Pollock’s Toy Museum

If you are visiting London with your children, Pollock’s Toy Museum is certain to be a top attraction for you and your family. Practically any toy that has been on the market for children worldwide has a place at this site. The collections are a fascinating look at the ways kids played in the past. Come to experience a world of porcelain dolls, teddy bears, tinkertoys, board games and more. Elaborate dollhouses and toy theaters also are on display for the littlest ones in your party to explore.

Pollock’s Toy Museum, London, UK by R Sones

Freud Museum

This site was the home of Sigmund Freud after he and his family fled Austria and the Nazis in the late 1930s. Here is where you can see perhaps the world’s most famous analyst couch with its pillows and tapestries. You also can see the desk where Freud spent much time writing his papers. The family’s extensive collection of antiquities also is on display, and the ground’s gardens are worth checking out, too. The house and its furnishings are frozen in Freud’s time.

Whitechapel Bell Foundry

Lots of British and global manufacturing history can be found here, as the site exists as Britain’s oldest continuing manufacturer. Here, you can find church bells, handbells, clock tower bells (think Big Ben) and other varieties made to order. The company’s rich history extends across the pond, as the U.S. Liberty Bell was cast at the site more than 250 years ago.

Churchill War Rooms

Part of the collection that makes up Britain’s Imperial War Museum, this is the wartime bunker where British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and his government officials took shelter during the London Blitz. You can see where wartime decisions were made and purchase a Churchill coffee mug in the same visit. The Map Room holds maps where you can see tiny pinholes that charted Allied progress. Next to that room is Churchill’s Room, still in existence from its time as his office/bedroom space.

The Black Museum

Better known as the crime museum, this infamous site offers a collection from London’s macabre side. In 1869, a new law allowed law enforcement to start keeping artifacts from criminals for educational purposes. Today, the museum holds weapons disguised as ordinary items, vials of poison, forensic photos and other criminal evidentiary items. The museum, while not open to the public, is open for law-enforcement training and crime lectures for legal authorities. If you are a law-enforcement official, you may be able to gain entry for a tour.

You find more London travel guides online and also accommodation in London from www.holiday-velvet.com.

The post 5 Unusual Museums in London You Must Visit appeared first on Europe Explored.

1. London Transport Museum

For centuries, Londoners have traversed their city by boat, by road, by rail and, of course, underground. Immerse yourself in a journey through those centuries at the London Transport Museum, where amazing exhibits tell the city’s travel stories. Here you’ll find a sedan chair, dating from 1800, which was London’s first licensed public transport and a horse-drawn omnibus, models of the boats that once sailed across and up and down the Thames, steam engines and railway coaches. Not simply a museum for boys of all ages, the London Transport Museum is living history with amusing anecdotal displays, and examples of the innovations in transport that transformed London life. The museum is in the Covent Garden Piazza.

London Transport Museum / Photo licensed under the Creative Commons, created by Loz Pycock

2. Freud Museum

In 1938, Sigmund Freud, regarded as the father of psychoanalysis, fled his Vienna home from the Nazis and went into exile in London with his family. Today, his Hampstead residence provides a fascinating glimpse into his life with his study, complete with couch, preserved as it was during his lifetime. There are more than 2,000 antiquities of Greek, Roman, Oriental and Egyptian origin to examine, while an upstairs room is devoted to his daughter, Anna, who lived and worked here until she died in 1982.

3. Fashion and Textile Museum

Iconic designer Zandra Rhodes founded the Fashion and Textile Museum to showcase London’s contemporary fashion, textiles and jewellery. Its exhibitions change regularly, although there is a permanent display of Rhodes’ creations. The museum – run by Newham College – also offers courses for students and acts as a network for the fashion and jewellery industries. Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta designed the museum building, which is situated in Bermondsey, south London.

4. Handel House Museum

From 1723 until his death in 1759, the composer George Handel lived at 25 Brook Street, London. Here, he composed some of his finest works – and indeed some of the greatest and most recognisable music in history – including Music for the Royal Fireworks, Messiah and Zadok the Priest (you might know it better as the theme for football’s Champions League!). The beautifully restored Georgian interior reflects Handel’s era while weekly concerts and special events bring live music back to this historic house – the upstairs rooms were once home to rock legend Jimi Hendrix.

5. Trinity Buoy Wharf and the Faraday Museum 

On the banks of the Thames, Trinity Buoy Wharf was once the site at which all buoys and markers for England’s coast were made and repaired. Its lighthouse is the only one in London and, along with the rest of the Grade II-listed warehouses on the site, has been restored to become part of a creative community that includes artists’ studios and London’s smallest museum, the Faraday Project. This little hut is dedicated to the scientist Michael Faraday, who conducted experiments into electric lighting in the lighthouse in 1863.

This article was brought to you by one of the top luxury hotels in London, Claridge’s – who have been a fixture in the UK’s capital city for well over 100 years.

View London’s Top 5 Alternative Museums in a larger map

The post London’s Top 5 Alternative Museums appeared first on Europe Explored.

Until World War I Austria was vast empire that ruled much of central Europe for the centuries. Austria is now a federal republic, consisting of nine states (Burgenland (Eisenstadt), Kärnten (Klagenfurt), Niederösterreich (St.Pölten), Oberösterreich (Linz), Salzburg (Salzburg), Steiermark (Graz), Tirol (Innsbruck), Vorarlberg (Bregenz), Wien (Wien)).

The capital city of Austria – Vienna hosts many international organizations including the Secretariat of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The Austrian Parliament has two chambers. National Council (Nationalrat) has 183 members who are elected by direct popular vote for five-year period. Federal Council (Bundesrat) is the second chamber with about 62 members representing different regions. Its members are elected for six years.

Austria has a rich cultural heritage, with a special place of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. But also the music of Franz Schubert is very popular. In the field of philosophy and ideas you can find controversy work of Sigmund Freud, while Ludwig Wittgenstein is one of the most influential philosopher of 20th century. Paintings by Gustav Klimt from the early 20th century are highly reputable.

Austria has a mixed industrial-agricultural economy, but an important source of income is tourism.

Austrian cuisine includes specialties like Wiener Schnitzel and Apfelstrudel.

As a tourist in Austria, you will shortly find out that everything is well prepared for you and services are excellent in the tourist areas. Whether you visit any place in the summer or winter you will be really satisfied – from tourism and cycling signs of groomed trails, through camping facilities and winter resorts, to cultural and spa programs in the hotels and family pensions.

The highest point of Austria is Grossglockner (3 798 m) and the lowest point is Neusiedler See (115 m).

There are 6 national parks in Austria. The beauty of these six totally different protected natural areas you can enjoy on foot or by bike.

View Austria – Country of a Thousand Faces in a larger map

The post Austria – Country of a Thousand Faces appeared first on Europe Explored.