Friday 13th July - Legoland
We flew to Heathrow from Stavanger, hired an Astra Estate car from Europcar and drove to the Copthorne Hotel in Slough, 10 mins from Legoland (but 30mins when the park opens!). We stayed for 3 days, 2 of which we spent in Legoland.

Day 1 & 3 - Legoland
The kids loved the rides, of course, like the Dragon ride and th Jungle Ride Roller Coaster. The highlight for Mathilde, though was the Barney show which happened to be part of an outdoor concert in the field next door to Legoland on the first day. She and I weaved our way through the crowd to the front so that we were there when it was Barney's turn to come on. Mathilde couldn't believe it when he came on stage. She tried to get onto the stage, saying she wanted a big hug. The highlight was "I love you, you love me...".



Day 2 - Natural History Museum
We already new that there was a big Star Wars Convention at Earls Court the same day that we had planned to go to the Natural History Museum. It was a tough choice, but the wonder of the real world won over the imaginary world! I had been looking forward to taking the boys to see the dinosaurs for years, and I wasn't disappointed. In the entrance hall, there is a life size model of a Diplodicus skeleton (the real one is in the Smithsonian museum). The dinosaur exhibit is really amazing and the boys loved the model T-rex.



We spent most of the day in the "Blue Zone" on Ground Floor: whale skeletons, human biology and the animal world. We also went upstairs to see the human evolution exhibition, which was fascinating. Funnily enough, the boys really liked the Minerals and Meteors exhibition: a room with ranks of display cabinets, full of crystals of all shapes and colours. Erik bought a couple of crystals in the shop afterwards as a souvenir.

At the end, we spent a couple of hours in the cellar of the musem in a room call "Investigate" where children can touch and examine different objects. They have everything from insects to shells to skulls to big tortoise shells.

What with Barney at Legoland and the T-Rex at the Natural History Museum, we had a dinosaur for all the family!

Jeremy