Today was one of the more productive days I've had abroad. I woke up around 10:30AM feeling very refreshed. Josh (my suitemate) and I decided to go see the Churchill War Rooms. Before I came to London, this was one of the things that everyone I talked to recommended doing. Seeing as I love WWII history, I was pretty excited. Josh and I figured if we had enough time, we would also visit the Tate Modern Museum which holds an impressive collection of modern art. To be honest, I don't really like modern art, but my favorite artist, Salvador Dali, was supposed to have a few pieces in the museum.
We took the tube to the Westminster station. I love this part of London (it's where Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Westminster Abbey, and the Churchill War Rooms are all located). We arrived at the Churchill War Rooms and went down the stairs to the bunker. I was expecting flight after flight of stairs, thinking that the bunker would be deep below the ground. You can imagine my shock when I found out it was just in a basement of a building. I later found out that if a bomb hit directly, the rooms would be wiped out. This meant that if the Germans hit this bunker, it would have knocked out all of Britain's top officials in one swipe.
Walking around the rooms and tunnels ended up being really cool. They left most of the rooms as they were, so it was easy to get a feel for what it must have been like back in the day. This is where Churchill and his wartime cabinet directed WWII, and the stories behind each room were fascinating. By the time we got to the end of the tour, they walked us through the map room. This was my favorite part of the Churchill War Rooms because you could see where the British officials documented the wars on the walls. Each position of British troops as well as other allies and the opposition was documented via pins on the map. The map was covered with thousands of pins and pinholes. It's amazing to think of how the technology has advanced so much since then. The war rooms were quite the site and I loved it!
When we left, the weather was so nice that we decided to take a brief stroll through the park. Everyone was outside and lounging around, trying to take advantage of such a beautiful day. One old man was sitting on a bench and squirrels were across his lap, grabbing peanuts, and then heading to the trees. Josh and I grabbed the tube towards Tate Modern. We walked a few blocks until we finally came to the bankside of the river.
The Tate Modern Museum is located in an old warehouse. It was completely renovated and the inside was pretty cool. We took the escalator upstairs to look at some exhibits and enjoy the view from one of the balconies overlooking the river. I also asked some of the guides where to find Salvador Dali's work. As we searched, we walked through some of the exhibits. Let me preface my experience this by saying I have a great appreciation for artwork.
Now let me say, this shit wasn't art. It was what I will refer to in this blog as "shart" aka shit art. The Tate Modern was probably the most disappointing experience I've had in London so far. One of the exhibits was actually a pile of dirty laundry (I guess because one of the hipster artists who designed it decided that doing laundry was so rare that it must be put on display). Another piece of art was just a black shower curtain. I know what you're thinking, there must have been some kind of hidden message or art that I missed. I literally stood next to this stupid shower curtain eying it down and meticulously searching for something, but there was absoutely nothing on it!! I thought it was actually pretty pathetic that people decided to put some of this stuff on display.
We finally stumbled upon the Poetry and Dreams section of the museum and saw some Piccasso exhibits. I also found Salvador Dali's piece, which was not one of my favorites by him. At that point, Josh and I decided to hang up our berets and leave the museum. We walked over the Millenium Bridge and past St. Paul's Cathedral. We jumped the bus back home. I napped for a few hours. When I woke up, I cranked out some of my dissertation which is coming along rather nicely.
One of the royal parks next to the Churchill War Rooms
Saturday in the Park (I think it was the 4th of July?)
A hallway inside the War Rooms
Churchill's personal hotline to the US President during WWII. This room was secret, even to those inside the bunker. The door was disguised as a bathroom that was always "occupied"
A concrete slab, reinforced with steel, laid over the bunker to protect from bombs
Josh listening to his audio guide
One of the rooms
Another bedroom for a top official
The Churchill's private dining room
Mrs. Churchill's room
A table for the top most officials meetings
The kitchen
The BBC Broadcasting station
This room held up to 11 secretaries
This room was meant to plan the defense of Britain from a possible German invasion
Concrete tunnel in the bunker
The Map Room
The Map Room
Look at all the little pinholes in this map. That's off the coast of the United States (where German U-Boats were sinking merchant vessels in the Atlantic)
Scoreboard as it last stands during the Battle of Britain
Churchill's room
Look at the stand for his cigars and the cigar bin next to his bed
Where Churchill made some of his rousing speaches
I really like this picture because of its "Britishness". It has Big Ben on the left, Parliament on the right, and a double decker in the foreground.
Some Spencer graffiti on the way to Tate Modern
People just love me I guess
The view of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium Bridge from Tate Modern
The River Thames
This was actually one of the few cool exhibits in Tate Modern. I decided to call this the Stairway to Heaven. In this case, heaven was refuge from the rest of the museum's exhibits.
This statue hung itself from the rafters. It beat me to it...
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