The London Museum

I took a good long walk to the London Museum today, as it seems I'll only start work tommorrow or Thursday.
May as well make use of the day to do something interesting.

It's worth a visit, currently free until February.

I always get a little confused by museums, never really sure what to take in or exactly what I may be getting out of my visit. It's like reading the history of the Roman empire as a short comic, albiet with better visuals.

The tour starts with a large video screen showing flyovers of "London before London", an impressive 3D rendering that spins you back to the ice age and then back to the present.

You then start on a well laid out path which takes you from 2000BC to the present.

It made me think of Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent in Islington, 2 million years ago. I half expected to see an exhibit of a chesterfield sofa and Dent with a bone in his beard, alas, this wasn't covered.

There's something lacking in most museums and the London Museum is no exception - the ability to touch things.

I had a yearning to reach out to touch and wield a stoneage axe and wondered if they couldn't include an interactive section where you get to chop down a tree. Naturally this could lead to some complications, however, I remain dissapointed that this wasn't possible.

They have little replica rooms of what Roman life in Londinium may have been like.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could take part in it and recline on a sofa, eating grapes and then don a toga and attend an orgy ?

I'd decline an interactive version of the Black Death, however, it would be fine to throw rotting vege at someone in the docks (or someone in docs) and later have a pint with Wren.

Ah well, I'll have to settle with a walk in the rain to Waterloo station, 2006.
Now that's interactive !