Natural History Museum

After Scarborough, we went to London, and one of the sights on my list has long been the Natural History Museum. It is one of several museums along Exhibition Road, among them the Victoria and Albert Museum that we went to some years ago to see an exhibition of historical fashion. The Natural History Museum was built by Alfred Waterhouse, who was part of the Victorian Gothic Revival and the building itself is reason enough to take time out to go there. It´s a cathedral dedicated to ecology. You have probably seen it it a film or two. I remember an episode of "Spooks" a few years ago, with spies walking and talking around the dinosaur in the main hall - that scene specifically put it on my list of places to go.

Of course, there were even more dinosaurs further inside the museum, and they seemed to be the main attraction for the many visitors, many of whom were children - perhaps the free entrance adds to the attraction for families. They have a lot of special programs for school children - we saw hoards of little girls in white coats, carrying clipboards, being Dino-scientists! Unfortunately, this option was not available for adults...

If you ever have a rainy day in London, I can really recommend this place.

The details are charming.

All individually fantastic pieces of art, used to decorate the ceiling.

From one of the side galleries.

View from the top floor; the statue of Charles Darwin throned on the stair opposite.

The top jewel, a slice of a Redwood Tree.

The modern extensions have a completely different design,
but works well with Waterhouse´s original style.

The SOE, special operations executive, which supported resistance
in occupied territory during World War II, had offices in
the building where agents were trained in using "specialised military equipment".

(Gasp!)

They have so many skeletons that they display them on two floors in a single room, leading the visitors through on up-hoisted gangways.

This fleshed out specimen had sound effects. Very Jurassic Park.

Boy pondering a dino nursery.

Some theories as to why they died out. I sympathise with this, though I doubt it...

... and this, I want to believe!

A Boat Ride

Our last day in Scarborough we decided to take a trip on the North Sea and take in the first view of Skardaborg that the Vikings would have had. We were lucky enough to be taken out by "Regal Lady", a lovely little boat that actually took part in the Dunkirk evacuation in 1940, which impressed me much. It´s captain was very proud of her, you could really tell. Seemed like it needed some TLC, though, and they were selling bits and bobs, aside from having a pub/café service, to scrape together some money to do maintainance work. I bought a small plastic notebook with the image of "Regal Lady" on it, as we really couldn´t stomach food or drink on such a short trip (a little more than an hour). But there was much eating and drinkning going on around us - the Brits have excellent appetites, that´s for sure!

Luckily, for me, a trip at sea seemed to clear up my hay fever pretty well, and I hardly felt it after that. Must remember for next time. (Also, must remember to take a photo of the entire boat! You can see a little film about here here, though.)

Scarborough from the south.

Scarborough from the north. (The sky a bit more dramatic in noir...)

North Yorkshire Moor Railway

The train coming into Pickering.

It seems as if we have made a a steam train ride on pretty much every trip to England, and on a few trips to other places as well. It never gets old, it´s an adventure every time. This time, we went from Pickering to Whitby, and the idea was to have a restful day after our walk to Long Nab, when I contracted a terrible hay fever that took a few days to shake - and a boatride that really aired the pollen from my sinuses.

I wanted to stop and take a closer look at two stations. One is Goathland, which is famous - it is where Harry Potter gets off, at Hogsmead station, when he goes to Hogwarts, and it is where the very popular series "Heartbeat" is made. It was also used in "All Creatures Great and Small", which I used to see when I was a kid. The other station I wanted to see, Grosmont, has also appeared in "Heartbeat".

It turned out one train was cancelled, so in order to get my wish we had to walk "The Rail Trail" from Goathland to Grosmont, along a closed down stretch of rail. We weren´t really dressed for it, but a 3½ mile walk on what is more or less a road is not much to dress for. It was a very interesting walk, although it probably didn´t help my allergy any.

Who wouldn´t want to be a train engine driver?

Arriving at Goathland.

The train moves on to Whitby and leaves us behind.

The fences weren´t really holding the sheep in, if they wanted an excursion, too. 

We saw a few old wrecks along the line.

The archetypal English landscape.

On the left is the original tunnel (Grosmont was called Tunnel when it was first opened) that the horse-drawn railway from 1836 went through. When they started with the steam engines, they had to build a bigger tunnel. 

The shop, found on the other side of the tunnel.

A well deserved tea and pie.

Grosmont Station - our train coming in.

Nearly in Whitby.

Whitby is where Captain Cook grew up, and where Dracula´s coffin washed ashore. The afternoon was bleak enough for corpses on the beach.

The seagulls rule in Whitby.