Four and a half hours in the Natural History Museum is more than enough for me.
We chose the museum for Kaitlyn. I waited till the weekend because it was on Bill’s list of things to see, too.
Kaitlyn loved the exhibit on creepy crawlies. We spent what felt like forever reading to her about bees, spiders, scorpions and those mites that live in your eyelashes. (yuck) We rushed through the exhibit on minerals and rocks, the one on volcanoes and earthquakes (we did pause to experience the Kobe quake), and the area on ecology… all leading up to the dinosaurs. She’d been resisting going all day. Finally, Bill just got in the line. She was ok looking at the bones and hearing small bits about each different dino. But as we approached the t-rex, she got nervous. You could hear growling. Then we turned a corner and there he was: a life-sized very real and very mean looking anamatronic t-rex. Kaitlyn hid behind Bill. She looked scared. Bill wanted to take pictures and she begged him not to, saying the dinosaur might see his flash. I held her and led her out, leaving Bill behind with his promise not to use the flash while he took pictures.
The dinosaurs were the end of the line for me; I had enough. Oh, of course, we had to stop in the gift shop on our way out.
Next door to the Natural History Museum is the Victoria and Albert. Rick Steves describes it as a dream come true for Martha Stewart wannabes. I don’t want to be Martha Stewart, but a museum with furniture and decorating treasures was too good to just walk by. Even if all we could do was run through it. So we agreed to give that a try. I grabbed a map and realized that finding the promised treasures would require a lot more than a few minutes. We headed for the area on China (the country, not the dinner ware) because Kaitlyn loves all things China. There we stumbled upon a craft-making cart offering children (or their parents) the chance to make festive Chinese hats. I’d scoured the V&A’s online listing for activities I thought Kaitlyn would enjoy… to justify dragging her there… there was no mention of Chinese hats. If I’d known there were kids activities, I’d have escaped the museum next door much sooner!
Bill sat on the floor and made a hat and sent me on my way to check out the museum. The only exhibit I saw was on fashion. It was enough for me to realize I’d should have come here instead of to that lame childhood museum. Well, we’ll just have to go back.