Museums and Little Venice Cavalcade.

Friday 2nd May.

We were up early; Paddy enjoyed his walk around Rembrandt’s garden and back to the boat. Keith and I were heading into the city, so we left Hadar in Paddington Basin and headed for Paddington Station for the train.
The journey was past 4 stops and the train was really not to busy. Having left Kensington Station it was a short walk to our first port of call the Natural History Museum, where we had to join an extremely long queue. These days the museum of London is free to visit, so it encourages more people to visit them. It seemed like every nationality was in the queue

The wait was well worth it though, as this was my first time at the museum.
As you walk in through the doors, you have your bags searched and are asked if you are carrying any knives or share instruments, all’s I had was a camera and my coat.
The first thing you see when you walk into the main hall is the dinosaur which towers over everyone.The building itself is so impressive, with ornamented brick work and painted ceilings, it is amazing.
There are some wonderful exhibits, and once again I could not photograph everything.We visited the dinosaurs, which were heaving with kids. I found it to claustrophobic and hot, so hung onto Keith’s belt whilst he fought his way through the crowds.The Marine Invertebrates and Mammals were incredible, it really is a great place for a day out, and really and truly you could spend you whole day just in the Natural History Museum, but we also wanted to see the Science Museum, so first we found a place for lunch. It was a tiny little Chinese Buffet place, all you can eat for £4.50 called the Paper Tiger. The food was fantastic. After that it was off up the road to the Science Museum, which again I had never seen before, but had always wanted to go to, I was not to be disappointed, but once again you could actually spend a whole day in there.The exhibitions were brilliant; some of the models must have taken years to build. We learnt such a lot. No one is ever too old to learn. They have over 15,000 objects on display, plus simulators and a cinema, the whole place shows you the past, present and future of science, technology and medicine, some of which is not for the faint hearted.Even the canal has a model in the transport area.Showing how locks work, it was really very good.Keith got taken back to his early years of working for BT, because some of the equipment he worked on is in the museum.No he is not that old really ha ha ha. He could even tell me how the selectors worked, and what his job was on them.
Due to wanting to beat the rush on the tube we did not see everything the museum had to offer, but it is always there for another day

We set off back to South Kensington Station.

Whilst we walked to the platform, we were treated to some entertainment by a harpist.We had arrived just in time as our train pulled into the station 1 minute after we arrived packed to the rafters. So we had to squish into a carriage. Geesh no wonder people catch all sorts of germs.
I personally am not good in enclosed spaces, I begin to panic if shut in to much, so was pretty happy to get off the tube back at Paddington. It was then a short walk to back to Hadar, who is moored just to the right of Brunel, the tall and the short comes to mind from this photo.It has been a wonderful day, and we have both learnt much. Having had a cooked lunch we had a sandwich for dinner, before taking a walk out into Little Venice basin to see all the boats arriving for the weekend Cavalcade.

Saturday 3rd May.

A really beautiful morning greeted us as we opened the doors to the back cabin. It looked like it was going to be a good day for the Little Venice Cavalcade. Whilst walking Paddy, it was clear everyone was busy setting up for the event. Having had breakfast, we cleaned the boats brass, I did the outside, whilst Keith did the engine, we wanted Hadar looking her best incase anyone should come into the basin to see her. We changed into our traditional boatmans clothing and headed off to the Cavalcade. Although we were not booked into the event, everyone there has made us feel very welcome.Whilst walking around, we came across a couple we met at Rogers Boat yard. Although it was only briefly, Micheal recognised Keith and I and invited us onto their boat. Micheal and Maureen Pinnock are at the event with their family and boats Alder, Clover and Hare, it is a real family affair. We enjoyed a coffee and chinwag before heading back to Hadar for some lunch. Come 2pm the Cavalcade held a boat parade of decorated boat.Some of the boats had made a real effort. This years event was named Funtime on the Water.The Little Venice Cavalcade is a really lovely festival, it has a family atmosphere. There are lots of stalls, for food or gifts etc, just like any boat festival. We had a really enjoyable day and have met some lovely people.