For my Husband’s birthday P and I took him to the Science Museum in London. Both Big P and I haven’t been for ages. We are talking decades. Both Big P and I always seemed to have bypassed this and visit the more heavyweight neighbours of the V&A and the National History. Even with P we had visited the Nat and the V&A which is a shame as the Science Museum seems to me the most child friendly of the three.

No entrance fee but a donation of £5 each is mostly welcomed by them and we did pay it.  Instantly and simultaneously announcing at the same time, Big P and I were a tad overwhelmed with nostalgia of being there when we were kids but seeing how it’s all impressively changed.

All of its still there. The rockets, space. The history of British manufacturing and steam, machines, the planes, the cars. Have in mind that we have a 15 month old with us so we only did the ground floor of the exhibitions and she pointed, babbled about them all.  Paloma’s favourite was the interactive children’s zone in the Welcome wing. Projection of fishes in the water bought squeals of delight and the a little box room with music pumping out and psychedelic lights that reacted to the heat made Mamma and Dada
 feel like it was 1994 again.

So it was time to for lunch and we decided to go to the Media Space café on 2^nd. Waiting for a lift we accidently went into the porters lift. A family followed us behind with two girls, one in a buggy, one about 4 years old not happy at all. The porter said to the weary mum “have you been to The Basement yet?”. She looked at her daughter rolled her eyes “yes indeed we have, that’s why she is in this mood now” and off they went on first. I gauged the girl didn’t want to leave. Hubby read my mind, and said to the porter, “umm..what’s in The Basement?”, the porter looked at him shiftily and said with a diplomatic tone to his voice. “its where you take the kiddies if you need a rest…do you wanna go down to….The Basement”.  We said if he didn’t mind and he pressed the button to go down.

The lift doors opened and you could hear pandemonium. Happy screeching and squealing. Walk further in and its basically a kiddies zone where there is space for the kids to run around in, and where you can eat your packed lunch. There was a Dad lying down on the floor. Big P and I looked at each other. This is going to be us. There is a sensory zone called the garden where if your child is between 14 months to 8 years old they will go slightly nuts.  I had mixed opinions of The Basement. Not its official name. On the one hand it’s brilliant for the children to let loose but couldn't help thinking that this zone could have been nice on the top floor with daylight coming in. Allowing for for a zone where the children can wind down a bit, and parents can take in the views outside with a well-deserved glass of wine perhaps.

Paloma loved it though, but after a while and Paloma needed her lunch, we went as planned to the Media Space café on the 2^nd floor. It was a lofty space of retro minimalist design and calm. We decided to give Paloma her food there and that we would go and eat outside in a café near the tube station. We ended up at Carluccios. It was really nice to sit in a chilled atmosphere, where all the madness would have been in The Basement, or in the other cafes provided in the museum.  We chatted and chilled, Paloma ate all her food and then off we went to the museum shop. It was reasonably priced for a museum shop actually. We got quite a few things for P that came to under a tener and now she won’t let go of any of them. A slinky, a ball that lights up and Daddy’s favourite, a little wooden robot.

Even though we went with a toddler, we saw lots of children of all ages absolutely loving the experience.  Cant wait to go again. Next year. When P is that little bit older and we can visit more of the museum and maybe be a bit more prepared for ….. The Basement.