David's Diary: Wednesday, July 4, 2001

London, England

An even later start today, meant that we decided to stay close to home. Our apartment is close to "museum row", so we decided that a visit to the Science Museum would keep us all entertained.

A ten-minute walk took us to the museum. We viewed the space gallery, including the Apollo 10 Capsule. It is incredible to think that the capsule was launched into space, went to the moon, took up orbit around the moon, then returned to Earth where it splashed down and was recovered. Standing next to the capsule demonstrates just how small it really was and how tight a fit it was for the three astronauts.

Kevin, Allen, and David with 3D Glasses

Our next stop was the IMAX theatre (as an aside, IMAX was invented in Canada) where we watched a 3D movie demonstrating the possibilities of animation. Some of the scenes kept all of us jumping, as things appeared to come right for us. Allen kept reaching out to try and touch the images that he was seeing.

After the movie we visited the hands-on exhibits. Teamwork was required to move seeds through a series of mechanical devices. We also built bridges, created electricity, and saw how railway wheels worked. Then it was time to visit the Flight Lab where we flew helicopters, fired off water rockets, and saw how airplane wings work.

Then it was back to our apartment where Karalee got her fix of Coronation Street, I made dinner, and we all went to bed early.