In the beautiful South Kensington lies the most stunning building, the Natural History Museum.
You wouldn’t guess that from the outside that it houses all sorts of artifacts, sculptures and fun inside… but oh it does.
On our day out in London, we just had to stop in. My Dad and I have never visited and J went as a kid… so we had plenty of exploring to do.
The breathtaking main entrance greets you with a big friendly dinosaur. With a nod to him, you’re off to explore.
These devilish little monkeys adorn the building… photo bombing, as you do.
At the top of the staircase you can find the Giant Sequoia tree stump, all the way from California USA. It’s a place I’ve never visited but would love to someday.
From sequoias to gemstones we made our merry way over to look at The Minerals section.
While this may bring about flashbacks of horror to science classes filled with memorizing the Periodic Table, I promise, this is well worth the visit.
After all, look all the way to the end of the room, see that glowing under the archway? Yep, we’re heading into The Vault.
Probably the most exciting room to any jewel lover out there (ahem, me). The vault is filled with diamonds, emeralds, rubies, gold nuggets and all the finest treasures. No wonder it’s kept under lockdown.
Here’s a little peek at what we saw.
The Aurora Collection. Did you know that there are 296 naturally occurring colored diamonds? Me either. Lucky for us, there is The Aurora Pyramid of Diamonds. Swoon.
The Aurora is the most comprehensive natural color diamond collection in the world. These babies bring about a total of 267.45 carats collectively.
Other vault highlights include The Devonshire Emerald. I have a bit of an emerald attachment as it’s my birthstone. So seeing this was incredible.
Here’s a bit of history below for you on the emerald. Yes, I take photos of the descriptions.
PS. I recommend doing just that. It’s the best way to remember what you’ve seen… very handy for these fantastic museums with so much to see.
I won’t exhaust you with more vault contents, so you’ll have to check it out for yourselves.
Moving onto the dinosaurs!
Probably something that would have sent J running around like a madman as a child… we had a much more subdued experience than all the young parents around us.
Featuring both big bones and animatronics, there is plenty to keep everyone of all ages entertained.
The pathway through the exhibit steers visitors to the main event… but more on that in a minute. Check out the dinos!
And all of a sudden you hear it… the familiar roar from Jurassic Park.
We’ve entered the T-Rex room.
An animatronic T-Rex shakes his head and roars furiously at the passersby… you’ve got to be quick to catch a photo.
You wouldn’t want to face this guy out in the wilderness, that’s for sure.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t spend any more time in the museum and we had to head back out into the bitter cold London air.
I would fully recommend anyone with a few spare hours to venture into the Natural History Museum. It’s a bit off the beaten path, over in South Kensington. But it’s well worth it.
It’s too bad we didn’t have more time because I think I could easily get lost and spend days absorbing everything.
A little bonus? Admission to the museum is free.
There, you now have literally no excuses.
It’s time for a visit.
xx Kelly
wow, its nice building 😀