Well this weeks photo challenge was less difficult – not least because it happened to coincide with Dinosnores.
Dinosnores is the Natural History Museum’s ‘sleep-in’ – on arrival you are presented with a ground mat and an itinerary and are sent off to pick a spot to sleep.

We picked the middle of course – right below the whale skeleton, green bag bottom-middle, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018
My friend Sam and I arrived on Friday afternoon with sleeping bags in hand and duly headed off to set up camp. Having set our sleeping bags out we’d finished setting camp so had a read through the itinerary to plan the evening. As well as the huge array of exhibits, and free entry to the temporary displays, Dinosnores included a three course meal, gin tasting, talks, shows and more.
So, three course meal. Check. Meet tiny chameleon, snake, tarantula and gecko. Check. Talk on spider dating. Check. Stop for a beer and a wander around some of the exhibits and miss the gin sampling? Check.

We did make it back in time for the harpist though, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

As spectacular as ever, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018
The real excitement for us was the opportunity to explore the exhibits which we had almost to ourselves – an added bonus of a nice bottle of beer was the cherry on top!

The Red Zone was pretty quiet!, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

The big escalator wasn’t running but it still posed for a photo, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

As did Sophie, Go team Steg!, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

Not sure this fellow has a name, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

By 01:48 we pretty much had the museum to ourselves!, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

We found some people by the tea and coffee facilities which proved popular unsurprisingly, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

Turning in for the night, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018
Having seen almost every exhibit (including the Wildlife Photographer of the Year for the second time in 3 months) we headed back to Hintze Hall for a few hours sleep before an early breakfast – I may have also taken the opportunity to walk around the upstairs gallery with my camera seeing as there was no one up there!
- I suppose CD was there with me as well, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

Heading for bed, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

…maybe I wasn’t alone?, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

I wonder if Darwin would have enjoyed Dinosnores – probably, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018
With that I headed back down to crawl into my sleeping bag and said goodnight to the blue whale skeleton hanging above my head.

Straight up – 35mm full frame with camera resting on my face, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

View from my sleeping bag, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

And the view at 06:30 – quite something to wake to!, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018

Pretty sure I’ll never wake up anywhere as unique as this again!, Dinosnores, Natural History Museum, 23/03/2018
A cup of tea and a fry up later and that was Dinosnores done. Even having visited the NHM 3 times since December 2017 I must say that the Dinosnores event was amazing and I’d recommend it to everyone. There was a similar ambiance to that of the ‘Late’ events that take place at the end of each month but with far fewer people, so, if you’ve been to a ‘Late’ and enjoyed everything but the crowds then this is the answer!
If you want to know a little more about the exhibits themselves or the Late then here’s a blog post from the January late, here’s a post from my first visit last December and here’s one that says it’s about that Science Museum but spends an inordinate amount of time in the Natural History Museum.
I’ve managed to dodge around the question of ‘Favorite Place‘ as there are too many places I enjoy visiting but the Natural History Museum is certainly right up there – I might have to wait a little while before visiting again after Dinosnores though…. so maybe next month.
Doug
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