Just a short two days left in Berlin then I'm back to London to get some final vaccinations before heading to Borneo. If I didn't mention earlier I have decided to spend a month volunteering for the Orangutan Project in Sarawak. I pretty much decided I would do it once I got here and hence had to get vaccinations in England and changed travel plans to suit. But that's okay because the travel plans were only in my mind and they weren't very good anyway.
Lisbon.
So if my mum hasn't already told you the unthinkable has happened! I got pick pocketed on my arrival to Lisbon. Somewhere between my ride on the aerobus and the short walk through Rossio Square, some thieving piece of poo got my wallet without me even being aware of it. Have you ever been in a foreign country with not a cent to your name? No way of calling home? No way of retrieving any money? No idea how to get to the embassy? I have. And now I can tick that off my list of life achievements.
I am a very lucky person indeed that the hostel let me stay and lent me money over the weekend. I got my credit card sent out and some cash transfered so that by Monday I was feeling okay again. In two days time though when trying to book online with said credit card, I realised it was a pointless piece of plastic. I'm going to write an angry letter to St. George. All the eftpos machines in Europe have chip detectors so they won't accept my card. I'm sure though if I needed to build a house of cards it would be a killer base wall.
Anyway Lisbon and shit what can I say? It's nice, it has culture, the people steal shit blah blah blah. But in all honesty it is a beautiful place and the average person on the street in incredibly kind and chatty.
Though what is going on with the Swiss? One older Swiss guy upon hearing that I had my stuff stolen said "Oh we thought you were being antisocial sitting by yourself."
"No I'm trying to work out money transfers so I don't starve to death."
Next day this American guy comes up to me and says "You know the Swiss guy? He's not feeling to well and was wondering if you would mind running some errands for him today?"
Well gee insult me one day we must be best friends the next. Good thing I was leaving and could very graciously decline his kind offer to let me run around all day for him.
Flew to Berlin had my drinks bought by the guy sitting next to me. I really did not feel like getting chat up I just wanted to get to Berlin. Pretended to sleep for four hours.
Berlin
Berlin is cool without ever trying. I walked past a graffited wall and there was two sky blue mopeds parked next to it. It was so casually cool that someone in Australia would probably set it up as an installation piece and charge for it.
It has a hansome mix of old and new buildings. I really like that about this town. So many places I have been too have clung so desperately to their buildings, that they stop providing for the people that live there. I understand the importance of museums and cultural institutes but I don't understand the importance of apartments that are so archaic, the people who live in them are forced to hump their heaters in an attempt to keep warm.
I am getting tired of being harrassed. I think being on my own has made me an easy target for every person on the street. And since having my stuff stolen I really care a lot less for these people. Every story is the same, it's always about sick kids and lost train tickets. Eventually I'm going to start introducing these people so they can form a support group for people who have lost train tickets/sick kids and get some kind of community awareness.
Now that I'm coming to the end of my European escapade I've gotta say that while my tone may sometimes border on the morose. I've actually sshh really enjoyed travelling alone. I never thought I would be the kind of person to befriend strangers so quickly but when you have to, you just have to. I don't know what happens to people when they travel but I think everyone goes through the strange leap from avearage day Joe to super explorer happy fun times. Though at the same time I don't want to give the impression that every single minute is so awesome that everyone should be really jealous. Like I wake up in the morning take a shot of heroin, then ride horses, play with puppies, do backflips and have cocktails at night.
Sometimes its waiting around for a connection or a tour to start, or going to a really cool shop and it's a Sunday and closed so you go to a park instead.
Or sometimes it is, as it is tonight. Sitting in an eight person hostel room with one other guy. He is very shy, which is cool I totally dig his personal space. He has been here ever since I arrived. And I'd like to think that after two nights with a family with small children (yes who on earth brings small children to a hostel) we have formed an unspoken bond. Yes I'm sure we must have because we are still sitting here quietly enjoying the company, not speaking.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Happy fun hour!
I have had some really funny incidents staying in Europe's finest hostels and hotels. And when ever something strange happened I thought to myself "make sure you remember that - you may need to do stand up one day and that was gold". If you are ever thinking about staying in the odd hostel or two I hope my experiences will convince you to do it. They are a lot of fun and you will meet some of the nicest albeit quirkiest people this side of the world.
