London with kids: Natural History Museum

Of all the great cities in the world, London just might be the best for a family vacation. This vibrant, electric metropolis offers a dizzying array of things to do, from catching a Broadway play to sipping tea brewed at Fortnum & Mason to reading Peter Rabbit from original pages of the Beatrix Potter classic at the Victoria Albert Museum.

Our family recently found that even on a two-week vacation you can only get a small taste of all there is to do. And that's the beauty of London: It has so much to offer and you can keep returning and see something new every time.

In the next several posts, I'll highlight some of our favorite family spots in London, and we'll start with the Natural History Museum...

Natural History Museum
The best thing about the Natural History Museum, only steps away from the South Kensington Tube station, is that it's free. And for a family of four in London this is a boon because nearly everything else in this city is expensive (try $5 per gallon for gasoline), except for many of the museums that don't charge admission.

The next best thing about the Natural History Museum is the dinosaur exhibit. There's no debate here: It's hands-down the best in the world. My 6-year-old son who to typically whines his way through his museums saying, "Mommmmy, lets GO!" was completely mesmerized. The highlight was most definitely a giant animatronic model of a T. Rex with teeth 15 centimeters long.

We also wandered through the mammals exhibit where we gazed up at a life-size model of a blue whale, saw eye-to-eye with a stuffed Maurititis dodo that's now extinct in the birds wing, and learned what it's like to be inside an erupting volcano by watched terrifying footage of flowing lava and ash, and