Wilma Landauer (mum of Ethan age 6 and Emily age 4) accompanied/followed 4 of the Elementary children to the Natural History Museum, and wrote this delightful email about their wonderful adventure.
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Hi Rob,
Yes, all went incredibly smooth yesterday. What a marvellous team of four very responsible, clever, caring, considerate (the list goes on……) and not to forget adventurous young pupils I followed all the way to London and was lucky enough to be their chaperone.
All four of them travelled as a team, looking out for each other when crossing roads, waiting for ‘the green man’ discussing the importance of it and what might happen if they wouldn’t! By the time everyone contributed to the green man debate they only came to realise that they had actually missed the green light to cross and had to wait for it to come around again.
Tullia took charge inquiring about all our train tickets at Hove Station. The lady at the desk was very helpful and patient letting every single one of us pay individually. By the time we had put our change back safely into our backpack the announcement came through the loudspeakers that our train going to London Victoria will be departing from platform 2. Eli and Ace were leading the way ahead of the girls and off we all went on our adventure to London.
Luckily we all got a seat to sit on in the train and it wasn’t long until the lunch boxes came out and everyone indulged in a few bits of their deliciously prepared snacks.
Conversations never failed quite the contrary every single one of them was eager to contribute to the discussion of food, nutrition, what their mothers cook etc.
After their pic-nic en route it was time to read. Tullia and Nuala had their book, Ace had a few Children magazines which he shared with Eli.
Eli then suggested to play the game of 20 questions of topics of his choice which were: minerals, animals and vegetables! This was such a beautiful moment for me to witness as all 4 of them where asking highly intelligent questions and stating facts from their own world of thinking and imagination. Passengers sitting close to us begun to join in as it was highly entertaining and admirable. 55 minutes later we arrived at Victoria station. We collected all our belongings and even made sure we didn’t leave any rubbish behind by putting it in the bin provided. And this was on their own initiative. Eli was very much in charge holding Ace’s hand leading the way through Victoria station. Turning around ever so often to check everyone is following. Tullia was also very confident in shouting out directions and instructions to follow the underground floor marking. When we got to the Underground Eli took charge and told us to look for the district line. He led the way so confidently, he knew exactly where to go, Westbound to South Kensington! In South Kensington station Eli again was looking out for signs to the Museums and took us directly to the NH Museum. When we came out of the underpass we could see the enormous building, which everyone recognised as the Natural History Museum. We weren’t sure how to get to the main entrance as the streets were filled with people, students, children and tourists. Luckily we spotted staff working for NH Museum and they told as to use the site entrance as it was rather busy at the main entrance. We made it? We were in! Despite it being incredibly busy everyone had an enormous sense of looking out for each other, waiting for each other and working as a team. Some decided to put their coat into to cloakroom others decided it was too expensive and rather spend the money on something else.
They were finally ready to embark on their adventure of exploring the Cretaceous and Jurassic Period! On the way to finding the dinosaurs we stopped for lunch. Lots of jokes were being told whilst enjoying a bite to eat. It was very amusing and lots of fun to be part of it.
As we entered to Jurassic Period and patiently queuing up for all the different dinosaurs everyone was excited to start sketching and taking notes. Ace asked for help with writing, pointing out that he cannot write and read but I managed to reassure him that he can do it. Eli kindly read out to Ace whenever there was something he wanted to find out. Nuala was very much into reading her book which was equally beautiful and more interested in telling me about the end of the world and the extinction of human beings!
Time flew passed far too rapidly and I had to break to sad news to them that we had to slowly make our way back to Victoria Station in order to catch our train back home.
Eli was a real superstar as his sense for directions is almost better than mine leading the way back through the different departments of the Natural History Museum to the cloakroom to pick up their coats and being in charge so confidently taking us back to to Underground and Victoria Station.
It was an absolute delight to be Nuala, Tullia, Ace and Eli’s chaperone for the day. I had an amazing experience and a very special day. It was great!
Thank you all for letting me being part of these special moments!
Wilma
Ps. I hope this helps to give you an idea of our trip to the NH Museum
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Thank you Wilma!