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Imperial War Museum - London


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<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Captitalistdoginchina:

I lived in England for 30 years just a stones throw from London, yet i never made it to the Imperial War Museum. Next week i shall be in London again and i shall drag my wife with me to the museum if its the last thing i do :D

Does anyone have any tips or info....

CDIC<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Take a tour. And make sure you talk to the folks who work there if you can. They know an lot about the exhibits.

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<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Captitalistdoginchina:

Does anyone have any tips or info....

CDIC<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not as such, but when I visited it with my former girlfriend even she got interested enough. Just keep talking her ears off with various pieces of interesing knowledge you got up there in your head. Bet she'll be impressed. :D

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Don't talk to strangers, especially redheaded New Zealanders called Peter, Americans going by the name of Jon with a blue sweater and thick-rimmed glasses, and sinister Germans dressed in black and white called Andreas. If you see any English, they should preferably be avoided as well.

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<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by David Aitken:

Don't talk to strangers, especially redheaded New Zealanders called Peter, Americans going by the name of Jon with a blue sweater and thick-rimmed glasses, and sinister Germans dressed in black and white called Andreas. If you see any English, they should preferably be avoided as well.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You can buy me a beer, to atone for losing in Valley of Trouble ages back (was you, wasn't it)? If we can persuade Kip to come, you can talk about Grog stuff too.

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Prepare to spend a long while in there.

I visited the place about 2 years ago and only scheduled

a few hours for the museum. Had to rush through some

sections and I believe I missed some entirely.

Pissed me no end.

[ 07-06-2001: Message edited by: Jarmo ]

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My father was career air force and stationed at Bushy Park AFB from Dec 1955 to Dec 1958. The base was near Kingston-on-Thames, about a twenty minute train ride from London, so, as a ten to thirteen year-old child, I was able to get into the city by myself almost every Saturday. [London was a lot safer then than it is now.]

The Imperial War Museum was a favorite of mine. I'm sure I visited it half a dozen times in that three year period. I was particularly impressed with their collection of warship models, filling three or four large rooms of display cases.

I went back to the Museum when I was in London a few years ago with my wife (who is British, even though I met her in Denver) and children. That visit was a disappointment, because most of the Museum was closed off for renovation. Only the bookstore (where I spent perhaps 30 pounds [around $50] on books I hadn't seen in the US) and a WWI exhibit (including a short section of trench) were open.

If the renovation is complete and the Museum is fully open, there will be a lot of good stuff to see.

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Guest PondScum

I just noticed that the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, near Cambridge, is now advertising a "D-Day Experience" in their Land Warfare hall. They already have a shed-load of tanks there (including a whole bunch captured from the Iraqis, for all you modern-combat types) and occasionally take them out to drive around an enclosed arena. Pretty easy to get to if you're already in the UK - just off the M11, or a free bus ride from Cambridge railway station. http://www.iwm.org.uk/duxford/

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When you wife becomes tired (mine did after about 3-4 hours) be sure NOT to sit her down below the clock that shows how many people gets killed in wars each second (I think it is in the basement by the Holocaust exhibit). Boy was she depressed and angry at me after sitting there for almost 2 hrs.

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I was just over there at the end of May and only had a few hours to go thru it, not even close too enough time. I ran in the bookstore when they were closing it and before they kicked me out it looked like there was a pretty good selection that I missed out on. Here in Atlanta I ran across a title - "Imperial War Museum Book of The Desert War 1940-1942" a few years back that I enjoyed very much. I was hoping to see some other IWM titles over there but missed out.

The top floor of IWM had the Colditz glider display out while I was there. Seemed like it was a temp exhibit. There was a recent program on TV where they tried to duplicate the glider that the prisoners were building and which they actually flew at the end of the program. The glider from the program was on display.

If you are able too I would recommend going to Greenwich. They have the National Maritime Museum which is huge and has a whole temporary section on Shackleton's Antartic expedition "The race to the Pole" exhibition (until Sept 2001) which was fantastic. Greenwich also has the Cutty Sark and the Royal Observatory which alone is worth the visit. Here is a good link for info on the Pole exhibit - http://www.nmm.ac.uk/south/index.htm

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A definate must is the Holocaust section there (don't think it's a temporary exhibition). To be honest after 4 hours visiting the place I got a bit museumed out so I am going to have to return there and finish off the rest of it.

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