Revisitng Our Trip To London, One Photo at A Time.

If you've been following this blog for a while now, you'd know that Jules is pretty much bananas for dinosaurs. Actually, he's pretty much bananas for anything you'll find in a Natural History Museum (animals, bugs, large whales, DINOSAURS, fish of any kind, butterflies; you name it, man loves it.) And our visit to London's Natural History Museum was no exception. If you've had the good fortune to see their museum, you know without me saying that the dinosaur exhibit was a hit. It's freaking bizerk. 

In addition to the standard gigantic skeletons of diplodocus and triceratops, there are actual animatronic full-sized dinosaurs (T-Rex and a couple of creepy raptor-lookin' guys) and that pretty much blew Julian's mind. Needless to say, he and John stood for a solid 10 minutes just watching those creepy raptors watching them. 

And then the taxidermied section was just as impressive. Full-sized giraffes, surprisingly hairy elephants, a couple of cheeky looking gazelle. A true safari. 

And in case that wasn't enough-- the space itself is utterly spectacular as well. 

Those victorians did not f#!k about when it came to their museum halls. 

This space is truly palatial as well-- and just as beautifully designed as a palace to boot. When you first come in, look up and you'll spot roughly 30 enormous hand-painted, gold-leaved decorative ceiling panels, which (I have on good authority) were designed by the actual William Morris. Yes. The actual William Morris. Truly sensational. 

If you've got kids and you ever make it to London, this should absolutely be on your MUST-DO list. 

While we were there, we stayed on a houseboat that we'd found on AirBnb, right on the canal of Victoria Park. Victoria Park is this tremendous park in the East End of London, and near where most of our London-dwelling friends live, so this was a perfect location for our trip. I'm not going to lie-- sleeping on a boat is bizarre. I swear John and I were swaying for about two days after we got home... And honestly, it's not even that rocky when you're on the boat but evidently all the while, it's messing with your equilibrium, because after we got off, we felt utterly weird. Jules was a total dynamo about sleeping on a boat and didn't complain about dizziness at all-- though I doubt he'll even remember that it happened once he grows up. Luckily I'll have proof!! 

I usually try to avoid posting photos of myself on here, but what the hell! I was there too... We had a genuinely delicious, utterly typical Fish & Chips meal at the Fish House in Victoria Village, just around the corner from the enormous Victoria Park. A true english experience all around! 

All aboard!