In chronological order of dates
Edinburgh - St. Hostel
I stayed in a twenty bed dorm in Edinburgh. Some of the beds were behind partions so it was hard to see who was and wasn't there. One day I thought I was alone and started singing to myself, three guys were asleep around the corner. But that was not as bad as one guy who didn't realise myself and another girl were reading on our beds. He got up to go to the bathroom... naked. Saw us let out an "Ep!" and ran back to his bed.
London - Enterprise hotel
One night I lay in bed dreaming of monkeys. "Ee e Ee e Ee e" Turns out it was the couple above having sex. Well fair enough they were staying in a hotel room. Check the time 6am! Who the hell is having sex at 6am. Then 9am. Then 10am.
Also, I wrote this in my blog but when I lugged my suitcase up many stairs through London town and I got to my room and there were a set of stairs inside the hotel room, I was so pissed off, I decided to fashion a sled out of a box and slide down them. I don't know how this could nullify the sheer magnitude of stairs I had to deal with but it did make me happy.
Paris - Love and Peace Hostel
Dude vomiting all over himself and the floor. I can laugh about it now I realise how absurd the situation was. It was a three person bunk bed in a room so small you had to climb into the bed so the others could walk past you. The two of us on top were pretending we couldn't hear anything because we were "sleeping so deeply". You know when you want to avoid awkward situations, so when they say "hey hope I didn't keep you up" you say "no, why what happened?" even though you were fully aware of the whole ordeal and plan to write about it in your blog. Well that's exactly what happened to me!
Madrid - The Cat's Hostel
An older gentlemen stayed with us in a 10 bedder and that guy could snore! We all sat up in our beds wondering aloud to each other how he wasn't waking himself up. He paused for a second and someone said "Is he dead?" to which the whole room cracked up laughing. The older gentlemen wakes up and moans "Be quiet". This one guy says "I know buddy they're very inconsiderate" but the older gentlemen doesn't hear him he is fast asleep.
Another night a guy brought a girl back to our room and lets just say if I didn't see "Where do I come from?" in year 6, I would be up to speed after their on the covers romp. I mean really what kind of self respecting person does the dirty dirty in a packed hostel room with their mates camera's flashing off every 10 seconds? I ask you?
Lisbon - The Poet's Hostel
I seem to have issues with snorers. I got moved to a room during my second week where a large guy had the record for the loudest snorer in the world. Look I'm sure he has a winning personality but sometime in his youth he shoved a penny up his nose and his subsequent attempts to snort out his bus change every night have remained fruitless. And I went to great lengths to deal with it. Ear plugs, pillows, going to sleep first and timing it so that I would be deep into my rem cycles. Nothing worked. I started to look like a torture victim after my third day. But the funniest part was when he wakes up one morning looks over at me and says "Geez dude you don't look so good - you need to get more sleep!"
On the last night there was this one guy who I had shared a room with for three nights suddenly broke into these long soliloquies in his sleep. It was so random and entertaining.
Well there you have it - fantastic reasons to stay in hostels.
In chronological order of dates
Edinburgh - St. Hostel
I stayed in a twenty bed dorm in Edinburgh. Some of the beds were behind partions so it was hard to see who was and wasn't there. One day I thought I was alone and started singing to myself, three guys were asleep around the corner. But that was not as bad as one guy who didn't realise myself and another girl were reading on our beds. He got up to go to the bathroom... naked. Saw us let out an "Ep!" and ran back to his bed.
London - Enterprise hotel
One night I lay in bed dreaming of monkeys. "Ee e Ee e Ee e" Turns out it was the couple above having sex. Well fair enough they were staying in a hotel room. Check the time 6am! Who the hell is having sex at 6am. Then 9am. Then 10am.
Also, I wrote this in my blog but when I lugged my suitcase up many stairs through London town and I got to my room and there were a set of stairs inside the hotel room, I was so pissed off, I decided to fashion a sled out of a box and slide down them. I don't know how this could nullify the sheer magnitude of stairs I had to deal with but it did make me happy.
Paris - Love and Peace Hostel
Dude vomiting all over himself and the floor. I can laugh about it now I realise how absurd the situation was. It was a three person bunk bed in a room so small you had to climb into the bed so the others could walk past you. The two of us on top were pretending we couldn't hear anything because we were "sleeping so deeply". You know when you want to avoid awkward situations, so when they say "hey hope I didn't keep you up" you say "no, why what happened?" even though you were fully aware of the whole ordeal and plan to write about it in your blog. Well that's exactly what happened to me!
