“When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life. For there is in London all that life can afford.” Samuel Johnson
London
A Trio of Double-Decker Buses
I didn’t realize it until Ryan pointed it out to me, but I appear to be collecting Lego double-decker buses:
The first one I got came with the Tower Bridge as a kind of micro build, and I thought it was tiny…but I was still impressed by the amount of detail in it, and how immediately identifiable it was. Of course, I didn’t know tiny until I built the even smaller bus that came with Buckingham Palace! And yet, despite the fact that it uses only seven bricks, it’s still also identifiable! My largest bus came as a free-with-purchase, and while it completely dwarfs the other two, it’s still nowhere near minifig scale.
They look pretty cute together!
Now that I have these three displayed in various places around the house, I have to hope that someday, Lego will offer a dedicated double-decker bus set. Maybe minifig scale, or even bigger? But not too much bigger, because there’s no way I’d ever be able to afford a bus set built on the same scale as the Mini Cooper and the VW Beetle that Lego has offered in recent years!
Lego Buckingham Palace
I spent the afternoon today working on my latest Lego London landmark: Buckingham Palace!
I was impressed right from the start with the tiling that represents the street, the gardens, and the pedestrian access:
There were tons of tiny pieces in this set. I also encountered some very unique building techniques, but it still came together rather quickly.
As always, I was impressed with the level of detail in the set, including the fence out front, the double decker bus (my third of varying sizes!), the flag flying over the palace (I guess Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is in?), and the Victoria Memorial out front:
One of the best parts of the Architecture series are the instruction books. They don’t just include directions for building the model, they also include a history of the building, trivia, and some beautiful photos!
I’m very happy with how it turned out!
We now have Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace decorating our living room. The large-scale Big Ben will be joining them eventually (the smaller Architecture model is in our school room), and I’ve heard a rumor that next year, there is also going to be a Lego London skyline Architecture set, which I’m really excited about! The more London landmarks that decorate our home, the happier I am. Even if I can’t visit that city, I can admire its beautiful architecture, Lego style!
I Think Lego is Trying to Tell Me Something
This month’s Lego “Gift with Purchase” was a London double-decker bus, which of course I had to have. I am decorating our house in London landmarks as designed by Lego, after all! I was not expecting this “Now’s the Time to Visit!” sticker to come with it, however, and I can only assume Lego is trying to tell me something…and I would be only too happy to comply, if only London wasn’t so far away!
Lego Tower Bridge–Night Seven
We finished the bridge itself last night, but the set wasn’t complete until the children built the vehicles for it today.
There’s a taxi (built by Bunny):
A truck (built by Moose):
A car (built by Ladybug):
And, of course, a double-decker bus (built by Turkey)!
Now the set is done…and just in time, too! We need to get to work on the Lego Christmas Market next!
Lego Tower Bridge–Night Six
I bet you thought we had either given up on finishing the Lego Tower Bridge, or I had simply forgotten to post the completed pictures. Well, it did take us this long to sit down and put the finishing touches on (What can I say? Sometimes life gets in the way!), but we didn’t forget about it, and tonight we finally finished the bridge!
All that was really left were the caps to the two towers:
And the bridge cables on either side:
I’m not too proud to admit that we needed Turkey’s help with part of it. Sure, we could have figured it out ourselves if we had actually stopped to think about it, but it was something he could do without thinking…he just knows Lego stuff! It is a grand Lego set, and it just barely fits on the table in the living room! We still have to build the mini vehicles for it, but we promised the children they could do that part, so tomorrow, we’ll really, finally finish the Lego Tower Bridge!
Lego Big Ben
A little something fun to cap off our British-themed summer school!
Lego Tower Bridge–Night Five
We finally got a chance to work on the bridge again last night! Instruction book two of three is now complete.
It’s really pretty close to done. I’m guessing two more nights, and we’ll be finished with it…just not sure which two nights those will be!
Lego Tower Bridge–Night Four
Last night, we finished the first Lego Tower Bridge instruction book! I’m familiar with Lego sets with multiple instruction books, but none to this extent, so finishing the first one feels like a real accomplishment!
We didn’t stop there, though. We started in on book two, and kept going until there was a natural stopping point, which just happened to include joining the towers to the bridge deck.
It’s really starting to take shape! I think we’ll be taking a little Tower Bridge break, though, so it will have to stay at this stage for a bit. I wouldn’t want to rush through it, anyway…it’s too much fun building it for it to be done really fast!
Lego Tower Bridge–Night Three
We had planned to finish Tower Bridge instruction book one of three last night, but thanks to a tornado warning, we had to stop short of that. We still made some good progress, though, including adding a couple hundred tiny angled pieces!
