Shoreditch Sunday

For the past year and a half I've wanted to go to a particular museum - I'm not going to say the name because there is a contraband photo below.

Anyway, it's really more of an experience than a museum.  The house is completely set up as if a family of Huguenot silk weavers live  here in the early 1800's.  The idea is that the family has just left the room as you enter it.  The house is lit only by candles as it would have been then and there is the smell of the food and sounds piped in so that you hear a horse and carriage or the gun salute signaling the death of the king and the ascension of Victoria.   

When you first arrive a man greets you at the door to tell you the set up.  You are supposed to go through silently and just take in the atmosphere.

The picture above is after I left - unfortunately.  When I arrived there was a whole crowd in line (below) and having a lot of people in the house definitely detracted from being able to feel like I was in the house with the Jervis family.  

 I did like this guy's umbrella message though - - "Turned out nice again"!  

 How am I supposed to blog interesting things if I can't take pictures of them?  I did sneak a few in but since it was so dark, this is the only one that came out.  I think this was supposed to me where Mrs Jervis was taking a little touch of brandy to start her day.  

 Since it was Victorian times, the house was packed with knick knacks and too dads and I loved them all.  Every inch of this house was by design to tell a story.  There was a mechanical cat that looked incredibly real (I watched it for quite a while to make sure it was fake).  It makes you realize how cold and dark these houses were in the 1800's on a rainy day like Sunday.   

Later I walked over to the Columbia Road Flower Market.  If you go at the end of the day they start selling 2 or 3 bunches for 5 GBPs just to get rid of them.  So I picked up a few bunches to take home.

Check out this guy - he was as colorful as his outfit.  Maybe that's what I lacked as a florist - a dandy outfit and some street banter.  How could anyone walk by without taking a few bunches?

 I saw this little bug on the way home and couldn't resist.

I loved that going home was just a 15 minute tube ride from Shoreditch.  It's nice to be a Londoner.