Dinosaurs, Animals, and More!

On Friday after class, I finally took a trip to the Natural History Museum which is located less than three blocks from my dorm.  I had only heard great things about this museum since the beginning of the semester when many of my friends had made trips to it.  Because of this, I was very excited to do some personal exploration and met up with my friends Michelle and Jess to venture into the massive museum.

The exterior of this building is absolutely stunning.  With its enormous size, two-tone bricks, and outstanding windows and sculptures adorning the outside, it is truly impressive.

Exterior of the building

While I have no idea how it is possible, the interior of the museum is even more beautiful.  I never would have guessed that it would be so decorative and architecturally unique.  The main hall reminded me of a vast train station with large stained glass windows, allowing light to come streaming in upon 'Dippy' the dinosaur skeleton and statue of Darwin seated prominently at the staircase landing. There were also carvings of monkeys climbing up the arches of the vaulted ceiling.

Main Hall of the Museum

Our first stop in the museum was the Dinosaur Exhibit.  This display was awesome!  It included many different sets of dinosaur skeletons and fossils and even featured an animatronic T-Rex.

So cool!

Watch out for the T-Rex!

Next, we visited the Zoology section which featured examples of species of animals from all over the world.  The most amazing part of this exhibit was the huge model blue whale that hung suspended in the Whale Hall. 

Now that is what I call a whale

Michelle and Jess left to head off for afternoon tea after we saw the area devoted to sea creatures, so I continued to explore on my own.  My next stop was the Human Biology exhibit.  I really enjoyed learning about cells and the body and especially the section on the brain.  It was fun to try out many of the interactive psychological perception tests that were featured here.

I ended my trip to the museum by walking through the exhibits devoted to Ecology, Birds, and Geology. The coolest part of these areas was the futuristic looking Earth Galleries.  This entrance to the museum was so different from the main entrance.  It was filled with artistic statues and an escalator moving straight through a giant globe.

The Earth Galleries

I found the display on the impact that a typical British family has upon the environment particularly interesting.  It had pallets of food, carbon dioxide, and other substances that one family of four would consume in a year.  Some of the statistics were very shocking.  I also found the earthquake machine very captivating.  It had a model supermarket that you could enter and feel what it would be like to live through a mild earthquake.  Given the huge impact that the Japanese earthquake has had recently it was interesting to experience.

All in all, I had a great time exploring this museum.  Filled with cool stones and rocks, giant Sequoia tree slices, and beautiful architecture, it was very well put together and made for a very pleasant afternoon trip.  Not to mention it was fun seeing all of the dinosaurs, animals, and so much more!