Sunday, March 17, 2024

The British Library and the Lego Store

 The British Library Treasures room was a real highlight of our day. They have so many amazing books & manuscripts that trace so much history. We also visited the Lego store on Leicester Square, which was very impressive, which explains why we had to line up to enter. 



An original manuscript by Handel



Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (I loved reading this in High School)



Original Monty Python - Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!



The Magna Carta



A Gutenberg bible



Ground breaking research by Florence Nightingale about “Causes of mortality in the East” 1858, which led to dramatic improvements in sanitation and improved survival rates of soldiers.



Shakespeare’s First Folio 1623 (from the King George III Collection)



King George IV donated his father’s library to the British Museum in 1823. It was eventually moved when the new building of the British Library was opened. It is six stories high, in a cube arrangement (this is one side) with 65,000 books. When it was donated it was specified that the collection had to be kept together, and not displayed with anything else, which is probably how this way of displaying the books came about. It is a breath taking display of beautiful books, but it is a shame it is mostly locked away & not used. 



The British Library Bookshop had an amazing collection of feminist books when I was here 7 years ago, which I thought was for a special event, but it turns out they always have a great (& large) collection of feminist books on sale.



It was cold and rainy in Hyde Park, and Skye had it to herself.


The Lego Store has a working Big Ben (it tells the time, but no bells chime). This is half the size, as it takes up two floors.



Harry & Ron in the Ford Anglia



London bus



Lego Shakespeare waiting at the bus stop



Skye meeting a lego dog



The Lego James Bond Aston Martin was very impressive



Hermione & Crookshanks at Diagon Alley



Harry, Harris and Ron




Us with a Goblin at the Gringott’s Bank





I loved this beautiful gate



The underground lift system in some stations is wild (for those stations that have lifts)





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