Sunday afternoon at the Horniman Museum

So I've lived in South London for nearly 25 years but I've never ventured into the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. The weekend weather forecast was gloomy so I suggested to OH that we jump on a bus and trek over to see what it was like and it out to be a little gem.

 The Horniman started as one man's collection. And it's quite a varied collection.

We started in the Natural History Galleries which was stuffed with, wel, lots of stuffed animals and birds!

The colours on these birds were incredible though you could tell that they were very, very old as they were starting to look a bit tatty. But still an incredible array of colours and sizes

There were also lots of skeletons. Here was a case of meet the ancestors (depicting evolution)

 and of course lots of bugs. I did spot another collection of butterflies but didn't get a decent picture.

 For a bargain price of £4 (the rest of the museum except the main exhibition was free) you could also visit the amazing aquarium which had florescent coral! I never even knew it could glow in the dark!

 The most popular tank depicting a Fijian coral reef (least I think it was Fiji but I hadn't written the details down....) which included this friendly ray dancing in front of the window.

All of the kids were asking if you could see 'Nemo' or 'Dory' (from the film Finding Nemo). I could see a 'Dory' but failed to get a decent picture.

Though actually I think you can just spot a Dory in the coral, middle of this snap. Just look at the colours! 

I was transfixed by these two amazing jelly fish which were mind blowing!

The Horniman also houses a huge collection of musical instruments though I found it a little sad that they are trapped behind glass rather than being played.... I suppose you could argue the same for the aquarium!

The final few shots are from the centenary gallery depicted the wide array of anthropological items they have from across the world.

If you find yourself in Forest Hill don't do what I've been doing for the past 20 years and not go in. It's an amazing collection, and for the main part free. We'd gone on a really gloomy day but I've been told the gardens are also spectacular so I can see that there is going to be another trip this year!