Day 3 - Museums Galore

Brief Introduction of our Day

Today, we started off at the Science Museum and then made our way to King's Cross Station, one of London's busiest and most popular train stations. There we met our guide who took us through the British Library and British Museum. We ended off the night on a high with the Wicked Musical! Read on to find out more!

Day 3

Firstly, we went to the Science museum where we learnt about the science things; planes, trains, household items, etc. Some of the exhibits of old appliances looked very interesting and so many of them look very different from the ones we have now.

"Most of the machines on display were manually powered powered. One interactive exhibit allowed us to generate electricity manually. We managed to light up a light bulb but couldn't power a heater because it required too much energy and was too difficult. This taught me to appreciate electricity a lot more! It made me realise that we take for granted how we can just turn on a light with a click of a button and only pay the price in the form of bills, when in the past people had to labour for hours just to power their homes." -Siyu

Old school computer games

The evolution of lighting

"From walking through the exhibits, we learnt a lot about the scientific experimental process and that in Science, you have to persevere and never give up because you may meet failure more than success. It may take a lot of calculations and even trial and error before you achieve success but that's the beauty of science isn't it? The saying goes, "when there's a will, there's a way"!

For example, a hardworking Mr Bleriot experimented tirelessly and survived many crashes before he came up with a simple but effective airplane. With his success, he became a major French aircraft manufacturer! There was also an airplane constructed by the Short Brothers for Moore Brabazon, and he used this plane to win a prize of £1000 for the first 1 mile circular flight ever!" -Aminah

"I really liked the area in the Science Museum which showcased many fighter planes and also the first few airplanes that were invented. The museum explained how the inventors were inspired to make airplanes because they always wanted to fly like birds! This made me feel appreciate of the inventors of airplanes because without them, we would've have the airplanes that we have today." - Benjamin

Planes at the very beginning. Early models originating from the Wright brothers.
We can see the modifications made to improve the design over the years.

Lots of trial and error over the years. This shows us the importance of prototyping.

Along the way to the British Library, we took in the beautiful Gothic style architecture of the St. Pancras building. Its an important building where the Eurostar trains connected Britain to France and shortened commute to 2 and a half hours.

  Gothic style architecture of St. Pancras

 Busy commuters and shoppers at St. Pancras

We then made our way to the British library. There are approximately 30 million books available at the British Library! All of the books are arrange according to height and not book category just because it's easier to store and display. Since it is a reference library, the books are not meant to be borrowed out. We found out that once, there was a person who brought a book home and brought it back the next day. As a result of her disobeying the rules, the British Library contacted all the libraries worldwide and blacklisted her! She will never be able to borrow books from libraries again!

The British Library

Millions of books categorised according to height

The library kept maps, holy texts and music recordings too!

After the British Library, we went to the British Museum and saw a lot of artifacts from all over the world. We saw artifacts from Greece, Egypt and all over the world.

Beautiful architecture with high ceilings.
The natural light reduces the need to use energy to power lighting in the building.
Less pollution!

Artifacts from Greece

"Our favourite was the mummies! We learnt how the method of preserving bodies in ancient Egypt changed from one to another. At first bodies were placed in direct contact with the sand, that preserved it very well because the sand helped to desiccate the bodies. Later on, the bodies were placed in a wooden box but that did not preserve them very well, so this method stopped. The reason being that the body must be well preserved for religious purposes. In their culture and religion, it was important to keep the body as lifelike as possible for the afterlife. So they finally came up with mummification as it preserved the body the best. The mummification process took 70 days! It was also very expensive and only 3% percent of the population would have been able to afford it.

Real mummies on display

I found mummification very interesting as it not common now and I'm so glad I got to learn about its significance, how they do it and how much time and effort was needed for this process. One question I still have is how the ancient Egyptians thought of mummification and the process." - Aminah

We were very fortunate to have our guide Ms Mary explain to us in detail about the different exhibits! Thank you Ms Mary! 

With our lovely guide Ms Mary

"T‌o end off the night, we went to watch the musical Wicked. The musical was performed by a cast that was absolutely fantastic! I felt like the cast all sang their hearts out, especially the woman who played the lead role of Elphaba." - Benjamin 

Waiting for the show to begin!

What was surprising was how the set, lighting and special effects were used make certain scenes stand out and come to life. The way technology was seamlessly incorporated into the show made the whole experience magical and unforgettable right in front of our very eyes. It's amazing to think that all the famous musicals are performed every night in London! 

It's late now! Goodnight London!