Of Mice, Music and Bears!

 Righto!! We got off to a later start this morning cause we're waiting for the Musical Museum to open at 10 am.

We're waiting for the Mischief of Mice to join us here...

I think I see them!

Yay!!! Let's go in!

How exciting can a musical museum be?? Well... you'd be surprised... we wandered through the displays and saw these "machines"...

But they weren't doing anything (just wait for it)...

They have these rolls of paper which we think let's them play their own music...

It's beary old-fashioned stuff!

Sandy wants to know if Mama remembers these things...

Or these! We're moving through the decades now... Gramma might remember these... they are called Gramma-phones aren't they?

Heh-heh... or maybe it's 78 records?

Ooohhh the RCA dog!!!

Ah, here we go!! An old reel-to-reel machine!! Grampa had one of these!! And Great-Grampa would record long tapes on the goings-on back in the old country and send them in the mail! That's an 8-track cassette in the bottom right... Mama remembers those too!

Does your human remember these things??

And then it speeds up! We've got regular cassette tapes and walkman's!

And then cd's and discman's... we never had a discman...

And then... iPods... we had (still have) one of those!

And now... everything in a phone!

Wow... how music has changed in a century!!!

They had organs....

And pianos too...

And a display on how those paper rolls (that played those weird machines) was made. There was a whole industry for making music paper rolls!

Wow... when you think the industries that history has left in the dust!

Then there's the synthesizers... which are like those old machines... but waaayyyyyyy more... everything...

And this... this is Leon Theremin who invented an "electronic" music instrument back in 1920 in the USSR... it had only one note... but the player could adjust it by waving his hand over these two metal bits... and vary the volume and pitch... It was called... the Theremin (go figure).

That's it there... weird looking thing... it's kind of an early synthesizer... Leon took his device out to the USA and Europe but then was apparently kidnapped by the KGB... He was sent to the Gulag, to a secret lab where he worked on secret things. He created a listening device that from 1945 onwards, hung in plain view in the United States ambassador's Moscow office and enabled Soviet agents to secretly eavesdrop on conversations. It was called "The Thing"... and looked like a big wooden seal... but had a contraption inside... go figure!

OK... that was like a fascinating story!! In case you're wondering what it sounds like... its music was used in cult films like "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "The Thing from Another World". Kind of that eerie... otherworldly sound... 

Oh, and in Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys! When they start singing "I'm picking up Good Vibrations" in the refrain! Escept they used an Electro-Theremin where the sounds are controlled by a knob rather than waving your hands around like a mad magician... Watch from 3:33 to see the electro-theremin in action...

Or watch this one... a guy playing Over the Rainbow on a real theremin... fascinating stuff!

But now... we are back to those first machines with their paper rolls... cause they turned some of them on for us!! Most of these were first developed in Germany in the late 1800s... and were placed in cafes where they could be played by inserting money... So, like... an early jukebox!! Ready?

OOoohhhh... it plays all by itself! 

This one was another one... same idea, with the instruments...

In behind... wowzers...

But this one... had a violin that it played!!

The museum had quite a collection of these paper rolls... they have a concert room where they screen silent movies and then their big Wurlitzer plays the music with these paper rolls!

Wowzers...

All that from a little paper roll with holes in it. Go figure.

Do you think these were the precursor to those early computers that used cards with holes in them? Mama remembers them... And then we said goodbye to the mice crew. They had to get back home and had a few buses to catch!

We headed off to Ealing Broadway and saw this nouveau art deco (it's recently built)... beary nice.

And caught the Elizabeth line to Paddington Station!

Oooh... Ben would like Chef Paddington! Maybe not his messy kitchen... but... the outfit is cute.

They have tonnes of Paddington stuff and we bought a bit!

Then we had lunch here...

It's a Lebanese place...  and yes... we've had Thai, Italian, Persian and now Lebanese... we also had Japanese and Spanish too!

We had a Beirut drink...

The bottle had a weird pull cap which is beary strange... not like a bottle cap... but strange.

We had lamb kofta and some focaccia with olive oil. Yum!!!

Then we caught a bus back but had to wait a bit cause some of them were packed to the gills!!!

Whew... massive adventure day and we still have one more!!

