Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Since moving to London the Natural History Museum has been a regular fixture in days out. It is the ultimate temple of D's (3) major obsession (Dinosaurs) and the venue of one of my favourite proud parent stories:

D, standing in the prehistoric swimming reptiles section spots a curator holding a dolphin skull. She crouches down and shows the skull to him, "do you know what this is?" she enquires; "um... I think its an Opthalmosaurus skull" he retorts.

This trip was to see the Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. This was aimed directly at adults, the only real attempt to engage children was a scratch-off-the-answers question sheet asking questions about both nature and photography; also all photos were presented at an adult's height requiring any child to be lifted to get a good view. Fortunately I was in a group of four adults to two children so this was not a real problem.

However, with effort to engage D (the love of my life looked after B) he got a lot out of it; even if he did think that a magnificent shot of a crocodile hiding in the water was a dinosucus.

What: Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Where: Natural History Museum; map
Cost: Adult £7, Concessions £3.50, under 3 free, family ticket £18
When: Until 27th April
Going next year: probably
Similar:

• Animals
• London Zoo
• London Aquarium
• Horniman Museum
• Photography
• to be added...
  

London Model Enginering Exhibition

Who with little boys could possibly resist such an opportunity! And the number of little boys clearly showed that I was not alone. However, most of the exhibition was more targeted at big boys with many modelling companies and tool manufacturers displaying their wares.

What was available for little boys was reasonably good, D&B both spent a lot of time staring at trains (both and stationary), traction engines (stationary), helicopters (moving) and a hovercraft (moving) and a miniature steam train ride. And for this it was well worth the visit, however, having a show area and a trade area and perhaps some more adventurous demonstrations would have improved the day out immensely.

What: London Model Engineering Exhibition
Where: Alexandra Palace
Cost: Average (Adult £9.50)
When: Jan 2008
Going next year: if there is nothing else on
Similar:

• Various miniature model railways (I'm familiar with the one in Chingford, Waltham Forest, but others exist)
  
• Kew Bridge Steam Museum - Never visited
  
• Science Museum - Many examples of old machines in the permanent "The making of the modern world" including models; most of these are stationary exhibits with no working railway.
  

Lunch at St Pancras

A lot of fuss has been made about Eurostar's recent move to St Pancras, but not just about the super fast train bringing a short stretch of Britain's railway up to the standard of the rest of western Europe but about the station its self. Obviously being father of two boys this was a must.

The main floor of the station, i.e. where the trains sit also have the worlds longest Champagne bar (given my youngest isn't out of nappies I thought passing him off as 18 would be tricky) so we settled for the Baby Betjeman's cafe at the end of the platforms. The Champagne bar runs as far as we walked down the station blocking the view of the trains for little people and, sadly, the does not give such a good view of the trains to the boys were not as entertained as I had hoped.

The coffee and food was good but, not surprisingly, expensive at about £13 for a small portion of Lancashire Hot Pot, portion of (excelent) chips and a coffee.

Place - O2 Arena

Background:
Everyone knows the story; after the government spent a fortune on the worlds largest tent the structure stayed empty waiting for someone to stump up enough cash to turn it into something. Finally an arena was built and sponsored by O2.

We didn't have any real reason to visit, except curiosity, so had little idea of what was there; except I had read it had an indoor beach.

What is it?

The O2 arena has an array of bars and restaurants, the arena and a cinema; all reasonable. It also has a large sandpit which they brand as the beach and outside three water-features which double up as children's paddling pools.

The beach

This is a large sand pit with fake palm trees and surrounded by deck chairs. Various members of staff dressed up as pirates wander around entertaining children with various games, etc. As it turns out, my kids were more than happy just to play in the sand.

Facilities

The changing facilities were pretty poor (pull down changes in the toilets rather than a changing room).

Food and drink

A large number of, generally chain, restaurants and bars are available.

Cost

The two areas of the O2 arena mentioned and toilets/changing facilities are all free.

Verdict

For children the arena has little to offer, however what it does is well layed out and passed the child test. That said, it does not offer enough for a day out on its own and isn't in an area that offers much else. But if your seeing a film or going to a show in the afternoon its probably worth spending the morning there too.

BBC Children's Prom

Event

Once a year Blue Peter take control of the Royal Albert Hall for two matinée Promenade performances; this year the show was hosted by ex-BP presenter Peter Duncan and CBBC presenter Gemma Hunt.

We were advised to arrive early so after a fairly early start to be outside the hall at about 9:15 we were second in the queue. However queuing is in front of the hall with a large area where kids can play in reasonable safety.

The concert was good in its own right avoiding "children's music," presenting bits and pieces from popular classics (Hall of the mountain king, Fanfair for the common man, etc) as well as slightly more obscure works (A Stravinski piece based on "Happy birthday" and the Storm from Peter Grimes) to something with a little difference (Bolliwood Brass Band).

B (1.5 years old) was nearly asleep before the concert but once the music started he sat entrapped by the event staring at the audience.

D (3 years old) enjoyed most of the concert but started getting restless towards the end of each half and was a little more selective about the music he enjoyed; although he was perpetually concerned by the volume it only really became a problem during Hall of the Mountain King when, I suspect, he was more restless than frightened.

Venue

The Albert Hall was never designed for a 21st Century parent, I rarely travel with a buggy and this was no exception but there was not much space if you had!

The price was very reasonable at £5 a head for all except "babes in arms" who were free (B 1.5 years counted as a babe in arms; D 3 did not, even though I was carrying him)

There were no nappy changing facilities, but the disabled toiled was clean enough and spacious enough to be used instead.

Close by

The RAH is within spitting distance of Hyde park and close to London's main museum district the Science museum and Natural History museums are both very child friendly.

Conclusion

An excellent mornings entertainment and something that I will be returning to next year.