Natural History Museum, Evensong at Westminster Abbey and 'Back to the Future'

In the morning, we waited at the hotel after a rich and delicious breakfast to not miss the unlocking of the 'Rush Tickets' for a musical. Unfortunately, all the discounted tickets were already sold out, so we then treated ourselves to two tickets for 'Back to the Future' - after all, we had watched the film again last weekend to prepare.

Next, we headed to the museum: Today, the 'Natural History Museum' was on the agenda, for which we fortunately had pre-ordered tickets. (The line without a ticket was very long.)

We found the huge building, built specifically for the natural history collection in the 19th century, very impressive from the outside.

Inside, we were amazed by the vast halls and numerous decorations.

We first checked out the dinosaur exhibit, which was particularly popular with families.

A highlight for the younger visitors was surely the life-sized Tyrannosaurus Rex figure that also moved.

Afterward, we continued with marine and mammal exhibits.

Some of the exhibits were a bit faded, so the fur colors could not be recognized everywhere.

In another section, we learned about the Earth's history as well as volcanoes and earthquakes.

It was very crowded here and it was hard to see everything while pushing through the throngs of visitors.

Afterward, we looked at the bird collection, which included a Dodo model and a detailed picture of hummingbirds.

After spending so much time indoors, we were glad to be back outside and took the subway to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament.

There we took a short walk until Evensong, a brief evening service at Westminster Abbey, began.

It was quite well attended. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a seat in the choir stalls but had to sit in the rows beside them. The liturgical songs were performed by a community choir. Some visitors seemed more interested in the free entry than in attending Evensong: Two Asian ladies next to me spent most of the time looking at pictures on their phones or quietly chatting.

We then walked towards the West End, but first bought some dinner along the way, which we enjoyed in Covent Garden to the sounds of opera: A singer entertained quite a large audience in the covered halls.

In the evening, we watched a performance of 'Back to the Future,' which entertainingly told the story of the 1980s film with lots of music.

This concluded our long weekend in London - the next morning, we were heading back to Germany.