London: Churchill

June 13, 2013
 We decided to head over to the Churchill War Rooms and use the extra time over there. That was at the top of Joseph's list of things to see.

A cloudy Big Ben.

 The War Rooms were pretty cool. You descend underground, below the city, into the actual space where Churchill ran his war operation.

 It is an incredibly cool place. The rooms are set up and "left" as they were. It was amazing to realize that people actually lived down here while the war raged above their heads.

Lockers, since there was so little privacy!

Churchill's office.

Parts of this underground space were very interactive.  

This was a cool spot where you picked up the receiver and dialed a number. Each number played a different interview or even conversation that had been recorded during the time. One of them was a conversation between Churchill and FDR. It was so amazing to hear each of their voices, and then to hear them laugh and chat with each other!

Um, 
War time-underground-potty anyone?






Unfortunately, many of Europe's toilets have not improved a whole lot!

This is amazing to me. They worked down here, around the clock for 6 years! I can imagine that when they actually turned the lights off, it must have been a powerful, emotional moment.

                                                                       This is a portable sunlamp. "Fearful of Vitamin D deficiency caused by the long hours underground, staff were given sunlamp treatments."  

 This letter is evidence of a secret operation dubbed, "Operation Desperate." It says, "MOST SECRET - TO BE BURNT BEFORE READING."

(Ha! BEFORE reading!) I hope you can read the rest of it! 

It was a tongue-in-cheek scheme by staff that plotted to "obtain American chocolate and stockings!"

After visiting many of the actual working rooms of the facility, the museum opens up into a huge cement bunker-type space that is filled to the brim with Churchill history. It contains photos of himself, his ancestors, and family. Items, artifacts and awards that belonged to him. Incredible remnants of that period in time as well as the war itself. It is also amazingly interactive. You could spend days in this part alone, just reading, listening and learning.

Everything in this room was fascinating and Joseph and I took TONS of pictures! WAY too many to post here. But this was one of the most intriguing features, to me.

In the center of all of the displays, videos, and interactive stations, was a HUGE table. It ran almost the full width of the room, and looked like a humongous conference table. But the thing about this table is, that it is one huge ipad! The whole surface is a tough screen that takes you all through the history surrounding Winston Churchill and anything even doing with the history...like a long connecting web (no pun intended)of information you could just get lost in! Each square had its own pages and interactive activities, which had their own pages and activities. It was SO cool!

 Information kept flowing along this wall.

  
Their little kitchen.  Just look at the size of their ovens!

 In case of fire...

 Light switches

  
The switch room.

Asbestos????

 

The key safe.

 As if this little fan is going to help with the circulation, stuffiness and claustrophobia down here! I guess every little bit helps!

 This map was fascinating to me! It was in the "Map Room" of course, and it hurt my heart a little to see the physical representation of what was happening in the war. The fact that the borders were constantly changing because of the fighting. They couldn't use any map, because the borders were never correct on a given day. I had to get a picture up close, at the hundreds of pin holes left behind.

 Remember all those fire extinguishers earlier? Well THIS is one of the reasons why. Almost everyone smoked, and they couldn't make this a smoke-free zone with all the stress, so they made metal boxes to be hung where the cigarette butts would go, to help prevent any fires. Crazy.

 Aaannnnd another fire extinguisher nearby!

I teach propaganda of WWII in one of my classes, and I got such a kick out of all the posters they had at the end of the tour. If I could have, I would have bought a copy of every one. It is fascinating to me to see how they thought back then, what they were worried about, and how they disseminated information. Such a different time. We are so blessed to live in such a time of relative peace, and not have to worry about the things they did, day to day. I think it is a shame we forget, and take for granted.

Maybe we should be a little more careful with our consumerism, the whole idea of  "Make do or do without, use it up, or wear it out," is a great motto. The idea of Victory Gardens, and trying to sustain ourselves a little bit more with what we have available to us in our own yards and spaces, is one we should maybe adopt a little more of.

It is amazing that the idea of saving bread or carpooling, or saving that tin can we so readily throw away, was a matter of saving a life back then. Why has it changed? Aren't people still destitute and doing without? Just some thoughts to think about.

I know this is terribly out of focus, but I loved it and had to post! Snooky anyone?

One that I think would be a good rule of thumb still for today, but an absolute NECESSITY and way of life back then!

 The Churchill War Rooms. If you like history at all, I HIGHLY recommend that you put this on your bucket list. We stayed until they literally kicked us out.