h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A toddler’s Guide to… the British Museum.

A273638

and also

http://www.britishmuseum.org/

Papa thinks the British Museum is great and it makes him laugh a lot. It makes him laugh a lot because it is really just the British displaying a superior sense of hoseistvenii-ness. Hoseistvenii-ness is, translated not particularly well by my Mama, connected to the idea of being a home-maker, although also to that of ownership and being the host, but whenever he sniggers in this way Mama always imagines her British forebears going forth and bringing back interesting foreign knick knacks with which to make the country beautiful arranging them on the national mantelpiece for conversation pieces at dinner parties.

Mama likes the British museum because it is full of really cool stuff, thus proving Papa’s point really. But she doesn’t really understand much about the stuff and that makes her a bit frustrated so she doesn’t go there very often. She once took a course at university, which she calls the appreciation of pots module and which everybody else calls ancient history, and briefly she had fun actually understanding the difference between black figures on a red background and red figures on a black background. Unfortunately, somewhere in the last twenty years or so she has forgotten it all, so we avoided that room when we went this summer on our way back from Sir John Soane’s Museum.

In fact we avoided most rooms, because the huge space which now encloses the famous reading room was much too much fun for me to toddle around. There was a gutter! I could walk with one foot in the gutter and one foot out all the way round the edge of the massive massive room, which gave Mama plenty of time to wonder why they need a gutter when the whole thing is indoors.

Mama did eventually drag me off to one of the collections. We both forget which. But Mama was pleasantly surprised to find that most of the items were kept sensibly behind glass rather than on standing free and open for anyone (me) to touch. She was also impressed that most of the display cases came right down to the floor, giving me an excellent view. Of course, I also had an excellent view of the fire extinguishers and the various benches too, and Mama even let me touch the benches and pull myself on and slide off them, so that was the clear highlight of the visit. Until we found ourselves on an upper floor and had to go down about five million steps. I really like going down steps even if it does take all afternoon. Mama, who is quite the connoisseur of staircases these days, liked it because it was sweeping and afforded an excellent view of the people scurrying round the entrance hall with which to entertain herself during this long expedition.

Anyway, Mama would like to recommend that people with aggressively ambulatory toddlers do not go and visit the mummies as there are an awful lot of people there, which makes it less fun to chase the small person around, but she was otherwise most impressed by the Museum’s child friendliness. She would like to recommend the eating facilities. There are cafes, and it seems like the one in the entrance hall is open for you to eat your picnic in, as long as the place isn’t too busy. In addition, there is a secret room downstairs which Mama thinks is probably really for school groups, but which has plenty of tables for sandwich eating families. But if it isn’t reaing there is always outside, where there is ample space for lounging around on walls, running around on a square of grass and a caravan selling coffee.

Coffee is very important to Mama. Have I mentioned this already?

I think a lot of people learn pot appreciation at uni, don't they?

tee hee

Isn't "aggressively ambulatory toddlers" redundant?

I'm loving this style of journal. Although Mama's a bit naughty getting someone else to do her work for her

Deb

Sol, I love how toddlers find magic in ordinary things such as the gutter and new seating.

Ooops, nearly missed this one.

reddit

Alas, yes, the V&A is for somewhat introverted children over the age of, say, 9, with very clean hands and a passion for ornamental metalwork.

My sons both enjoyed the British Museum - their preferences went to things that were either gold (how much is it all worth?) or weapons or both. But there is lots of that all over the place so no problem. And the courtyard is brilliant (no rain! space! food! toilets!)

Love the style of these

sprout

I have suddenly realised I posted my above remark about the V&A in the WRONG ING THREAD. I am SO sorry.

()

Z
Lovely theme

Are you taking that baby to a different museum every day?

I don't doubt that there are 30 museums in London, or that some shouldn't be visited several times, but

FWIW there are easily over 100 museums in London, if you don't stick to the tiny central bit. A friend of mine on another message board made it her new year resolution to visit 100 of them in a year and give all of them write ups; she more or less completed it too.

That sounds like an excellently cool project, Herenna. Sadly, I won't be attempting anything like that. I plan to move on to parks and such when I run out of museums I've visited/ fancy visiting.

I am open to suggestions for places to visit though. Any ideas?

Imperial War Museum? Maybe need to be a little bit older?

Tower of London would probably not be bad (lots of open space), but it's very expensive from what I remember.

Greenwich?

sprout

London Zoo?

Edinburgh Zoo?

Berlin zoo's pretty cool too!