A roaring good time hanging out with the thunder lizards

Our son's kindergarten recently took the children to the Nature Museum for an autumn excursion. The boy came home full of excitement, exclaiming: "I saw the real dinosaurs! And their big teeth!"

I imagined my son clutching the back of another student's shirt as they filed through the exhibition hall. There must have been places at which he wanted to stay for a while but couldn't. So last weekend, we went to the museum again.

The grey edifice was built half a century ago near the western gate of the Temple of Heaven. Since July, it has been open to the public for free. But we found that this applied only to those who had made reservations. Still, the 10-yuan admission fee is quite reasonable.