Imperial War Museum

Another day, another museum and yet again my feet are very sore from all of the walking. Last night I decided to skip the Thames pub walk on account that I'm beginning to feel a bit ridiculous walking around London in a group of about one hundred Americans. Instead I went out with my roommate Brandon and his friend Tim to St. Pancras (a borough in northern London) to watch a rugby match a rugby pub, but after three transfers on the Tube and walking about a mile we found out that the game was in fact the day before. So while we didn't get to watch a match in the pub, we did get to explore a bit of North London. The area we were in was quite different from Kensington, the fact that was a little more gritty and far more working class seemed to give the area a little more character. I'm not complaining one bit, but it seems as if Kensington is constantly posing for its postcard picture.

I slept in a little bit today and skipped the Tate Modern field trip for the same reason as the pub walk, and the Tate isn't going anywhere. Instead I decided to go to the Imperial War Museum in Newington, a borough in south London. Word to the wise, if you can avoid it, don't take the Tube on the weekends - I found that out the hard way. The two main lines (District and Circle) that go through Gloucester Road were closed for maintenance, so that meant that everyone had to pile onto the Piccadilly Line. I think that ride will be some of the most cramped twenty minutes of my life, I think it might have even cured me of my mild claustrophobia. I also found out that the stereotype about Europeans not wearing deodorant seems to ring true, very true.

The Imperial War Museum was yet another wonderful and free London museum. Its displays did not glorify war, instead they attempted to show the gritty reality of it all. Walking into the World War One section was heart-wrenching, it was a series of war photographs coupled with some of the most poignant quotes I've read. While the primary source interviews and exhibits were interesting, the museum was a bit short on actual "artifacts" (I don't know if you can call them artifacts being that the museum only covers history from World War One onward), with the highlight probably being the infamous piece of paper brought back to Britain by Chamberlain, signed by Hitler in September of 1938, that promised peace. The museum also had what is supposed to be one of the best Holocaust exhibits, and it was very well done, I suppose it was as tasteful as anything dealing with the Holocaust can be.

Going through each exhibit I noticed that any mention of Israel was very subdued, the only thing I could find dealing with this conflict that has been going on for over sixty years was a small paragraph in one of the displays dealing with the Middle East conflicts. There was no mention of the formation in the Holocaust exhibit (it set aside two rooms to the aftermath of the atrocities). It seemed quite odd to me, and then as I walked out I saw a plaque that read "This construction and renovation of this museum was primarily funded by Oman, Brunei, and Yemen". I don't blame the curators for diminishing the importance of the Arab-Israeli conflict to avoid controversy, I would too.

I spent about five hours in the museum and returned to my flat late this afternoon. I skipped yet another "orientation" activity this evening (I didn't really feel like going on a booze cruise) and settled for wandering the neighborhood some more. I also booked two trips, one to Bath next Thursday-Sunday and one to Prague for five days in November. After spending about 400 dollars on those two trips (that's just on the train and plane tickets and hostel bed), I think I'll only be able to afford my week and a half heritage tour of Norway and Italy next month. And I'm still trying to comprehend the fact that I'm in London.