Ducks, Dan Dare and Diabolical Design

Day Five – London

Today was a day I'd been really looking forward to – meeting up with an old work pal Steve Phillips and his family for a visit to the Science Museum. We started out the day as usual with our kids trying to eat the entire breakfast buffet. For once we had a quiet table in the bar next to the grand piano. I think they do jazz / swing in the bar some nights judging by the decor.

Once we were fed we jumped on the Underground down to Lancaster Gate. From there we walked down through Hyde Park, both to see the park in general but also so Jenni could see the Peter Pan statue. Right at the park entrance in there is a series of fountains which form one end of the Serpentine (lake). Our walk then followed the Serpentine until we reached the head of Exhibition Road. On the way we stopped to see some ducks and swans, as well as the aforementioned Peter Pan statue. The statue is (apparently) much smaller than Jenni had expected. You can see on the statue which parts are most popular with the kids i.e.) the rabbit ears as these are all polished from the constant rubbing of little hands.

The Science Museum is only a few minutes walk from the far side of Hyde Park. Steve, Cara, Eddie and Millie arrived not long after we did and we went inside together. The Science Museum is not bad fun as museums go. They have some very cool exhitis, including a real Apollo capsule (number 10 and used of course), a Saturn 5 rocket booster, plenty of great early 1900s military aircraft and much more. They also have a lot of entertaining hands-on exhibits that the kids played with for ages. Overall a pretty good museum experience exhibit-wise. A stand out for me was something called a Face Massager from the 50s but looked more like a cross between a power drill and and rock crusher. It looked like it would tear your face right off the front of your head. They also had an exhibit involving Dan Dare - Dan Dare and the Birth of Hi-Tech Britain. Dan Dare is the English equivalent of Flash Gordon I suppose but far cooler.

Exhibits aside, about the museum let me say this: Whatthef*ckwheretheythinkingwhentheydesignedthebloodybuilding???

The floor plan is Machiavellian, the lifts often don't go to the half the floors, the map doesn't show anything like all the walls and corridors and the staff are near usless when asked for directions. We spent at least an hour just walking about looking for areas we hadn't yet seen. From memory I personally walked through the aircraft hall four times. By the end it had become a bit of a joke. At one point Steve and I were ready to call 999. It's a shame really because I'm sure a lot of visitors must miss some of the exhibits just through giving up in frustration.

On the way back we stopped off in Kensington Gardens for icecreams (that's 99s checked off my list!) and mucked about with the kids. Eddie and I played hide and seek but with only two or three trees to choose from and Ed not that interested in hiding it didn't last long. Jenni took some pics of the Albert Memorial and I took some of the Albert Hall across the road. Before we left we also worked out the timer on the camera and took a group photo.

Walking back to Lancaster Gate we ran across a bit more local wildlife – squirrels that live in the park and which are quite tame. I got a few good pics before we headed back. Dinner was KFC as we were short on time.

All up a great day. Catching up with Steve was brilliant and I really appreciate the time they took to come down to see us. Tomorrow is another day and one I'm hoping will be the absolute highlight of the trip - Jamie Carragher's Testimonial Match against the Bluenoses at ANFIELD.

Edit: The camera was playing up and I've somehow managed to lose about half the photos we took today up until lunchtime. I'm WELL annoyed with both myself and the silly camera. Arrrrggghh.

Cheers,
Millsy.