My Piccadilly Line explorations continue as I headed off to South Kensington to hit the museums. One may ask why I've come to London just to look at museums. First of all, they are free admission. Basically, that's it. They are free. Anyway, I think museums are interesting, and Singapore's museums pale in comparison to British ones.I started off my day at the Natural History Museum, and I would just like to say that the architecture is fantastic. I mean look at it! 
I felt like I had stepped onto the set of Harry Potter. Stepping through the entrance, visitors are greeted by a colossal skeleton of a Diplodocus, and seeing all these dinosaur bones and exhibits made me feel like a kid again. It was pretty cool. Plus, the museum catered more to kids [judging by the massive swarm of kids on their school excursions], so alot of the exhibits were interactive, which made for an enjoyable four and a half hours. There was also the Earth exhibit which displays all sorts of National Geographic-y stuff, so I felt like I had stepped into an episode of Discovery Channel. Following that were the rocks and minerals exhibits, and proudly on display was a vast array of every single type of precious and semi-precious stones. Anything that's pretty and glittery, a good chance you'll find it here. Which also explained the burly looking security guards around the cases. It was enough to make any jewel-loving person to hyperventilate and drool. If diamonds are a girl's best friend, she'll find enough here to last her 4 lifetimes.I would always recommend stopping by museum gift shops so as to get something to remember your trip by. The free maps just aren't sufficient. So I hunted down a few trinkets which were cheap by British standards, and went across the street to the Victoria and Albert Museum. If you have a penchant for all things pretty and antique-y, this is the museum for you. Unfortunately I didn't have that much of an interest in such stuff, so I passed each exhibit with a hasty but polite appreciation. The couple of things worth mentioning are the paintings and the architecture. I may not be the art connoisseur, but when I stepped into the Raphael, and subsequently the William Turner and John Constable galleries, I was so floored by all the works. It's one thing to study about these paintings in school, it's another thing to see them in person. I wanted so much to snap pictures of them so I could remember the moment, but it would turn out as just another picture, many of which could be found all over. Somehow a picture can never capture the grandeur of the actual painting, and a picture can never do it justice. Furthermore, the paintings were HUGE.
I think the architecture of the V&A Museum is also worth mentioning because it is astounding. It blows your mind what architects and builders were able to achieve in the past without modern technology and machinery. Almost makes me want to be a princess so I can live in a palace similar to this. 4pm and my feet were giving way. I really used to be able to walk so much more. But anyhoo, it's London, and I want to make full use of every single minute. So I went across to the Science Museum. I took a wander inside, but it was more a 'boys-only' zone unless you're a chick who loves looking at machines, planes, cars, and trains.
5pm and I was ready to plonk down on the pavement so my feet could take a breather. Considering that it was still relatively early, I saw that the Royal Albert Hall wasn't far off, so I thought I could go down and snap a few pictures. What I learnt: MAPS LIE. I had to walk such a long way before reaching my destination. I also took a stroll through Hyde Park [really lovely by the way] and all the way to Kensington Palace, but I wasn't about to pay my bum off just to go in. Parks in London really are parks. Not some puny green area with trees, but huge expanses of grassy land, trees, some hills, birds, squirrels, dogs cavorting through the grass, people sprawled all over, playing football, etc. Really really lovely.
6pm and it was the long walk back to the Tube so I could finally go back. Maybe it's because I have not eaten anything proper the entire day because food here is crazy expensive. So hooray for the Ricola sweets in my bag. But my dinner of cold honey mustard chicken pasta salad was surprisingly satisfying. Yummy!