Stuffed Animals

Today Cassie and I payed a visit to the Natural History Museum in Dublin! The plans to go to the rugby match didn't fall thought because the bus schedules on Sunday are really sporadic and odd. It was easier for us to get the dart into Dublin and explore. We had originally planned to visit the National Gallery this weekend, but I wanted to allow myself to have as much time as possible when I went there, so we rescheduled. The Natural History Museum was only a few buildings over and was just as interesting. The Natural History Museum was built in 1856, and the building is OLD. We were actually only able to look at the first floor of the museum because they were refurbishing the second and third floor due to safety hazards. They had amazing animals, my favorites were the giraffes and the red panda. They had a really cool display where they put the skeleton of a horse and the skeleton of a human next to each other and labeled their bones to compare them. They also had a tiger which was given to them in 1913 by King George the V! Some of the expressions of the animals were quite comical and Cassie and I had a really fun time. The admission was free so the only money I had to spend was getting there and getting dinner ( subway! ). They had rhinos and sharks and huge whales suspended from the ceiling. They had a walrus that looked completely ridiculous because it had been preserved before they really knew what walruses looked like. The result was a ballon of a mammal. I took lots of photos but unfortunately they remain on my camera and not on my iPad. They had quite and extensive insect collection and the butterflies were really fantastic to browse through. The whole thing was really interesting partly because of the work of Emily Grasile on a series called "the Brain Scoop" on YouTube. She works at a zoological museum and talks a lot about taxidermy and the preservation of animals in her videos. They are really interesting and I highly recommend checking them out. The museum was quite limited due to the restoration work, but there was still had lots to see. It was a great trip and I'm really glad we took the time to visit.
Tomorrow we have normal school again, which means my blogs may not be as *thrilling* as they were this week. But for me, everyday here is a new adventure.