Madrid - The Cat's Hostel
An older gentlemen stayed with us in a 10 bedder and that guy could snore! We all sat up in our beds wondering aloud to each other how he wasn't waking himself up. He paused for a second and someone said "Is he dead?" to which the whole room cracked up laughing. The older gentlemen wakes up and moans "Be quiet". This one guy says "I know buddy they're very inconsiderate" but the older gentlemen doesn't hear him he is fast asleep.
Another night a guy brought a girl back to our room and lets just say if I didn't see "Where do I come from?" in year 6, I would be up to speed after their on the covers romp. I mean really what kind of self respecting person does the dirty dirty in a packed hostel room with their mates camera's flashing off every 10 seconds? I ask you?
Lisbon - The Poet's Hostel
I seem to have issues with snorers. I got moved to a room during my second week where a large guy had the record for the loudest snorer in the world. Look I'm sure he has a winning personality but sometime in his youth he shoved a penny up his nose and his subsequent attempts to snort out his bus change every night have remained fruitless. And I went to great lengths to deal with it. Ear plugs, pillows, going to sleep first and timing it so that I would be deep into my rem cycles. Nothing worked. I started to look like a torture victim after my third day. But the funniest part was when he wakes up one morning looks over at me and says "Geez dude you don't look so good - you need to get more sleep!"
On the last night there was this one guy who I had shared a room with for three nights suddenly broke into these long soliloquies in his sleep. It was so random and entertaining.
Well there you have it - fantastic reasons to stay in hostels.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Madrid - much better
Sitting at Charles De Gaulle airport my feet resting on my suitcase as a symbol of my defiance to everything French I thought "I hope there is dog poo on my shoes". That would be a lovely view for the Parisians sitting around me at the airport. I really didn't like Paris. I read an article that said "during the sale seasons in Paris retailers are almost happy to have tourists purchase their wares" and that was attempting to publicise the town. It may sound harsh of me, especially to those who insist that Paris is wonderful but to me Paris is not a town that delivers on the hype.
My next stop, Madrid, may also be crap but at least it wouldn't be Pairs.
Madrid is a wonderful capital city full of wide planned streets that colesce with small windy lanes punctured with forums full of performers, markets, restaurants, bars and heaps of people.
On my first day there I spent four hours walking around. The weather is more like Australia so it is funny to see the townspeople in ski jackets complaining about the cold. It really isn't cold at all.
On Sundays the parks are packed with kids on bikes, rollerbladers and families teaching children to ride bikes. If they weren't speaking Spanish I could have sworn I was back in Australia. Especially with the odd outdoor senior fittness class.
My humble abode at the Cat's Hostel allowed me to meet an array of colourful individuals. First roomies were the Brittish girls on exchange from Salamanca university. There were amazed that I was travelling alone and asked me all these unusual questions, which I had never thought about, like sharing with unknown males. My honest answer was that in every hostel the men were my age or younger and I was pretty confident I could kung fu most of them if I absolutely had to. Most of the guys in hostels wear tight jeans and live on vegan food and read Hemmingway. They are not that much of a threat but they do have interesting insights about prose.
The next night I got talking to some very nice American girls who had just come from Lisbon and a Brittish girl who was writing her thesis and having a pretty awful time in Madrid. Just then a gaggle of South American boys wandered in and completely blew my theory of effeminate men occupying hostels. They were from Argentina and apart from being very loud they were also very confident. I think one of them said.
"There are four women and there are now four men perfect".
We started talking about everything from healthcare to theivery in our respective countries. It is very interesting to see the competition between North and South America. The girls did not consider the boys to be American but technically, they were and demanded we adjust any gerneralisations about American people to suit both continents.
I did manage a couple of museums and I did go to a couple of restaurants but the most fun I had was walking through the public gardens, parks and bar hoping. If you are thinking about travelling through Europe make sure you stop by Spain. Even if not Madrid some of the other cities are very much worth a look see.
Interesting experience 1: For lunch one day I decided I would have an authentic Spanish meal. I ordered Paella to start then ordered something really awesome to say in Spanish. At the time I had no idea what it was but I hoped it was a large plate full of spicy vegetables. It was steak and chips. Can you believe it? The most interesting thing I found to say in Spanish is the blandest meal.
Interesting experience 2: One of the street performers was a very over weight man wearing a full spiderman outfit. He kept doing all these crazy moves that were hilarious. Unfortunately my camera was back at the hostel charging and I never saw him again so it may have been some kind of spiderman pychosis I was in.
