I had my sister to stay with me for a few days after New Year's so to entertain her, I thought I trip to the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford would be a nice way to spend the afternoon. As we're both on a bit of a tight budget now that Christmas is over with, we wanted something fun but affordable and a free museum seemed like the way forward.
It took an age to park, which I guess is what you get from such a cyclist-friendly city, but after that, we walked the long way round to a cute little French restaurant called Pierre Victoire - perfect for something light and budget-friendly - £8.90 for two courses!
Because the Oxford Museum of Natural History was closed, I don't think we got the most out of our visit, it made a lot of the signage a little confusing and we had to go around the back way. It was a pretty impressive anthropology and archeology collection and although the items we randomly curated together, I really liked the whole look of the museum and the way the collection was displayed.
I think we chose a good day to go as I could see how it would be a pretty unenjoyable experience if it was crowded. There were just about the right amount of people before it got to that point, but I still managed to get myself told off by a security guard for 'including people in my photos', something that couldn't really be helped and I guess did take the wind out of my sails a bit. Other than that guy, the staff were pretty attentive and happy to help though.
I found I was more into the more macabre displays and there were some exhibits that I personally didn't have much time for but because the collection is so huge there's plenty to choose from. We only spent a couple of hours there so it's not a whole day out but I'd definitely recommend stopping by if you're ever in Oxford, plus when the Natural History Museum opens up again there'll definitely be a lot more to it.
