I went to London to assist to a conference that was held at the Natural History Museum. On my way to the museum, I went through Kensington Gardens (I dedicated several posts about it here, here and here). I had the chance to visit it a bit, behind the scenes, and that was truly amazing ! The museum is a centre for scientific research specialized in conservation and has many collections of historical value, including specimens collected by Charles Darwin. Yes, Charles Darwin !!! \o/
The museum itself is quite good as well, but there were so many kids running around that it was difficult to look at the displays, but for what I’ve seen, it was nice (and free, did I mentioned it was free ? ;-)). I was quite happy to see all these kids, taking interest in Science, learning new stuff and teaching their parents “oh dad, did you know that…”, I loved that !
Oh and I almost forgot to mention the entrance of Exhibition road (also called the secret entrance, the best one to avoid queueing) ! It was nice to step through this giant earth kind of thing (honestly, I still haven’t figured what it was, the only think I can say is that it was pretty cool).
After spending a full day over there, I decided to have dinner around Covent Garden. So I took the tube and I can say that I’ve experienced the tube during rush hour ! That was something… When I finally reached Covent garden, the weather had changed abruptly (again !! what is wrong with you London ?) and the sky was so dark ! I took a few pictures before it started to rain.
Half of the conference was held in the NHM of London, and the other part was held at Kew Gardens ! Stay tuned for more details about my exploration of these incredible Gardens. And prepare yourselves for more flowers :-)
Darwin on the rocks and around the world 
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I must try and remember about the secret entrance, for my next visit to London.
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You will definitively save some time ! :-)
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London is such a wonderful town with nice people. I have been there, too. Good photos.
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I didn’t have time to socialize with true Londoners as I was there for work. But I’m sure people are nice :-)
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I’ve never been to London.. Thanks for sharing a piece of it…
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And would you like to go there at one point ?
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This museum seems so….cool! :)
I’ve never visited Europe (although my husband & I dream of it…) but thanks to you, and I can start to make a “list” of where I want to go… This would definitely be one of them! I look forward to your other photos :)
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Science can be cool sometimes, and that’s why I like these kind of places. Natural History Museum are wonderful, and very educationnal and funny at the same time. I hope you will get the chance to visit Europe, and if you visit Belgium (Bruges is lovely), I will be your guide if I haven’t moved to Scotland by then :D
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A wonderful place for kids and adults. I posted about it recently when we took our Grandkids to the Investigate section in the basement, usually for schools but for families at weekends and school holiday – magic! :)
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I think this place is magicial for children, you can do a lot of fun activities and you can still learn ! I’ll have a look at your post, to see what I’ve missed ;-)
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I love both those places, the museum and covent gardens. I had some of the best laughs at that museum, I don’t know if it’s still there but they had a mirror in which you were supposed to practice curling your tongue, and after walking around I found that same mirror but from the back side of it and it looked transparent! So you could see all these people making super funny faces without knowing there were people watching them on the other side.
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Oh that’s a funny story :D I can imagine people wondering why some people are making such weird face haha ! I didn’t have time to explore a lot, so I didn’t have the chance to see this magic mirror :-(
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I look forward to seeing your garden photos.
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I think I will post them when I’ll be back from Edinburgh.. I’m leaving on Friday morning, but I’m not sure I’ll take the computer with me, since I’m only taking a small backpack with me… :-) We will see :-) But they will come at one point :D
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So much to see and to do in London! :)
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Yeah, especially if you like museums or parks and gardens ! So many of them in London ! I don’t think you can get bored in this city ;-)
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I lived in London for 27 years before moving to Brighton & Hove. I do miss the city very much but at least it’s only an hour away by train. Covent Garden was one of my favourite spots, especially at Christmas time.
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Do you also miss the tube during rush hour ? :-) I’m sure Covent Garden is lovely during xmas, with all the decoration and the smell of mulled wine :-)
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I was lucky enough to be able to walk to and from work. Rush hour on the tube is no fun, especially when the weather is hot.
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Oh I see ! :-) I had the feeling that there was air-conditioning on some lines (the green line especially) but maybe it was just the wind ;-)
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Reblogged this on mapsworldwide blog.
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