Interesting experience 3: The showers in Cat's had a button which sprang back after ten seconds and stopped the flow of water. It was quite humourous to be having a shower battling with the button and hearing seven girls groaning about the same thing in respective cubicles.
N.B Photos coming soon.
My next stop, Madrid, may also be crap but at least it wouldn't be Pairs.
Madrid is a wonderful capital city full of wide planned streets that colesce with small windy lanes punctured with forums full of performers, markets, restaurants, bars and heaps of people.
On my first day there I spent four hours walking around. The weather is more like Australia so it is funny to see the townspeople in ski jackets complaining about the cold. It really isn't cold at all.
On Sundays the parks are packed with kids on bikes, rollerbladers and families teaching children to ride bikes. If they weren't speaking Spanish I could have sworn I was back in Australia. Especially with the odd outdoor senior fittness class.
My humble abode at the Cat's Hostel allowed me to meet an array of colourful individuals. First roomies were the Brittish girls on exchange from Salamanca university. There were amazed that I was travelling alone and asked me all these unusual questions, which I had never thought about, like sharing with unknown males. My honest answer was that in every hostel the men were my age or younger and I was pretty confident I could kung fu most of them if I absolutely had to. Most of the guys in hostels wear tight jeans and live on vegan food and read Hemmingway. They are not that much of a threat but they do have interesting insights about prose.
The next night I got talking to some very nice American girls who had just come from Lisbon and a Brittish girl who was writing her thesis and having a pretty awful time in Madrid. Just then a gaggle of South American boys wandered in and completely blew my theory of effeminate men occupying hostels. They were from Argentina and apart from being very loud they were also very confident. I think one of them said.
"There are four women and there are now four men perfect".
We started talking about everything from healthcare to theivery in our respective countries. It is very interesting to see the competition between North and South America. The girls did not consider the boys to be American but technically, they were and demanded we adjust any gerneralisations about American people to suit both continents.
I did manage a couple of museums and I did go to a couple of restaurants but the most fun I had was walking through the public gardens, parks and bar hoping. If you are thinking about travelling through Europe make sure you stop by Spain. Even if not Madrid some of the other cities are very much worth a look see.
Interesting experience 1: For lunch one day I decided I would have an authentic Spanish meal. I ordered Paella to start then ordered something really awesome to say in Spanish. At the time I had no idea what it was but I hoped it was a large plate full of spicy vegetables. It was steak and chips. Can you believe it? The most interesting thing I found to say in Spanish is the blandest meal.
Interesting experience 2: One of the street performers was a very over weight man wearing a full spiderman outfit. He kept doing all these crazy moves that were hilarious. Unfortunately my camera was back at the hostel charging and I never saw him again so it may have been some kind of spiderman pychosis I was in.
Interesting experience 3: The showers in Cat's had a button which sprang back after ten seconds and stopped the flow of water. It was quite humourous to be having a shower battling with the button and hearing seven girls groaning about the same thing in respective cubicles.
N.B Photos coming soon.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Parisian Dust
When a friend of mine, who had travelled to Paris, said he didn't like the city, I thought "but Paris is the most beautiful city in the world". My friend said it was dirty, not very friendly and ultimately he had expected much more.
Still Paris to me seemed to be the city of love, where romance was born. I had seen the image below on my aunties wall for years and had been consumed by Parisian dust.
The Kiss
Parisian dust is the term coined by two friends I met in the hostel I stayed in. Both had been very dissapointed by Paris and we had all admitted that at some stage we had felt like crying and going home. Alex, the very passionate Brazillian had actually admitted that he had sat at one of the hostel tables crying his eyes out. But he also had relationship issues.
I had two very tramatising experiences in Paris one involving a small black boy being dragged back into a store and pinned against the wall for stealing a tube of smarties. The other was a guy in my hostel room, so drunk from a night out vomiting all over himself then the floor then waking up the next morning to find it all over the floor.
The areas of Paris are quite poor and my friend was right it is a very dirty and sometimes miserable town. It also seems like everyone goes out of their way to be as unhelpful as possible. The metro ticket machines would only accept coins as payment and the store keepers would not give change even when you bought something. It became a struggle just to do the smallest of things like get internet access without having an arguement. All in all Paris felt like the older kid in the street, a bit of a bully who doesn't want to hang out with you and will charge you 30 euros for the priviledge of walking to your house.
