I Am Only Making One Post Today For 2 Reasons,

firstly, there is a train strike on Wednesday, so I am travelling to visit Duncan on Tuesday,

secondly as Monday was Diana's day off we were out, and I took way too many photographs, so many in fact I started the blog late Monday evening after Diana had gone to bed, as she has a early start on Tuesday, so we started our walk to the bus stop,

a quick pose from myself before we caught a 227 to Penge and then a 197 to Forest Hill,

and that is where we are going, 

the Horniman Museum, as it happens my favourite museum,

we had visited before,

way back in May 2016,

and as you might have expected, 

a lot had changed, including the way in,

but looking through the entrance hall this lovely greenhouse was still here and empty, we found out why later,

inside we started looking at the exhibits in the natural history section,

all manner of stuffed birds and animals here,

stuffed because in the day photography was still in its infancy, 

so the only way to bring curiosities home was to take them as in these shells, 

or stuff them as taxidermy specimens, the name of the museum is Horniman's, a little about the museum, it is dated from Victorian times, when Frederick John Horniman, the founder, first opened his house and extraordinary collection of objects to visitors, his collection grew so big, the rest as they say is history,

the star of the museum the Walrus, which we have mentioned a few times before,

we looked at the bird section, these 2 parrots reminding me of a friend that had a pair in Thailand,

the male green,

whilst the female is red, they are known as the red-sided or Eclectus parrot, (Eclectus roratus),

well Diana just had too! another post about the walrus here, 

the cases were divided up into various parts of animals, 

this one dealing with flight, others on teeth, defence, camouflage, etc

a little history of the walrus,

this case devoted to game birds,

Reeve's pheasant, (Syrmaticus reevesii),

with its almost ridiculously long tail,

with striking markings,

the cabinet showing the development of teeth and feet,

here in the distance,

a living working bee hive,

the queen is in there, somewhere,

on the other side of the frames,

a tube which leads outside for the bees to come and go,

I made this short video, unfortunaly the light level is low, but I guess you will get the idea of how they enter and exit the hive,

a passion in the 1700 and 1800's, 

collecting and pressing flowers and of all things seaweeds, 

a little about the hobby,

on the next level,

about us and our beginnings,

a sign post of some places in our world,

well I had too!

Diana looking down on the next gallery we will visit,

along the walls snapshots from early expeditions in Africa,

downstairs each culture having its own display case,

up stairs mats and flags hanging from the ceiling,

when we watch antiques shows we often see cloisonné vases,

but none as large, 

as this one!

a portrait of Frederick Horniman, and family history,

one of the more frightening exhibits,

it is chilling to think that this was actually used,

on people,

a little about his travels,

we made our way to the stairs,

reaching the ground floor,

each section, divided into different cultures,

this was fun, a interactive fish pool,

there were exhibits form all over the world, I did read many years ago that Frederick asked each of his captains when visiting different ports to bring home souvenirs of where they had been,

this was fun, a wishing tree,

known as a Cloutie tree, 

so Diana left a note,

just there,

as I mentioned each cabinet featuring a different culture,

showing clothes, weapons, cooking implements,

and beliefs,

like these totems,

some had television displays,

other local animals with saddles and riding equipment,

we made our way to the entrance hall,

and the question that everybody asks,

next,

the music room, 

starting with pianos, 

and stringed instruments,

not a piano, 

a clavichord, 

when ever I see one of these, a serpent, I always feel it is a shame that they did not catch on,

in the music room there were three interactive tables, I had mentioned to Diana that I remember as a kid a instrument that had glasses in it, they revolved and by wetting your fingers you could play it,

 

and here on the table you could move the cursor until you found one and listen to the sound it made, 

and another from my childhood, along the street someone's dad played one of these, a musical saw, 

the time passed so quickly looking at and playing the various instruments,

onto the brass section,

detailed instructions of how the tube should be bent,

and where the pieces should be placed,

a DIY kit I guess!

when I think of a flute I think of just one instrument,

but in truth there are so many of them, each one sounding just slightly different from the rest,

a last look at the brass section,

before the big one,

the note says it all,

a quick look at the gift shop, then we were outside,

and found out why the greenhouse was still empty, it was for hire, for weddings and other functions, what a dream of a place to get married in,

we stopped for a coffee and cake for Diana,

a bacon bap for myself,

it looked like rain, 

but as we were here,

we thought we would have a look around the garden,

a quick look at the map,

in the garden a few mature trees,

some really ancient looking,

the bandstand, 

with the Shard in the distance,

we really must attend one of the Sunday afternoon concerts,

down the stairs,

the bandstand now behind us,

 as it happens it looked in remarkably good condition,

a quick pose from Diana,

and we entered the garden,

in the distance a pool,

along the side,

a rockery,

with alpine plants,

and mosses,

then the formal garden,

and look,

a banana flower, 

we could not go into the central section to get a close look at the pool,

at first glance these looked like bamboos,

but they were giant reeds, (Arundo donax),

my grandmother always used to tell me if the holly had lots of berries it will be a cold winter, looking at these,

it will be cold!

as far as we could see,

red berries,

I give up,

I do not know what these spikes are,

but they look very impressive as they open and drop down,

under the runner beans,

into the ornamental grasses and vegetables,

when we looked carefully,

we spotted rhubarb, beetroot and tomatoes,

lots of huge tomatoes,

some taller than myself!

on each corner of the beds,

more grasses,

then a tomato I had never seen before,

black tomatoes!

it had started to rain a tad,

but we were nearing the exit,

these looking nice,

past the last few, 

beds of ornamental grass,

as we approached the gate, 

open,

sesame! "Open sesame" (French: Sésame, ouvre-toi; Arabic: افتح يا سمسم), a magical phrase in the story of "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" in Antoine Galland's version of One Thousand and One Nights, 

bye-bye to the museum and gardens,

ah! so sad to leave, and that is our bus disappearing into the distance,

it really is a delightful museum,

a look at what was once the entrance,

and steps up to it,

we were soon on the 176 and then a 227 to Beckenham, 

Diana made this short video of our visit to the garden at Horniman's Museum, arriving in Beckenham as we still had plenty of duck from Sunday, it was into M & S for some spring onions, 

and duck pancakes for our evening meal, after which it was a couple of Midsomer Murders before Diana went to bed, I stayed up for some time to complete the blog for the morning before I too was off to bed.