to see the building.
From there I took the tube to see the Leadenhall market. It is a very beautiful market. I highly recommend visiting. Especially on the weekend when the shops are closed, but you can still walk through.
From here I decided to go to the Olympic Park. I’ve never been there before and so I decided to check it out. I took the tube to the DLR and the DLR to the park.
I walked through a really nice outdoor shopping / restaurant area between the train station and the park. There was even a grocery store (closed at this time).
I took a picture of the aquatic center and ArcelorMittal Orbit. It was only open until 5 PM today, so I wasn’t able to go up it.
I decided to walk to see the Olympic rings. It was about a 15 minute walk through the park to get to them and it started to rain. I put on my rain jacket and the rain all but stopped in a few minutes. The Olympic rings were much smaller than I expected – and not easily visible. Luckily I found them.
After this I decided to head back, I walked back to the train station and began to wonder if I tapped out at the train station. I missed the turn and walked more than I needed to. Eventually I found the DLR station and there were gates that I had to use to get out, so I am sure I tapped out. I had to take one DLR to Canning Town and change to a train to take me to Prince Regent station. I had to wait about 8 minutes for the train to arrive.
I went back to the hotel to rest and pack for my flight tomorrow afternoon.
Today’s timeline:
