Day 2

Day 2 January 28th, 2011:

After a lovely night’s sleep we met outside the Generator and were about to start or first day of class for INTS going to the Imperial War Museum! We had to navigate our way around on the tube underground system using a nifty little card to get through called an Oyster card. The train system is MUCH easier than driving or at least it seems like it is. If you are in Wisconsin or Minnesota, pedestrians usually have the right of way if you start walking across. In London, if you are even looking like you are about to walk across the street you get honked at and almost run over. Buses, cars, motorcycles, even bicycles have their own lane and the right of way! Besides the crazy traffic a lot of people do seem to be in a hurry much like the U.S. which I wasn’t expecting. Then again, it could be because it is their winter with a low of 30 or 25  (and we complain about it here! It’s probably -30 at home!) Anyway, the train system is awesome and very easy to get around, as long as you get on the right track, and even if you don’t, you get off and take the opposite one!

We found our way to the museum and it is in the old Bedlam hospital for the mentality insane (the new Bedlam we are going to next week!). Huge canons and a piece of the Berlin wall are on the grounds as you enter and the building is wonderfully built like most of the other architecturally beautiful buildings in London. The museum has different levels with lots of different pieces of the history of London and of the UK and Europe in general. They cover anything from WW1, WW2, The Children’s War, The Holocaust, some general history things in London and the UK and other exhibits that would have been too much information for my brain! It is somewhere you need more than one day to go to but very cool and interesting I was glad we got to go there for class. The Holocaust exhibit was the one I spent the most time in while I was there. And I’ve been to the Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. which is also stellar but I really liked the layout of this exhibit and learned a lot about more about it then I did before; plus I was much younger when I went to the museum almost 5 or 6 years ago. It is a place that everyone should still go to because it keeps you focused on what is really important in life and how absolutely good life is now for most people in the world.

After a long day of learning about different history topics a group of girls and I thought it would be fun to go to London Bridge and the Tower of London. We didn’t want to pay to get in but we got to see the outside and some of the inside from the window of a yummy restaurant we ate at called Wagamama. It was sort of Chinese/Thai food, very very good!

After another long day of walking and adventures around London and on the tube system it was wonderful to get back to the Hostel, do a little homework and fall asleep instantly!