What Janine Did in London #3

On Thursday we went to the Natural History Museum ... sort of. We actually visited its original Victorian collection of stuffed animals, which is stored in exotic Tring (Dublin has a very similar collection btw). It's old-fashioned and not at all PC, but if I'd been a kid living nearby I would have been in every week until I'd memorised the collection by heart. They have every sort of dead animal from rhinos to fleas (some of the fleas are wearing Mexican national costume, I kid you not. It was a folk art perpetuated by nuns ... and I do realise you're not believing a word of this ... oh look, here they are!).

Some of the animals are fake - like the dodos above - and some just look it, like these fish:


And the vampire deer:

On Friday we decided to see some live animals for a change, so went to London Zoo. This is their oldest resident gorilla. She ignores onlookers unless they have babies. She's fascinated by human babies.

I liked the African wild dogs myself. Sadly at this point the zoom on my camera broke.


But my favourite part was probably the reptile house. I could pretend to be Harry Potter talking to the snakes.

And my favourite picture was taken in the aquarium:


And that's yer lot. Still on my London List is the National Gallery and the Tate. Maybe next time!