London Museums
What do you know about gold? James Bond asked Ms Moneypenny the same question in the Bond movie 'Goldfinger' and she replied, 'Oh, the only gold I know about is the kind you wear... you know, on the third finger of your left hand?'
If you visit the Bank of England Museum they have a genuine gold bar that you can actually touch, feel and lift, though you are not allowed to remove it from its display case (unfortunately). The gold bar is surprisingly heavy weighing in at 400oz (12.5kg) and, if you want to buy one , will cost you around £360,000 - a little less than a 2 bedroom flat in central London. There are approximately 55 international manufacturers who jointly produce 150,000 400oz gold bars every year.
As we are on the subject of museums, I should mention the rather eccentric and unusual home of Sir John Soanes - whose various collections range from Egyptian and Classical Antiquities to Neo-Classical sculptures all available to view for free in his former residence.
When I ask my students whether the Victorian detective - Sherlock Holmes - actually existed many of them believe he did. In fact he was a creation of the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who based Holmes on one of his professors at Edinburgh University (Conan Doyle was studying medicine there). The Sherlock Holmes Museum at 221b Baker Street is a perfect 20 minutes or so experience to spend between coffee shops and shopping on a Sunday afternoon.
You can meet some of Charles Dickens descendants at the Charles Dickens Museum - many English people believe him to be a fictional character!
On a far grander scale is the British Museum and my personal favourite. A point of controversy is whether such institutions should be allowed to possess artefacts 'taken' from other countries. Should collections such as the Elgin Marbles and the Benin Bronzes (both are on display at the British Museum) be returned to Greece and Nigeria respectively? The British Museum thinks not, and refers to the British Museum Act of 1963 (if in doubt create your own law!) which forbids the return of such objects. A current exhibition - 'The American Scene' - is a must see. This art exhibition features over 150 prints by 74 leading American artists such as Edward Hopper and George Bellow. As there are over 13 million objects, the British Museum is best viewed over a period of alternate days.
Something for the kids Something for the kids can be found at the Natural History Museum in the form of robotic dinosaurs, an earthquake simulator and interactive ice station Antarctica exhibition. The Science Museum has a fantastic 3D Imax cinema with a screen 10 times bigger than the average cinema! The 3D dinosaur show speaks for itself.