Tag: London

Poppies and Buses

poppies tower of londonAfter doing the Books About Town trail around London in the summer, the Craftyguidelets and I decided to sample the Transport for London Bus Sculpture Trail to celebrate the Year of the Bus.   As one of the trails started and finished near the Tower of London, we took the chance to take Mr Craftyguider and mother in law with us to see the poppies now that the installation was almost complete.poppy cascade tower of londonWe had seen the poppies in August, but so many more had been added since then.   It is such a stunning sight.   It really brings home the 888,246 lives lost in WWI and has taught the Craftyguidelets a lot about the scale of casualties of the war.tower of london poppiesWe got there as early as our travelcards allowed us from the sticks but it was so busy, we were advised to get off the train at Aldgate rather than Tower Hill.   However, after lunch when we were the other side of the river, we looked back at the Tower and it was swarming with people.   Even crossing Tower Bridge was hard due to the volume of people coming the other way.poppies at tower of londonIf you can get to see the poppies before it finishes, it is worth the trip.   Just try going early!dazzle bus sculptureAfter lunch, we crossed the river to start the bus sculpture trail.   The bus models have been painted by well-known and aspiring artists and spread over 3 trails along the river and in the City, around Westminster, and in the Olympic Park.   Another trail will also open up before Christmas.spectrum bus sculptureHaving looked for book benches in the summer, I didn’t find this as exciting.   The book benches could be sat on and represented books that were mainly familiar to me and the Craftyguidelets.   The buses were each labelled with a big sign saying DO NOT CLIMB.orla kiely busThis Orla Kiely design was at least familiar to me.tower bridge bus sculptureThis placement was really great with Tower Bridge directly behind the bus.   I wish the weather was as good as that painted on the bus though!punk'ed bus sculptureThis punk bus was outside St Pauls.   Not sure of the connection there!childhood on a bus sculpturechildhood on a bus sculpture (2)This is the Kids Company bus with images of children sleeping on the bus to escape homelessness, and was painted by an ambassador of the charity.brolly bus sculptureall aboard the number 8 bus sculptureAnd this bus was the last on the trail representing the 24 hour nature of the city and the buses.24 seven bus sculpturetwenty four seven bus sculptureI don’t think we’ll be back to look for the other buses.   However, it was a nice day out and took us round several of the London sights, so it would be a nice guided tour along the river for a visitor in combination with a trip to the Tower.

The Paddington Bear trail starts on 4th November.   I’m already excited by this one as there are bears designed by celebrities.   I’m a bit disappointed that Bear Grylls has a Scouting bear and Girlguiding doesn’t have one.   If we do visit it, I’m dressing the family up in Guiding uniforms and travelling to Heathrow to be photographed with it.

And then there are 300 owls to find in Birmingham next year.   Surely Guiding gets first call on that!

Museum of London – Review

With the Craftyguidelets learning about the Great Fire of London in KS1 and Stone Age to Bronze Age in KS2 next term, we planned a day trip to the Museum of London near St Paul’s Cathedral to do a bit of ‘research’.

London Wall

The museum is right in the heart of the history it is curating.   Parts of the London Wall are ‘displayed’ through windows on the upper level.   I’ve no idea why the man in the picture appears to be taking a selfie lying down in the shade of the wall!

We were met at the door by a member of staff who asked us about our visit.   She showed us to the various activity sheets for children which you can also download before you leave home.   We picked up the War, Plague and Fire one for youngest Craftguidelet.   As there was nothing for eldest to have, the staff member got her some leaflets with pictures from the gallery, and also lent her a clipboard and A4 paper to draw pictures and take notes on.   She also met up with us later in the day and showed a genuine interest in what the Craftyguidelets had done.   It’s great when someone goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Photography is permitted in the museum but flashes aren’t so forgive the dodgy pics!
IMG_4039The galleries inside take you on a chronological journey through the history of London, starting in the ‘London before London’ gallery.   This took us from the Stone Age through to Bronze Age with displays of artefacts discovered in the London area.
IMG_4047This Bronze age helmet is supposed to demonstrate the ferocity and virility of the owner.   Not your normal head gear for a night on the pull any more!
IMG_4055The Roman area had this mock up of a Roman house.   I love the mosaic floor.

Moving on through Medieval London and past a 100 year old model of the old St Paul’s cathedral, we arrived in the War, Plague and Fire gallery.   There was a quite disturbing film presentation of the spread of the Black Death which we moved on from, and then on to the Great Fire of London.
IMG_4062It was great to show 5 year old Craftyguidelet examples of houses and how people lived in 1666 when the fire happened, as a background to what she will be learning about in the classroom.   The museum is also in the area where the fire took hold, which also gave her another perspective.
IMG_4064These fabulous dresses were in a recreation of the Pleasure Gardens.   I was a bit confused by the film dramatisation that was projected as part of the experience though.

After travelling through the Victorian shop recreations, we carried on moving through history to modern London.
IMG_4069This is a bronze lift from Selfridges from 1928.   I love the grandness of it.
IMG_4071The Suffragettes were also featured with a large display, including this embroidery from Holloway Prison.
IMG_4075This was from a display of equipment from a bakery demolished in 1966 to make way for a new development.   Being a Master Baker and Confectioner’s daughter, I am drawn to bakery memorabilia.
IMG_4083IMG_4086Probably the most thrilling part for me was the story of the development of the Olympic cauldron from the 2012 London games.   The actual petal for Great Britain was displayed.   I didn’t realise there were 3 cauldrons made – one for the Olympics, one for the Paralympics and one for testing.   The scale and the detail were staggering.

We really enjoyed our day out at the museum.   It held everyone’s interest throughout our visit, and there are probably details we missed to go back and see another time.   Entrance is free but we did leave a donation in the box.

This review is based on my own opinion of our family day out.   I received no incentives to go or to write a review.