3 Jan

This morning I woke up a bit late again and we didn’t get as early a start as Sachi would have liked. First stop was the grocery store called Sainsbury’s at the bottom of the hill. I swear, this place is going to be one of my best friends while I’m here. It’s only a 5 minute walk from the dorm and equipped and priced like a mini Wal-Mart. It’s absolutely brilliant. We picked up some groceries and other cooking necessaries then dropped the stuff back at the dorm. After we arranged things we headed out for Natural History and Science museums and Harrods along the way. Harrods was found to be open latest so we saved it for the end (though we never actually went in because it was getting late and dark and it would be a waste to only spend 20 minutes in a place like that). The Science Museum was fun and it would have been even more fun if I was 10. The exhibits, like the ones at the Deutsches Museum, were very hands-on but unlike the DM, the age level for enjoying the exhibits was significantly lower. They were nice though. After spending some time there admiring a Spitfire (the plane that won the day during the Battle of Britain in WWII) and some other exhibits, we walked next door the NHM. We were hungry so we first stopped at the café for some surprisingly delicious baguettes. Refreshed, we explored the earth science exhibits. We spotted a “Darwin Centre” and naturally I made a beeline for that one. Unfortunately, it’s still largely under construction and there really wasn’t much to see. From there we went to the human biology wing which was really cool. Sach likes those sections a lot more than I do. We played a little memory game which I miserably failed. Surprise, surprise. Next was the world-famous and rightly-so DINOSAUR exhibit. The collection is fantastic as is the arrangement. They have fossils from all over the world and great explanations of archaeology and dinosaur theories. The highlight of this exhibit was the animatronic T-rex that was slightly reminiscent of “Jurassic Park”. This creature could “sense” when people were near it and roared and moved its body appropriately. It was quite cool, though Sach and I really wanted to hear the JP roar that is absolutely fantastic and would make a great tone for an alarm clock. We left after seeing the dinosaurs and taking pictures of some bears. It was already dark and so we just walked past Harrods on the way home. After some relaxing at home and me typing on the computer, I decided I wanted to explore the hall. I walked through the dining room a bit, found the common room, computer room, lounge, libraries, and music room. It’s a cool place. I couldn’t find squash courts though I did find the bar and snooker rooms. We fixed a couple of PB+jam sandwiches for dinner and just chilled out for a while. We turned in around 11.