The Imperial War Museum

With D1 and the Mrs. in the States for college prep, D2 and I decided to travel to London to spend Christmas. D2 is fascinated by the concept of London, and it was her wish to visit there ASAP. Mom ordered the tickets through EasyJet from Venice to Gatwick. Then she booked us an AirBnB in Kennington.

I was busy with work. D2 was busy with school. We had to take the dogs to the vet, then the kennel. We had to pack. It was a mad scramble to get ready for the trip. In fact, all we did was bicker, and not prepare.

The night before the trip, I realized we didn’t have transportation from Gatwick to the AirBnB. I used Google Maps, and figured out a plan of attack.

The arrival wasn’t smooth. First, I’m a lummox — big and ungainly. EasyJet is cheap. Everyone has to fill out an entry form these days — explaining length of visit and such. I had to do that when I recently visited Africa for work, but I didn’t expect it traveling from one EU country to the next.

Google Maps provided several options getting us from Gatwick to the area in Kennington where our flat was. We ended up taking a train and from there purchasing Oyster Cards and topping them up with cash to allow us to use the London Underground and bus system.

We didn’t have cell service, but thanks to Google Maps, managed to find a Carphone Warehouse right next to an Underground stop. For 15 pounds, we each got sims with 3.5 GB of data and unlimited voice/text.

Soon, we found our flat and were able to put down our bags. Our hostess was very kind and told us to forget the hop-on/hop-off bus and just take either the 159 or the 436 to get to most of the places we wanted to see.

This simple tip saved us 80 pounds. I wanted to see the Imperial War Museum off the bat. Typed that into my phone, and what I got is what you see below:

Unlike Italy, the bus/underground system in London is well-nigh bullet-proof. Many of the stops have electronic signs telling you when the bus is supposed to arrive. They were always there within a minute or two of schedule.

The IWM was awesome for a freak such as myself. Here’s a Russian T-34/85 from World War II, a tank that caused plenty of nightmares for Nazi Panzer divisions bent on taking Moscow and Stalingrad.

Then there was this beauty, a Supermarine Spitfire. A superb dogfighter, and perhaps the most beautiful piece of machinery from World War II.

Perhaps even more impressive is the engine that went into that Spitfire — the Rolls-Royce Merlin. The Merlin also was the plane that powered the U.S. Army Air Corps’ P-51 Mustang.

There was an exceptional World War I exhibit. Featuring this letter from a 9-year-old to Lord Kitchener, volunteering to be a dispatch rider.

You might have seen an iconic poster with Lord Kitchener:

The brave, young lad got a personal response from Lord Kitchener’s secretary — basically, “you’ll shoot yer eye out, kid,” (Sorry, ’tis the season!).

I also saw one of the earliest Ghillie suits, used by British snipers during the Great War. Derived from the Gaelic word for servant, these things are terrifying.

Here’s the nose of a Lancaster bomber.

This bomber was primarily responsible for nighttime bombing of German-occupied territory. It’s also named for my hometown in Lancashire County, which is probably why I put the photos in here.

There was some eerie artifacts here. Such as this Eagle from the Reichstag.

This replica of the Little Boy — the bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay.

And let’s not forget this mosaic of Saddam Hussein that was once on a wall in Umm Qsar, Iraq.