The one redeemable aspect of the four days in Paris were the people I met there. All tourists like me who were so open and ready to give helpful advice. There was the large group of Australian exchange students, who we had shots with at the bar and told us about the Australian bar where you could get Cooper's and meat pies. They were really good to be around on during Australia day. Then there was Alex and Anneska, two very lovely Americans one from the south and one from the north.
Having flamming shots on Australia day
They got me out to see many sites and sit down to enjoy some nice Parisian food. It's amazing how good company can change your outlook. I'm very thankful that I met them both for so many reasons but mainly because I would have no idea just how better this trip could get...
A very beautiful Church we found
Still Paris to me seemed to be the city of love, where romance was born. I had seen the image below on my aunties wall for years and had been consumed by Parisian dust.
The Kiss
Parisian dust is the term coined by two friends I met in the hostel I stayed in. Both had been very dissapointed by Paris and we had all admitted that at some stage we had felt like crying and going home. Alex, the very passionate Brazillian had actually admitted that he had sat at one of the hostel tables crying his eyes out. But he also had relationship issues.
I had two very tramatising experiences in Paris one involving a small black boy being dragged back into a store and pinned against the wall for stealing a tube of smarties. The other was a guy in my hostel room, so drunk from a night out vomiting all over himself then the floor then waking up the next morning to find it all over the floor.
The areas of Paris are quite poor and my friend was right it is a very dirty and sometimes miserable town. It also seems like everyone goes out of their way to be as unhelpful as possible. The metro ticket machines would only accept coins as payment and the store keepers would not give change even when you bought something. It became a struggle just to do the smallest of things like get internet access without having an arguement. All in all Paris felt like the older kid in the street, a bit of a bully who doesn't want to hang out with you and will charge you 30 euros for the priviledge of walking to your house.
The one redeemable aspect of the four days in Paris were the people I met there. All tourists like me who were so open and ready to give helpful advice. There was the large group of Australian exchange students, who we had shots with at the bar and told us about the Australian bar where you could get Cooper's and meat pies. They were really good to be around on during Australia day. Then there was Alex and Anneska, two very lovely Americans one from the south and one from the north.
Having flamming shots on Australia day
They got me out to see many sites and sit down to enjoy some nice Parisian food. It's amazing how good company can change your outlook. I'm very thankful that I met them both for so many reasons but mainly because I would have no idea just how better this trip could get...
A very beautiful Church we found
Monday, February 1, 2010
London Called, again
Update: I'm a little behind on these entries. Sorry mum! I can't begin to explain how much it has sucked not having access to a laptop. In every hostel they have free internet - the whole travelling community have brought laptops. I now too have a travel laptop. It's so cute! Anyway I'm in Madrid now but I'm only up to London for obvious internet issues.
London is very good at placing signs to help travellers get from one area to another. Some of the major attractions are signposted from the tube station to the site so I never actually used a map. I got straight off the tube station and walked directly to my hotel without asking directions, that is unheard of.
I arrived at the Enterprise hotel in Earl's Court quite late in the evening. Though I choose the hotel for obvious science fiction reasons, they did not beam me up on arrival. I dragged my suitcase up the stairs. I have one major question for the continent of Europe. Why do you dislike the people who live in you? You will find at any major airport, train station, bus station or street corner a person/persons in varying states of duress trying to lug suitcases, prams or trolleys up stairs. I really don't understand how the most metropolitian centres have some of the worst facilities in the world.
Anyway into my hotel at least there was an elevator. Got to my room and by jove there is a set of stairs inside my room. I'm not talking one or two but a decent seven or eight stairs.
Stairs in my hotel room
I settled into my little hotel in Earl's Court, became a master of the tube and travelled round the most important sites of London, according to Lonely Planet.
London Museum
Tate Modern
National Art Gallery
National Portrait Gallery (got ripped off on 11 pound ticket to see Beatles to Bowie exhibit - my dad's album collection is much better)
Portebello Markets
Wicked the Musical
Science Theatre
I'll only make a quick reference about the Science Theatre from the places I visited because it was definatley the best of all. Even just walking around the outside of the building is an experience, it's majestic. Inside you are greeted with a life size skeleton of a massive plant eating dinosaur. I wish I could say what kind but there were masses of school children surrounding it so I didn't get a look at the description. Onwards the exhibits get more fascinating with fossils and specimans, working ant colonies, a whole section on the human body (we are disgusting), the chronology of monkeys to modern man, conservation and so many stuffed animals it must of been a taxidermist's dream. In particular there was an intricate model of a tree which contained every type of humming bird. They looked so happy in their frozen state of glide, perch and sing; though in reality they probably wouldn't be sitting in the same tree... because of trust issues. Sometimes I wish humming birds weren't so racist.
