The Natural History Museum and The Impossible

So, onto my final outing before flying off to Rome. What has become an annual trip to the Natural History Museum for the Wildlife Photography Exhibition. The photographs are of course stunning, and this year we got tickets for when it opened at 10am, so we were first in and had the place to ourselves, rather than peering through the crowds. The other rewarding thing about this annual trip is I take my friend and her, I think now 13 year old, son. And it is interesting just seeing how he develops in terms of his interests and sophistication from year to year.

Like Somerset House, the Natural History Museum makes use of the bit of free space it has outside to set up a skating rink, and adds a little funfair to go with it.

So after cutting round the exhibition and going up to the top of the museum for a view over its great Gothic hall, we went next door to the V & A for lunch. The Natural History Museum is more of a canteen in terms of its restaurant, whereas the V & A is rather more sophisticated both in the quality of its food and the setting. And then we finished off with a little wander around the V & A too, notably the glass and architecture galleries, which I think we all enjoyed in a very relaxed way.

As I left them to return home, I decided to put off packing a little longer by going to see the Impossible, the film about the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Having stayed at a beach hotel in Thailand not long before the tsunami struck it has always held a certain fascination for me. The opening of the film, with the wave crashing in, is very well done, as is following the eldest son and the mother as they get to safety and are then rescued and taken to hospital. It just about captures the fear perfectly. The lad who plays the oldest boy was tremendous really given he must only have been about 14. Ewan McGregor plays the father and the film rather drags as it switches to him searching for the rest of his family. Its a film which relies on emotion rather (since you do know how it all turns out in the end - happily ever after) and frankly it just can't sustain the emotion all the way to the end. There is only so much wandering around a makeshift hospital that one can take. But at least its not as long as the Hobbit!