Solitude and Spamalot

July 23, 2007

First off, happy birthday to Daniel Radcliffe, who is now the proud owner of 20 million pounds (what the crap!). Second off, I wish I had 20 million pounds. That'd be 40 million dollars!

I wandered London on my own today, and it was quite possibly one of the best afternoons I've had yet. I walked down High Street Kensington, past Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the Natural History Museum. The V&A was lovely, but there were over seven miles of exhibitions spread out over four floors, so I definitely didn't see it all. I focused mainly on the sculpture and fashion rooms, with detours into Islamic Middle East and Middle Ages Stained Glass. They have a dress made for Princess Diana there! It soon became too overwhelming, so I stopped in the museum cafe and spent a good half hour drinking a pot of tea and reading my guide book. It was so relaxing! I finished the museum by looking into a few more rooms, and then I ran across the street to the Natural History Museum.

Anyone with a child--or if there's any child left in you--should go the the Natural History Museum. I came in the Exhibition Road entrance and took an escalator into the sun--no kidding. The entire place was full of interactive areas, including hands-on geologic sections, how to protect the ecosystem, and the dangers of volcanoes. I eventually headed down the escalator again and through the bird collection, which had replicas of dodos and just about every bird you can imagine! After that was the fossil collection, many specimens of which were found by a woman in the mid-1800s. She found a complete dinosaur skeleton at age 11! The main hall had massive skeletons of dinosaurs, mammoth skulls, tracks, giant sloths, and an itty bitty pygmy. Just down from that room was the dinosaur area, filled with skeletons and informative videos. The best part, however, was coming upon the animatronic T-Rex, which glared at you and opened its mouth and roared. It was pretty dang realistic!

I saw Spamalot that night with my friends, and I've never laughed so much! It was basically a retelling of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, accompanied by spaztastic songs--"I Am Not Dead Yet" and "Look at Sir Lancelot, He Likes to Dance-a-Lot!" Were two of my favorites. Everyone needs to go!