My very first visit to the Natural History Museum was way back in primary school, the only problem is I can’t remember much about what I saw & so I had to visit this place again. Since then I have been twice, last year & three weeks ago. I’m on a London tour at the moment & I feel like a real tourist, two of my Spanish friends from Barcelona are here on vacation & so I thought the natural history museum would be an ideal place to start.

One of the first things you will notice as you approach the museum is how big the building is & I’m not joking this building is huge. The museum is housed in a stunning building, it’s cathedral like style is covered with beautiful Romanesque Architecture, not only on the outside but also on the inside. The building alone is an exhibit to stop and admire. Once inside you will notice the detailed painted ceiling. Richly decorated sculptures of plants & animals and they too are very impressive, as well as large panels running down the whole length of the building. Panels depicting animals, insects, fossils & plants ~ the living species are depicted to left of the entrance & the extinct ones to the right. The style of combining the old with the new is all too evident when visiting many of the displayed exhibits, a mixture of the latest state-of-the-art techniques with the old traditional ones bring many of the exhibits to life.

Although the Natural History Museum is very big , the layout and structure inside the building makes it easy for one to move around without getting lost. The museum is divided into Life Galleries & Earth Galleries and all exhibits are clearly sign posted. Each gallery exhibition has a number allocated to it, making in easier for you to locate on your guide. This is very useful as it allows you visit the exhibitions that interest you most first ~ you simply look for the gallery number on the guide that you wish to visit & that will point you on the right direction. If somehow the guide map doesn’t work for you then you always have staff on duty & many information desks throughout the museum that are ready to assist. The museums layout mainly consists of Life Galleries & these can be found on the basement, ground 1st & 2nd floors ~ the Earth Galleries are located on a separate wing, this can be found on the right of the main entrance of the museum.

Well, seeing this museum has more than 70 million natural history specimens in its collection ~ an indication of the sheer diversity of the natural world. You would need at least a good whole day & that means an early start if you want to see most if not all the exhibits on offer. So if you want to get a full guided tour of the whole museum make sure you plan your day, it’s not worth turning up after midday because you simply won’t have enough time to see everything & it will be money badly spent.

There is so much to explore & so much to see that your best bet is to visit the galleries that you are most interested in first. The Wonder Gallery is one to look out for though ~ Here you will find a 26 metre length skeleton of the dinosaur Diplodocus, it is so big that it dominates the entrance hall. Apparently the plaster cast skeleton of Diplodocus comes from Wyoming USA ~ it is 150 million years old and one of the largest land animals ever to have roamed the earth. Another highlight of the museum is the Mammal & Dinosaur Gallery; there is a giant life-size blue whale model that takes up the entire room. It is enormous & until you don’t see it with your own eyes you can’t believe an animal can be so big. Or experience the thrilling drama of life amongst the dinosaurs. There is high-level walkway, which brings you eye to eye with some of these enormous monsters. Life-size robotic models with sound effects can be found in the Dinosaur Exhibition, so one 2 note: A word of caution though, expect a long queue on the high-level walkway, for some reason everyone seems to rush to this exhibition first. If you want to avoid the rush hour then check out other galleries before making the Dinosaur Exhibition your first stop. You can also discover how we are linked with all the other living things in the world (Ecology Gallery) or find out how an earthquake shakes & how a volcano erupts. The Earth Galleries offer a stunning walk through rotating globe, and a simulated volcano & earthquake. You get to feel the whole experience with the help of the latest state-of-the-art techniques. Another one of my favourite galleries is the Earth’s Treasury Gallery, here you can see some precious treasures in a stunningly beautiful setting ~ Gems, Diamonds, Emeralds etc.

FACTS AT UR FINGERTIPS
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Highly Recommend!