And so the end of Summer arrived and finally the thing I'd been looking forward to all holiday had finally come. I got to go to those hallowed halls in Kensington. I finally got to visit The Natural History Museum.
The last time we tried to visit it had been the middle of the School Summer Holidays. For those unfamiliar with the setting and location of the museum imagine a great gothic-esque brick palace the length of the average British street surrounded by iron railings and overlooked by Embassies (the one closest to the South Ken. Tube station is the French one). And so with bubbling glee we'd headed across London those years ago only to discover the mother, farther, aunt, uncle and cousins of a queue of people. The queue snaked from the entrance, down one half of the building, out onto the street and then down the full length of the building along the pavement.
We did not join that back of that queue. Instead we found Kensington Park and got lost in Sloane-Ranger town, Belgravia were the pavements are just for show.
Years passed (it's been a while since I've been in London proper for more than a day or so) and this time it was it. Visit to the Natural History Museum round 2 was on! And it being during term time all the dino-obsessed five-year olds would be in school rooms up and down the country and I might actually get to see the exhibits.
OK, so the dinos were on holiday (their words not mine, the exhibition was being renovated) as was the earthquake and volcano galleries but that wasn't going to stop me jolly well enjoying the great cathedral to natural science.
Firstly, you have to hand it to the Victorians, we just don't make buildings like they used to. I was astounded by the place itself. Archways and pillars were decorated with birds, plants, fish, the heads of rams. Great Wooden cases stretched from floor the ceiling, the windows were high, flooding each room with as much daylight at possible. The space itself was stunning.
If I sound a little giddy with flowery language this might be because while in London I have been reading a rather interesting book that sparked my imagination more than most I've read recently.
My sister had brought with her on holiday a book she was planning on reading in preparation for next term (like the diligent student that she is, naturally). She had started it but had already got frustrated with the pace (the start doesn't exactly draw you in, partly because the start lulls you into a false sense of normality) so naturally I wanted to take a look, nearly 300 pages later (still not finished) I was enthralled. (No I'm not a bad sister, she wasn't snatching it back from me to read it herself).
Kraken by China Mievelle (yeah I thought he was a she too) concerns itself with the theft and cult-worship of the Giant Squid (Architeuthis dux) that is actually housed within The Natural History Museum. Perhaps there's something both attractive and repulsive about something so Other that makes the book so captivating. I believe there's a saying about what we are most fascinated by is that which we most fear. If that's true I clearly was harbouring an unknown fear for giant squid. As a novelty its definitely a recommended read, just don't expect to necessarily like it.
That's all for now for my intro, my next post will concern itself with the collections proper!
----
Quotation of the day from the trip: "Oh no, not more rocks!" - said by a disgruntled family member... aww, bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment