LONDON!

On Thursday, July 8, we visited London! Because I'm taking a history class on Winston Churchill, we went to the War Rooms, which also house the Winston Churchill Museum. We also went to the Imperial War Museum. One thing I noticed about British Museums in general, there is no specific lay out. They put everything out and it's basically a free for all to see everything. You can start at any end you would like to and you just wander. I like the freedom of this system. I really took my time at the Winston Churchill Museum, because he was such a FASCINATING character.

Before I start in with the life story of Wintson Churchill, I will give you a tour of our day! :-)

As we were walking to the War Rooms, we saw Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace! I was able to get a quick snapshot. Unfortunately we didn't see the changing of the guard. I was too engrossed in the War Rooms and the Winston Churchill Museum!

We have arrived at the War Rooms in London near Whitehall! (Funny to Emory students, because we have a major building for classes on Emory Campus called Whitehall.)

Professor Harbutt is giving us information about how the museum is planned out. He went to get tickets.

...and Dan fell asleep on the War Rooms exhibit. I got up about 7am that morning in order to have breakfast and be on the bus ready to go at 8am. We arrived in London about 20 til 10am. We all knew it was going to be a long FUN day! :-)

....and now we are entering the War Rooms :-) You see this placard as you go down a staircase to go underground. The War Rooms were highly secretive and built underground so should someone bomb London, then the state officials would still remain alive and running the country.


This is where the English War council met. It's the best picture I could take....if you can see it, the big brown chair that's in the very back is where Churchill would sit as Prime Minister. When I first walked down here, it was humbling/extremely cool that I was walking where Winston Churchill and other important figures had stepped in a previous lifetime. I still can't wrap my mind around it. It was cool! (pictures get better from here, mostly)

This is a picture of the War Cabinet in October of 1941 (before Pearl Harbor)

Winston Churchill worked in there, right behind me! He would sit as his desk....wait, no he wouldn't. He would pace and dictate his letters at quite a disturbing pace for his secretaries (pronounced secratries here). If the secretaries asked him to repeat himself, he would berate them. If they got a word wrong, he would berate them. He expected them to type a perfect letter the first time and he would sign that copy after he was done with his dictation. If you didn't have it right, he would berate you. I feel bad for the new employees, but I still think it would be AWESOME to work for Winston Churchill! (Can you tell WC was no a patient man?)

Churchill generally worked an 8am-3am work day. I loved this quote talking about Churchill,
"He could be rude and ill-tempered, but had a boyish sense of humour and deeply appreciated the work of all his staff, in whom he inspired unreserved loyalty."

The halls of the War Room were not complete without Smoky, the persian cat! Smoky belonged to the kitchen staff who worked their while PM & Mrs. Churchill lived there after No. 10 Downing Street was bombed out. Smoky would sleep in the same bed as Churchill, sometimes covered by Top Secret Reports. Churchill typically spent the first couple of hours of a work day in his bed with everything scattered all over his bed.

As you enter the Winston Churchill Museum, which is in the middle of the War Rooms exhibit, there is this re-creation of Churchill talking to FDR. This was the most secure phone underground in the War Rooms. Of course, the PM had first dibbs at all times.



I am ready and willing to go forward into the exhibit with Churchill! (This was a poster used to unite the British peoples together in order to have enough support to win the war!)





On 11 September 1940, Churchill made a speech saying the bombing by the Nazi's shall put " a fire in British hearts." This was one of the most quoted statements within the exhibit. It really moved me. While spending so much time in here was AWESOME!, it was a little sobering.
The quote that accompanied this picture was, "The news from France is very bad." I felt like that was the understatement of the century. (It also provided some comedic relief.)
Hitler, on the other hand, blamed Churchill as a war monger who incited World War II. I found this poster hilarious. I can't believe that this Nazi propaganda worked. As a result of this propaganda, though, Churchill became very fond of this photo. ha. Churchill had such a great sense of humour. other funny cartoons about Churchill I found also include:

(I think this one is my favorite.)

Here's the Big Man himself and I! I thought this portrait was well done. Although, there exists a multitude of portraits and photos of Churchill among his museum. ha.

This is David and another portrait of Churchill.

This is one of Churchill's coats. He was a very stout man. He seems so larger than life that I can't believe that I am taller than him! I am shocked. He always had an opinion on everything. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

"There is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them."

"No lover ever studied the whims of his mistress as I did those of President Roosevelt."

"It will be much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself."

"I always believe in staying in the pub until closing time."

"We are all worms. But I do believe that I am a glow-worm."

"I got married and live happily ever afterwards."

Churchill was madly in love with his wife Clementine Hozier Churchill for 56 years, until the day he died. When they met, Churchill was "a rising star young star of politics" and "in great demand socially." The first time they met, Churchill kept staring at Clementine all night but did not speak to her. One of her friends remembers her talking about how Clemmie was quite relieved to be asked to dance by the other men at the party. In their second meeting, Churchill sat next to Clementine and spoke only to her that night. She was ten years younger than him. However, she remained a constant, loving support to Churchill and a major influence as well. Something I found to be quite refreshing was that Clemmie was a liberal her entire life, but in public she always remained loyal to Churchill. It's been said, though, they used to have LONG debates behind closed doors about policies. I find that highly refreshing and AWESOME! I guess that puts a new perspective on the saying, "Behind every great man there's a woman telling him you're doing it wrong!" tehee....(just kidding.) You weren't allowed to take pictures of the letters they used to write to each other while he was away at times- they were so in love! That's so refreshing: a man in a situation of power who remains faithful to his wife. Anyway- this part of the exhibit put a smile on my face....as we move on....

