Harrods Christmas Shop Windows
Knightsbridge
We head to London’s Knightsbridge to take a look at Harrods Christmas 2015 Shop Windows and lights. I also take a look at the alternative ways to travel to Harrods. One of my favourite ways is to walk from South Kensington.
Along the walk to Harrods is The Natural History Museum which is arguably the world’s best museum of natural history. Like other publicly funded national museums here in London the Natural History Museum does not charge an admission fee, entry is free, however like other museums it is a charity so they accept voluntary donations instead and they have collection boxes near the entrances.
The iconic entrance hall, Hintze hall alone is worth a visit. Its like a cathedral, and looks like it inspired the set of harry potters Hogwarts. And a dinosour currently greets you. A Diplodocus skeleton cast and As the centrepiece of one of Britain’s greatest and grandest museums, it has wowed museum visitors for more than a century. Having being first unveiled in 1905 and taking pride of place guarding the entrance hall since 1979.
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum holds over 80 million specimens. Including mammoth skeletons and items from the voyages of Charles Darwin and Captain James Cook.
The five main collections are botany, entomology, mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology. However soon there are plans for the Natural History Museum’s famous model of a diplodocus, a model made up of 356 plaster cast bones to be retired after 110 years.
It is to be replaced by The biggest animal ever to have lived on Earth and still live on earth. Bigger than any dinosaur at up to 160 tonnes, A blue whale skeleton. It was hunted to near extinction for its oil, meat and body parts. The whale, previously the centrepiece of the Mammal Hall, and a resident of the museum since 1891, is a symbol of environmental destruction and importantly hope
I will be sad to see the dinosaur affectionately known as dippy go. Its been there since I first visited as a child. But I’m excited to see the whale which they plan to suspend from the ceiling in a diving, feeding position. The dinosaurs capture your imagination as soon as you walk in here but its too late to save the dinosaurs.
So I guess they hope the whale will focus & raise discussion about our current environment and long term sustainability and the biggest animal on the planet, one that humans nearly exterminated & then human research & intervention prevented from being hunted to extinction is a great conversation starter.
South Kensington
The museum also has a moon rock brought back from the Apollo 17 mission, the only piece in the UK. Apparently It keeps a colony of tiny flesh-eating beetles. Which it uses to strip carcasses down to skeletons for study or display.
The most valued fossil in the museum’s collection is the archaeopteryx, or the ‘first bird’. Which is 150 million years old. So yes the natural history museum is definitely worth a visit, you can simply admire the amazing entrance hall in which they also serve food & drinks – tea & cake and all that – or if your not on your way to Harrods like me you could spend the whole day here and not see everything there is so much to see and do.
Also on the way to Harrods from South Kensington is The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) which is the world’s largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Victoria & Albert Museum
The Victoria & Albert Museum and has unrivalled collections of contemporary and historic art and design. It is home to some of the world’s greatest resources for architecture, fashion, photography, theatre and performance, sculpture, contemporary design, ceramics, Asian art and design, furniture, textiles, jewellery, metalwork, glass, books, paintings, drawings, prints & more.
And if you cross the courtyard there is the V&A café which is an amazing space to enjoy coffee & a snack or something stronger or more substantial – Its definitely worth a visit if your in this part of town.
If you turn right as soon as you get past the ticket barriers at south kensington station there are tunnels. The tunnels take you right where we are going and they are really handy if its raining. Up on street level you walk past some great coffee shops, restaurants and bars Comptoir libanis which I love – middle eastern inspired casual dining – great food & great value too – the restaurants have an Arabic aesthetic – Brindisa are some of my favourite Spanish restaurants in London.
Over the road from these restaurants there is the ampersand hotel. And there’s also a restaurant hidden beneath in the cellars called apero. I really liked that – Mediterranean style sort of tapas sharing menu. Fernadez and wells here is a nice spot too – coffee, wine, charcuterie, cheeses, cakes, sandwiches & some great small dishes. South kensington is a great spot for Breakfast lunch or dinner – your spoilt for choice here.
However todays trip is to take a look at Harrods Christmas windows. So please take a look at the video above to see for yourself the amazing festive displays.