Natural History Museum

Have you ever seen the film "Night at the Museum"? The main character spends a night in the Museum of Natural History and it proves to be a life-changing experience. Will you dare to try yourself? Then let me invite you to the Natural History Museum in London. At night.

As we enter inside, we are welcomed by a large collection of fossils.

Next to them comes the plesiosaurus, a large marine reptile that lived (yes!) in Jurassic era.

This giant mammal was a huge ground sloth. It was by far larger than a horse.

As we enter the Hintze Hall, we immediately discover the king of the place - a twenty five metre long blue whale skeleton.

Luckily it is suspended in the air - I would not like to get anywhere close to his jaws. I know they are supposed to be eating only small sea food. Still, I would not take the risk.

The Hintze Hall looks like a giant cathedral. In the front, you will find the figure of god almighty. Or more precisely the one who has redefined the natural history - Charles Darwin.

In the side chapels you will find some of the finest specimen of the Museum. Like this two and a half billion years old metal rock.

Obviously, the Hall would not be complete without a proper dinosaur. The 125-million-year-old Mantellisaurus on display in Hintze Hall is one of the most complete dinosaur fossils ever found in the UK.

The next "chapel" houses a giant Turbinaria coral (three hundred kilograms of pure coral!). It looks like a huge lettuce to be honest.

By the way, did you know that corals are actually animals? Plants are also represented of course. The seaweeds are important not because we use them to make sushi. They are a vital part of the marine ecosystem.

The seaweeds were dried and pressed to be better preserved. On the opposite, sea animals are kept in a special liquid. This blue marlin only joined the collection a few years ago.

Last but not least, this is my favourite exhibit. If you want to discover the natural history inside out, you need to come to London!

London Paddington

I will take you today on a little walk in London. If you expect to see Big Ben or the London Eye, you might be a bit disappointed. Because we will walk around the Paddington area within the City of Westminster, in central London. We will start, not surprisingly, at the Paddington railway station, where you can arrive directly from Heathrow on the Heathrow Express (expensive but really fast).

The Paddington area does not have a central point of its own. Instead it is composed of residential buildings, hotels and small parks. One of the most noticeable public buildings is the St. Mary's hospital.

If you do not want to visit it from the inside, remember one critical instruction: the cars in England move on the left side of the road. So when you cross the street ....

The St. Mary's Hospital stands next to a little canal. It is the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal.

To keep the canal clear of algae and to aerate it, a special "bubbly barrier" was created.

At the very end of the canal comes the Merchant's square. It used to be a kid of market place in the past but today it is a residential and leisure area.

On sunny days, children most probably play by (or in...) the fountain.

Supervised by sir Simon Milton, a former leader of the Westminster City council.

Close to the St. Mary's hospital stand the St. Mary's church in the parish of Little Venice.

Behind it you will find a small park, called St. Mary's churchyard. Very pragmatic.

But before you start running and having fun here, maybe you should take a closer look at the fence. Or at the stones standing by the fence. And yes, this are tombstones.

The churchyard is a former graveyard. Still some bigger graves remain in the middle of the lawn.

To be honest, I find the idea quite spooky. But apparently other people not, since there are residential buildings surrounding the yard.

Not forgetting the City of Westminster College.

In the St. Mary's churchyard you will find graves of some famous people, like Sarah Siddons, the best Lady Macbeth of her times.

Luckily, the Paddington area has also other parks to offer, like the Norfolk square.

Inside, you will find cosy lanes and an abundance of plants.

Let's take a walk inside.

I would expect that flats in the buildings facing the Norfolk Square are more expensive that I can even imagine.

I propose that we take a break and order a pint in one of the pubs. This one looks really welcoming. Maybe they have some good Sherlock Holmes stories to share.

Glen Coe and Loch Lomond

Today I will show you the very last part of my trip to Scotland with Ola. We will start in Glen Coe. A "glen" is a deep valley, often of volcanic origin (Volcanoes in Scotland? Well, I was also a bit surprised). Let's get on the road then, we will have over twenty kilometers to walk today.

This small lake is called Loch Achtriochtan and lies next to Road A 82, a few kilometeres from where the James Bong "Skyfall" movie was shot.

Next to the lake we pass a village of the same name. Well, calling it a village is maybe a bit too much.

Here you can see the valley in its full beauty.

These peaks are called Three Sisters of Glen.

Between the Sisters there is a path called Coire Gabhai. Not really fit for high heels my ladies.

The other side of the valley is framed by Aonach Eagach.

It is maybe not so high but climbing it is not easy.

Glen Coe has witnessed, as any place in Highlands, harsh fights during the Jacobite Rising. Yet, here the death was coming also with less honour and dignity. The so-called Massacre of Clencoe, commemorated by this monument, was a simple mass-murder not an act of war. We horses will never understand humans.

Finally, we are ready to move on the West Highland Way. We start in Tarbet, at 10 AM sharp, ready for a cruise on Loch Lomond.

With all this mist the view is quite disappointing.

Let's get out of the boat in Inversnaid and take a walk instead. This nice waterfall is called Arklet Falls. The Arklet Burn flows from Loch Arklet and at Inversnaid falls into Loch Lomond.

The plan for today is to take the West Highland Way. Its total length is of 154.5 km but obviously we will only take a small part of it.

The paths run through hills, hide in forests ...

... and embrace the lochs.

It is really a nice and refreshing walk. It is possible to see there things that are not so common in our industrialised world. Like a huge field of fern.

Finally we arrive next to the village of Rowardennan. In the back you can see the peak of Ben Lomond.

Next to it we found a monument. Does its shape remind you of something?

For me it looks like Stargate from the famous movie and TV-series.

Well obviously this is not the Stargate (at least not officially ...). This is a War memorial, commemorating those who died in World War I and II.

Our boat is waiting alredy to take us back home.

I hope that you have enjoyed the time that we have spent together in Scotland. I really did. I only wish the weather was more predictable. The has sun started to shine just as we were leaving. But maybe it is just a sign that we need to come back one day?