Mind The Map

I LOVE MAPS, there I have said it out loud and I particularly love the art of the London Underground maps and posters.  Yesterday I visited the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden for the first time!

I had seen a mention of a new exhibition called Mind the Map on Twitter and knew that I needed to visit.  It opened last week and runs until 28th October 2012 and is free to enter once you have purchased a ticket for the museum for £13.50.  This is not as bad as it sounds as the ticket is then valid for 12 months and I will definitely use mine again.

'Mind The Map, Inspiring art, design and cartography' is how the exhibition is billed and it doesn't disappoint. It shows the work of Harry Beck and MacDonald Gill as well as contemporary art works based on their designs.

Although I have looked at the Underground map a million times I was unaware of how many changes had happened over the years.  The art and design on display is fascinating and there are a number of talks, walks and activities linked to this.  Last year I read Walk the Lines by Mark Mason and he is leading a walking tour on Saturday 14th July.

The rest of the museum is equally good and it is great that you can go into vehicles and get the feel of them...some of the train carriages felt very dark and eerie and make you appreciate how design makes a difference even on a train or bus journey!

Other books worth a look:

Mapping London, Making Sense of the City by Simon Foxell
Mrs P's Journey by Sarah Hartley (the lady who devised the A-Z map)

Stanford's in Longacre is the place to go for the most amazing selection of books about London.  I discovered on my last visit that as it is 2012 the London section has moved upstairs to take centre stage!

Westfield Stratford City

Yesterday afternoon I managed to get to Westfield Stratford City, a 20 minute trip from work on the Central Line.  The centre is lovely as was expected and does not have all of the high end shops of the White city Centre.  All of the usual suspects are there and lots of eateries.  It was good to see Pull and Bear, Esprit and Uniqlo that much closer to home. At the moment there is also a Getty Images exhibition that has been to White City but still worth a visit.

John Lewis has a haberdashery department which has a good selection of paper patterns and Amy Butler fabrics.

My favourite part was the London 2012 shop within John Lewis which had collectors pins, stamps and all of the other official merchandise.  The view from the window was over the olympic park......