Wednesday – April 25, 2012

Our last day in London (we will be back in England after Belgium) and Maxine is still suffering from her cold and decided to stay in and keep warm.  It is quite cold with on and off rain outside, not a pleasant place to be if you are not feeling well.  We took advantage of the day and slept in.  I’m not sure if that is good or bad when trying to get over jet lag, but it sure felt nice.  Breakfast was tea in the room, orange juice and egg sandwiches from M&S with some fresh fruit to finish it off. 

After breakfast (it was already about noon), Maxine sent me off to do a little museum touring.  I started out at the Science museum to look for Babbage’s Analytical Engine.  It is a very large (8x10 feet or so) machine using brass cams, gear, etc to perform mathematical calculations.  Babbage never got it working but last time we were here, they were close to having built one from his plans and getting it operational.  It is gone!  And no one I talked to even recalled it being here.

They have an interesting collection of early steam engines, both stationary for working mines and mills and the very earliest ones that ran on rails.  The first one from about 1815 was so early that they  weren’t sure the friction between steel rails and steel wheels would be enough to move he machines.  Turns out that it does work.  They also have a nice exhibit of early space flight artifacts, even if most of them have been donated from NASA since the British didn’t do much in space travel.

They have added a lovely kids section to the Museum.  Avi would have had a great time with the hands on experiments.  One of the attendants admitted that many if not most of the displays come from the Exploratorium in San Francisco, but they are re-done and appear much more professional. They also do live science experiment shows for the kids every hours.  The one I attended was focused on explosions.  They made it interesting for the children with lots of flashes of light and loud bangs.  At one point they brought out a small cannon and asked for volunteers to be shot  from the cannon.  There were several volunteers.  He called up a couple, carefully examined them and decided they were too large to fit.  In the end, Barbie was inserted into the barrel and was shot across the room to great delight of the audience.

As I  was leaving, I wandered through the Energy Hall.  There was this large metal pole in the center of the room surrounded by floor printing that said “Do Not Touch” but no barriers or railing.  Not surprisingly, the kids approach it gingerly and then touch it.  There is a loud noise and the kids get a mild shock, and then the next kid has to try it too.

I then went next door to the Natural History Museum and spent a few minutes looking at the Hall of Minerals, focusing on the interesting displays of precious and semi-precious gems.  They have some beautiful diamonds, but some truly amazing stones of the other varieties.  I was particularly taken by a perfect 1200 carat clear topaz.  It looks just like a giant diamond.

Rather than spending more time underground, I took the bus back to the hotel.  Knightsbridge is still crowded and if you were basing your observations on the people going in and out of Harrods you would be sure that any recession is certainly over.

Another indication of the state of the economy was dinner.  Since Maxine isn’t up to a long walk or a long dinner (we had originally considered some Michelin starred places) we ended up going to the Hard Rock Cafe which is only a few blocks away.  We learned that the one in London is the first one which opened forty-one years ago, and is still in the original location.  We got there around 6, pretty early for London dinner time and still had a short wait.  By the time we were leaving they were quoting 90 minutes to two hours and the place is so small there is no inside waiting area.  People were bundled up sitting in the cold wind and rain.  I guess you must really want a good burger to suffer that much and that long.  We had BBQ sandwiches which were fast and good.  A cold walk back to the hotel and we are now in for the night.  Tomorrow the Eurostar to Brussels.