Step back in time...

Hello there, hope your weekend has got off to a great start!  A fairly slow start here it has to be said, not everyone is up and about as yet, so have managed to get the housework sorted and now for a bit of "me" time!!  But, before I pick up my hook and yarn, here are a few of the many fascinating things I came across at the Museum of London earlier this week...

Roman sculpture, found deep under modern London...

Beautiful design...some dating to before the Romans even arrived here...

The Great Fire of London... the wooden artefacts were saved from one of the fire-ravaged churches in the City...

Georgian fashions - doesn't look too comfy...

The Roaring Twenties...my grandmother  had a sewing machine just like this one...

 

The 1940's section included this Red Cross Nurse uniform, my darling Mum wore one just like this in the war.  She worked seven days a week in a munitions factory, then volunteered as a nurse in our local hospital each evening. 

 

 

The Swinging Sixties...

although it is a bit much when things that one remembers from childhood are now museum pieces...and then when they have things that one actually owns from ones teenage years, well, that does rather take the biscuit...

I can't resist showing you this...

Whoever thought this to be suitable for small children??!! Would have frightened the living daylights out of them!  Mind you, attitudes to children were so very different back in Victorian times. 

Hope to be back soon with some more photos of our trip to the "Smoke"!

Helenxx

Olympic Cauldron - Memories of London 2012

Good morning everyone - DH is on holiday so we have been lucky enough to have a visit to London this week - regular readers will know that this is a city that I absolutely love to go and spend time in.  I will share more photos later this week, but I thought I would start with an amazing sight that met my eyes on my first ever visit to the Museum of London. 

Two years ago this week I posted this photo, courtesy of Google, of the Olympic Cauldron lighting up the 2012 Games in London -

Although I was lucky enough to go to an Olympic event, I wasn't one of those fortunate enough to be at the lighting of the Cauldron.  I was amazed however by it's beauty, and the sheer feat of engineering and design that it represented.

So, imagine my astonishment/excitement at encountering this yesterday...

...taking pride of place in the museum, which I understand is now it's permanent home.  It is every bit as amazing as I imagined...

 

 

a little bit about this masterpiece...

 

 

What I hadn't realised is that every petal is different, each was made by beating the metal around a wooden form...

Each petal as beautiful and unique as the country that it represented...

I just loved it and felt quite moved by how beautiful it was, and what it represented.  If you are ever in London, do visit the museum, it is free and well worth a few hours.  The staff are really friendly and helpful.  All being well I will share some photos of the other exhibits soon, but in the meantime one last glimpse of this beauty...

Hope you are having a great week!

Helenxx