England 2017-Oasis

Oasis




Throughout our time together, I found saying no to Emma difficult. She had her fair share of ice cream that week and we paid 5 pounds for a Fidget Spinner when she could get one in the states or even online for as little a dollar.

   It was also her idea to have lunch in a trendy modern day pub against idea of getting fresh prepackaged sandwiches from the grocery store in order to save money. Since it was her vacation and our special time together, I caved a lot.

Savory Meat Pie and Mash

   It has been my experience from previous visits that a rainstorm can happen at any time in the city of London. Since we forgot our umbrellas, we were fortunate that the weather was optimal every day that we were there. And since Earl's Court was close to everything, we had planned to do a lot of walking. There's a place in Kensington for the would-be scientist.
  I knew that Emma was well ready to travel with me at a young age as she has always had a sense of adventure. We walked down Cromwell Street in South Kensington until a facade of  Romanesque architecture stood in our view. We walked in and we were overwhelmed with the beauty of this enormous place and I instantly felt as though I was walking through the history in which it stood. We would enjoy many other similar buildings some of which date as far back as 1078! We also marveled at the workmanship and the many decorative tiles of different facets of nature.

    Though the building alone was enough to see, we toured displays of bear specimen, dinosaur fossils and a blue whale skeleton. Though fascinated with our surroundings, we also would enjoy any demonstrations and anything we could find that was hands-on.

    A young man who was on staff offered an informative and very educational interactive presentation on how to determine the age of a tree. His array of trunk samples, diagrams and time lines were engaging and captivating for Emma. I really think he just needed someone to talk to. There wasn't anyone else around at the time and he seemed happy that we were there to listen as he continued on and on.

   Just outside the building, we were lucky to find a place referred to as the "oasis in the midst of urbana". The sun lit the afternoon as we strolled down the path where cowslips and bluebells could be seen. The noise from the outermost city grew faint. The path led us to a small pond graced with lilly pads as the dragonflies flew near. An exhibitioner anxiously awaited us ready to present his demo. He had his sample tray full of algae, leeches, snails and larvae and challenged us to identify each of them. Never did I know that dragonflies came from larvae found within the waters of lakes and ponds!
   
   Emma wanted to go to one more exhibit. It was not free unfortunately, so it was once again time for me to cave. Who said there would be any regrets?

Sensational Butterflies



There was an exhibit.
We spent about an hour with them.

Place visited: Natural History Museum, London UK

Date visited: June 14th, 2017
Eats: Garfunkles, London UK


Grenfell 

Though we may have been in an oasis of Bluebells and butterflies that day, the city outside of us was raging. The sky was perfectly blue that morning but it was also filled with the smoke and helicopters   as horror was in the air less than two miles away. I watched the news in the breakfast room as it was all happening while Emma slept.

   I left the television off in the hotel room as I thought it would be best to keep this information from her.

   When London hurts, I hurt. I prayed and secretly wept while with my butterflies.