Explore the Gingerbread City with children – V&A Museum in London

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It’s been over 10 months since my last post and blogging has been on my mind ever since. I did use Instagram on and off in the meantime, but I do miss writing here, so I am trying to come back. And today I got a push to do so because yesterday we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, to walk through the Gingerbread City! The experience was too lovely and I took too many photos to keep them all to myself. Therefore, I am back online, writing about our visit and hopefully about many other things in the future.

The complete name of the exhibition is “The Museum of Architecture’s Gingerbread City at the V&A” and it’s open until the 6th of January 2019. This event happens every year, as the Museum of Architecture invites architects, designers and engineers to create a city made of gingerbread and sweets. The city is located at level 4 in V&A Museum and I would advise, in case you plan a visit, to pre-book your tickets as today, for example, the exhibition was sold out.

And this is how it all begins, as behind these colourful walls a wonderful world and an amazing smell awaits!

Once we stepped into the city, the kids were mesmerized and their attention was soon caught by a short movie on a small screen. The movie was showing how parts of the city have been built. This was so interesting, sort of a “behind the scenes” movie, we all loved it!

After that, we started to explore. The Gingerbread City in London is divided into 3 zones:

• “Floating City and Swiss Roll-ing Hill”, with hills, waterways and greenery
• “Central Slice”, with a variety of buildings designed for learning, commerce and culture
• “North Bank”, home to the Gingerbread City’s culture park

The idea of the whole city is “what does the ideal city of the future look like?”, and it’s amazing to see our possible cities of the future made of gingerbread and sweets in such great details. And every time you come back to a part of the city for another look, new details catch your eye. Honestly, we could have spent there half a day if it wasn’t for the limited-time slot (which, by the way, ensures that all visitors can peacefully admire the city).

And because words could never describe this amazing city, here are some photos I took yesterday.

Below you can see Holland Harvey Architects – Shelter from the storm, providing beds, warm food and support for those in need – a reminder that there are around 7500 people sleeping on the streets of London.

In the photo below you can see White Christmas Square (left), Sugar Crystal Towers (because “yummy design can solve all problems” in the Future City) and Yule Log Landscape (front).

“Look, mummy, it’s Shrek 2 at the cinema!” (it really was, on the screen – photo below)

In the next photo, you can admire a Flying Fire Station – when tanks are filled with water, drones respond to emergencies by propelling themselves with the help of sugary balloons

How cool does London Sugar HighLine below look? There are hocolate finger skis, wafer boards, and jewel lined slopes!

The City of the Future has Markets that support urban agriculture within the city:

Going up to the first floor, you can admire the whole gingerbread city from above, and the view is like this:

The exit from the City is via stairs. You can say goodbye to the gingerbread from above and take some photos as well. And I know I’ve included many photos in this post, but they still don’t capture a quarter of the details, of the stories, of the charm of this Gingerbread City displayed in London.

In the end, you must be curious how difficult it was not to eat the amazing sculptures, especially having two young kids with us. Let me tell you this, it wasn’t easy! The smell is delicious and the creations are amazing. At first, the kids were mesmerized, but after a while, they started to wonder, “Why can’t we eat it? It’s edible, right?”. They didn’t touch anything though, and I am sure that if I had told them “ok, have a bite!” they would’ve said, “We can’t, mummy, they are all too beautiful!”.

So, which one is your favourite photo and what do you think of this Future City? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

Raluca

Raluca Zagura is a mum of two, based in London, and she is also a Certified Hand in Hand Parenting Instructor.