Continuing our Epic Adventure Day in London

 Right... we are catching the #15 bus so I got out my London Bus Guide so I could follow allong.

Ooh, we're going by the Tower!! And we spotted the Ibex art deco building, but it's NOT in the bus guide... need to add that.

And... there's the bus number thingie! Wait for it...

BUS BINGO!!!!! (Cause I was riding with a whole Mischief of Beanies today!) Always wanted to say that...

We're at the base of the walkie talkie building thing... I wanted to go up and see the Sky Garden at the beary beary top but Beanie said "Sod off... you're on your own!"....

Maybe another day... this Tesco truck carries a warning that there are baby carrots on board... interesting...

We're checking out this building to see a beary unique sculpture...

It's two mice fighting over a piece of cheese!! Although knowing the mice I hang out with... it could be a piece of pain au chocolat as well!

We then got the #133 (no bus number board)... BUS BINGO!!!

And went down Rose Street!!

And got spit out on the far side of St. Paul's Cathedral. Never been here before...

There was a bit of a Christmas market set up...

With cool statues...

That's an explanation of the next sculpture... wait for it...

It's a whole menagerie of animals riding a beary long scooter!!!

Well, that's pretty... but see that blue sky? Don't trust it! It can turn on a dime!

Never been in here... crazy expensive and busy and... too many people!

Then we went down the street and around the corner and found the Old Bailey... that's lady justice with her scales on the very top...

It's a big piece of history and Sherlock Sandy figured he should see it in person... or... in bear? In stuffy? Whatever.

It's not art deco in the least but interesting nevertheless.

And then... after wandering around and taking pics... we found...

A snoopy dog thing!!! From the Snoopy Dog trail! There's apparently 12 of them...

Cool!! And if it hadn't been for the "Do not Climb" sign... you know we would have been snuggling up with Snoopy for a Selfie!!

As we headed back, we saw bicycle parade of Santas!

And then we spotted another Snoopy!!! On a beary nice gingerbread house!

Lots of people taking pics of Snoopy!

And then another one!!!

They are beary nice!

Then we walked by the Daily Express... an art deco masterpiece. Be still my beating stuffie heart!

It's gorgeous!!!

Can I like... enter my own Art Deco contest???

Oooohhhh...

An impressive building next door which looks like it could have been in 1984 or Harry Potter as some Ministry but...it's the Daily Telegraph!! And it's also an art deco building! 

Built in 1928... beary interesting...

And another snoopy!!

This one has a bonus because it's next door to...

Hodge the Cat!! He's a beary grumpy looking cat (look at those ears) but someone must have loved him to have a statue made of him! He was one of Samuel Johnson's cats (late 1700s!). Cats weren't at all liked back then (not like now... mostly)... And one of Johnson's friends later said: "I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat: for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature. "

Oysters? Well, they were beary common back then, and fed a lot of the poor (and cats too)... That's an oyster shell to the left of me!

Which got us wondering... who was Samuel Johnson??? That's his house, by the way...

We didn't go in but we did learn that Johnson was a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. Whew. Basically... he wrote a lot! They think he had Tourette's too... but we'll remember him for his love of cats!

Right, then it started raining!! Remember that blue sky like 30 minutes ago... don't trust it!!

So we went to a Black Sheep Coffee... never been in one before.

But they have pain au chocolat!! Hey!!! You've got your own!!!

Git... just git!!!

Hey!!! Not you too!!! You've got your own!

Honestly... if you all want your own pain au chocolat, you have to talk to YOUR management... not steal mine!

The rain was short-lived and we headed out again and saw this cute mural on the wall. Weirdly, the mice didn't seem interested in more cat stuff!

That's the Blackfriar's pub behind us!

It's Art Nouveau...

And we caught the Tube back to Richmond...

With an impressive reindeer all lit up!

Then we caught the... umm... well, it says R68. BUS BINGO!!! Yes, that was a corner on my bus bingo card... and yes... this is a clear case of.... something... stuffieism?

We saw this sign... but...

It's not me!!!

We're eating here! It's a Persian place!

Let's seee....

I'll have a stiff drink!

And... the lamb kofta... it was beary yummy!

And then we crawled onto the #65 (yay... Bus Bingo!) and... headed back to our respective pads... Pooped!