Some not so racist humming birds
Most importanly a statue of Darwin the father of modern science smiled down on the school groups pushing, shoving and screaming; the tourists flashing their expensive cameras and the young red haired lady tripping up the small children.
The most fun was the dinosaur section. You begin by crossing a bridge where you can see the exhibits below and real and I mean real dinosaurs are perched on the top moving and snarling at you. Okay they were mechanical but so cool. I was behind some kids when we came up to the velociraptors and one of the kids yelled "they can open doors" coolest little kid ever. And then we came up to tyrannosauraus rex and I had such a Dr. Alan Grant moment. I can't even talk about it now.
The king
There are so many more amazing things to see there - like the blue room which has life sized versions of just about every animal in place. Whales, dolphins, elephants everything. But the most amazing thing was the giant sequoia tree cross section. It was felled in the early 1900s and was a seedling before the birth of Christ. Along the age rings it hard markings of major events in human history. It was massive. All in all it was such a good day I couldn't stop smiling. I also managed to find an average sushi place which is rare in London, so it magically turned into a spectacular sushi place.
Giant sequio cross section
London is very good at placing signs to help travellers get from one area to another. Some of the major attractions are signposted from the tube station to the site so I never actually used a map. I got straight off the tube station and walked directly to my hotel without asking directions, that is unheard of.
I arrived at the Enterprise hotel in Earl's Court quite late in the evening. Though I choose the hotel for obvious science fiction reasons, they did not beam me up on arrival. I dragged my suitcase up the stairs. I have one major question for the continent of Europe. Why do you dislike the people who live in you? You will find at any major airport, train station, bus station or street corner a person/persons in varying states of duress trying to lug suitcases, prams or trolleys up stairs. I really don't understand how the most metropolitian centres have some of the worst facilities in the world.
Anyway into my hotel at least there was an elevator. Got to my room and by jove there is a set of stairs inside my room. I'm not talking one or two but a decent seven or eight stairs.
Stairs in my hotel room
I settled into my little hotel in Earl's Court, became a master of the tube and travelled round the most important sites of London, according to Lonely Planet.
London Museum
Tate Modern
National Art Gallery
National Portrait Gallery (got ripped off on 11 pound ticket to see Beatles to Bowie exhibit - my dad's album collection is much better)
Portebello Markets
Wicked the Musical
Science Theatre
I'll only make a quick reference about the Science Theatre from the places I visited because it was definatley the best of all. Even just walking around the outside of the building is an experience, it's majestic. Inside you are greeted with a life size skeleton of a massive plant eating dinosaur. I wish I could say what kind but there were masses of school children surrounding it so I didn't get a look at the description. Onwards the exhibits get more fascinating with fossils and specimans, working ant colonies, a whole section on the human body (we are disgusting), the chronology of monkeys to modern man, conservation and so many stuffed animals it must of been a taxidermist's dream. In particular there was an intricate model of a tree which contained every type of humming bird. They looked so happy in their frozen state of glide, perch and sing; though in reality they probably wouldn't be sitting in the same tree... because of trust issues. Sometimes I wish humming birds weren't so racist.
Some not so racist humming birds
Most importanly a statue of Darwin the father of modern science smiled down on the school groups pushing, shoving and screaming; the tourists flashing their expensive cameras and the young red haired lady tripping up the small children.
The most fun was the dinosaur section. You begin by crossing a bridge where you can see the exhibits below and real and I mean real dinosaurs are perched on the top moving and snarling at you. Okay they were mechanical but so cool. I was behind some kids when we came up to the velociraptors and one of the kids yelled "they can open doors" coolest little kid ever. And then we came up to tyrannosauraus rex and I had such a Dr. Alan Grant moment. I can't even talk about it now.
The king
There are so many more amazing things to see there - like the blue room which has life sized versions of just about every animal in place. Whales, dolphins, elephants everything. But the most amazing thing was the giant sequoia tree cross section. It was felled in the early 1900s and was a seedling before the birth of Christ. Along the age rings it hard markings of major events in human history. It was massive. All in all it was such a good day I couldn't stop smiling. I also managed to find an average sushi place which is rare in London, so it magically turned into a spectacular sushi place.
Giant sequio cross section
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