Getting reoriented was the basic plan for today so, as millions of others do, I started a walking tour at Big Ben. Rick Steves narrated my stroll which included Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey, and so forth. I then consulted his list of most recommended sites and found the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms highly rated. “Why not?” I thought.
What a fabulous museum! Actually it’s two-in-one museums. The site itself was the first museum; it’s an underground facility where Churchill and his Cabinet conducted the war for six long years. Some rooms were exactly as they were when the closed up shop after the victory. Some rooms were painstakingly recreated from pictures and personal accounts. Together they told a story of a hidden existence conducting critical business in secret and what life was like for Churchill’s War Cabinet. Fascinating.
The museum-within-a-museum was the story of Churchill’s life. I knew a little about the man, enough to be impressed by his leadership during WWII. As I toured the museum I learned more about the war-time years but also much more about his life before and after the war. If I could vote for Leader of the Twentieth Century then he might well be my choice. An amazing, complicated yet extremely effective war-time leader. That the museum was world-class was just a bonus. Highly recommended!
The rest of the day was more reorientation. Walking, riding the Tube, strolling through parks. I finished-off the day with a visit to the British Library because it’s across from my hostel and because I love seeing the Magna Carta and other original documents they keep there: original Beatles lyrics, scrawlings by Da Vinci, first drafts by Shakespeare, and much more. I found special exhibits on large ancient maps and on British innovation of recent years. How great!
From today’s outing I’m reminded: I like London!
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