...Churchill's famous bowler hat :-)

.
Churchill LOVED one piece clothing. He was the first person to employ these in his wardrobe and started a little fashion revolution in London while he was PM. He had at least one in every color....
(I figured map boy would love this picture!) This is the map that the Allies used at the all the major conferences (such as Yalta, etc) during WWII to divide up the territory once they won WWII. It's a beautiful old map.
Jeff playing with the interactions at the exhibit. There are several different places for children to interact with the life of Winston Churchill! This is for ALL ages. I didn't take a picture of it- but there was this MASSIVE table that would be the equivalent to an itable. In other words, it operated the same way that an iphone operates, except on the surface of a table. It had the entire life story of Churchill chronicled. It was extremely cool to play with! I think we spent a ton of time at that table. ha.

All of Churchill's military honors.

I have been reading about Churchill's exploits while he was younger. I think he lived for danger. He was from a Noble family (the Marlborough family) and born at Blenheim castle (I'm visiting it with my history class.) Anyway, he was treated according to his station in the military and slightly favored by those in charge. However, he presents himself as "that of a hyperactive, hotheaded and rather alarming teenager than of the Sandhurst-educated officer and gentleman that he technically was."



Churchill painted once he lost the PM election after WWII. (I had no idea.) Anyway, above is Jeff and Churchill's painting smock and some of his paintings. Below is another one of Churchill's paintings. I am impressed that he was such a good artist. ....part of me thinks that Churchill could do everything like a true Renaissance man.

Once Churchill died, he became a larger than life figure in English history. I'm surprised at this. While he was alive, he made some of the most unpopular decisions. He was not always the most well liked man in the room. However, he ended up on the front magazine of Life and Time. Go figure...
Churchill had a fondness for animals. He gave his grandchildren stuffed animals all the time. His bookshelf also had little stuffed animals/beanie babies as book ends. This just made me smile :-)

Churchill's history on World War I.

As we were leaving the Winston Churchill Museum, I knocked on No. 10 Downing Street.....no one answered :-(

As we continued in the War Rooms.....

Jeff standing in front of the barracks for the primitive secret service for the PM.

Here is where Mrs. Churchill slept. If you can't see the room clearly, it's very pink and quaint. :-)

David standing next to the kitchen used by Mrs. and PM Churchill during WWII while they lived in War Rooms.

...look Daddy! They even saved electricity back then! Tehee.....

David entering Room 59....which is so much more awesome than Area 51...this is where all the hush hush operating and planning rooms went to work and planning to win the war. :-)
Where the women secretaries worked. The secretaries who typed dictations for Churchill would go to wherever he was. It would be horrendous working for him, but it would be cool to say you have worked for Winston Churchill! :-)
....and now: THE MAP ROOM! (This section is specifically for Map Boy, himself! :-P )

A section of the Map used in WWII. All the different pins are country coated to show where the trench lines are, etc.

A different section of the same map showing the extent to each country's reach.

....and yet another section of the same map! This map was floor to ceiling on ONE wall. It was Multi-paged and really intense!

The key to the map...if you can tell the differences.


.....we're almost to the end of the War Rooms exhibit! We are about to see where the Prime Minister slept!

TA DA! Winston Churchill's room during WWII.

After we shopped in the gift shop of the War Rooms exhibit, we decided to eat lunch in Trafalgar square. As we were walking, I saw this:

aNo. 10 Downing Street!...where the Prime Minister lives! :-)


A tribute to the women who served in WWII at home and as Nurses. It made me smile. (Small feminist moment.)

The guard to the Royal Museum! :-)

....almost there to Trafalgar Square!

While we were at Trafalgar square, there was a ballroom competition in the square! It was fun to eat lunch and watch the couples tango and fox trot! This gave London a smaller quaint feel, even though I saw a small portion with my class! I still feel like London is larger than life.

....this is for you Michelle! The London Eye! :-) At this point we were walking back to the tube station to meet up with all the Emory kids to head to the Imperial War Museum.

Parliament!Big Ben! :-)
Dr. Harbutt buying our tickets for the Underground. We took the Bakerloo line to the Imperial War Museum! :-)

:-) The Imperial War Museum! :-)


.....on one side were the allied planes of WWII. On the other side was the German equivalent. The IWM also had a Zero, the Japanese bomber plane at the beginning of the war, cut in half, so you could see the inside technical wires, etc. If you were a mechanic (*cough* Grandpa *cough*) that would be fascinating! :-)
and a really big rocket. (I am 6'0''....that thing is MASSIVE! :-P)




The first double decker bus! :-P The wheels were so thin, you would jostle around and probably get motion sickness if you sat on the top deck!

The Cingular bars! (*cough* Michelle and Tobes *cough*)

Dr. Harbutt looking at a British tank. It was cool talking to him about the military technology that was surrounding us on the ground floor.

.....The Imperial War Museum was basically awesome! It had a place where you could do a walk through after the Blitz on Britain. That was a little freaky, but fun! There was also a walk through of trench warfare, which was cool! There was also an entire section on MI5 and MI6 and the secret soldiers. I found the real life equivalent of James Bond.....but unfortunately my camera had died by then. :-(

I think I have overloaded everyone with pictures at this time, though. After this, we hung out around the Thames River, where we grabbed an ice cream with a flake bar and a dinner. We hit the Tate modern for a quick five minutes or so. All in all it was a really fun day. :-) I hope I'm accurately describing how much fun I'm having over here.

Cheers from London!
J.