Exploring London!

Connor and I have had a blast running around London!

Westminster Abbey

We visited Westminster Abbey, but taking pictures wasn't allowed. It was really cool to see all of the amazing people that were buried there, and we also stayed for the evening prayer service. So if you've read other things I've posted, you know I overuse exclamation points and synonyms of "awesome" but for once I was actually pretty disappointed. I was wicked excited to see the abbey and it was unbelievably beautiful, but it was dark, crowded, and extremely overpriced. It cost us $60 to go to church! They also had handheld audio guides to use for a self guided tour and it sucked! Very few fun facts and just overall boring.

North Entrance to Westminster Abbey

I'm on a very important call

beautiful church we visited in Elephant and Castle

check out that stained glass!

Connor and I are becoming pros at finding free museums, like the National Gallery

The Skiff (La Yole) 1875 Renoir

The Water-Lily Pond 1899 Monet

The Virgin and Child with Saints 1476
the high altarpiece for the church of San Domenico

The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John the Baptist (1500) Leonardo da Vinci

Going to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard

Connor practicing his Queen-ly wave

We also walked through some of the parks and gardens near by as well.

British Museum

One of the really cool places we visited in London was the British Museum which is dedicated to human history, art, and culture. It originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. It is overwhelmingly huge so Connor and I knew we couldn't see everything. Thankfully, the map the museum gives you highlights about a dozen can't-miss-things so we decided to check them out, stopping at a few others along the way. 

In 196 BC King Ptolemy V created the Rosetta Stone, which issued a decree in Egypt. The decree appears in three scripts: the upper text is Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the middle portion Demotic script, and the lowest Ancient Greek. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts, the stone provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs.

These are statues of the goddess Sekhmet who is the daughter of the sun god Ra

Sarcophagus, which were reserved for royalty and the elite. On this one, the name has been erased to curse him

These panels depict lion hunting, which was a sport reserved for royalty

A lot of the relics missing from the Parthenon are here

Hoa Hakanai'a from Easter Island

Three out of eight structures that are a set of luohan, who are Buddhist wise men that have attained Nirvana (the end of rebirth and suffering in this world)

Bronze diety

Samurai Armor 

Kerma cultural burial from around 2050-1750 BC found in Northern Sudan

the Lewis Chessmen, one of the most famous chess board in the world

wall painting from Saint Stephen's Chapel from 1363

It felt strange walking through the museum because it almost seemed like passing through stolen history. When we had visited Greece, I remember reading that people were upset that the British Museum has so many pieces of the Acropolis and other relics. Egyptians feel the same way. I can completely understand why these countries want parts of their culture returned to them. But I can also understand the British Museum's point of view; they spent the time, effort, and money into researching, locating, and retrieving these artifacts and if they hadn't they might have been destroyed or never found at all. Either way, I really appreciated the opportunity to be see all of these amazing pieces of history first hand.

Imperial War Museum

About 5 minutes away from our Airbnb in London was a free exhibit called the Imperial War Museum. It showcases modern war and conflict. To be honest, this museum went a little too depth for me! We spent almost two hours just in the WWI section and after that I was wiped! But another exhibit I found interesting focused on spies and how they influenced different wars. It was really cool and I learned a lot, but I think other people probably would have appreciated it a little more than I did.

modern car after a bombing

T-34 Tank
Soviet Tank design built in 1954

This is a uniform of a German private of the 56th Infantry Regiment
(it tried to autocorrect "infantry" to "infancy" and I was picturing a bunch of German babies fighting)

This is a French 75mm quick firing field gun. It could fire up to 20 shells a minute with incredible accuracy. Fun fact: there's a cocktail named after it! 

This is a British sniper robe that was hand painted by a sniper to help him blend into his lair, which usually was a pile of earth or rubbish. Fun fact: British snipers operated in pairs; one to observe and the other to shoot

These are gas masks used to protect the soldiers during WWI. Inhaling a large amount of chlorine made soldiers choke and suffocate. Those poisoned by phosgene threw up yellow liquid and mustard gas caused blisters on the skin that could burn down to the bone.The soldiers needed these masks for protection. 

This uniform was worn by a private of the 1st Battalion Australian Imperial Force

This British 9.2-inch howitzer was one example of heavy artillery that opened fire on June 24, 1916 and pounded the German lines for a week with over 1.5 million shells.

reminds me of Sybil from Downton Abbey

This sea mine was laid by a German submarine (U-boat) in the Thames Estuary. It was designed to float just below the surface of the water and to detonate when a ship struck one of its horns. This mine was recovered in 1917.

This coat kept the troops, but not dry. When it rained they got really heavy and almost impossible to wear. The bag shown here too carried everything they needed, but weighed around half the average man.

John Higgins was the commander of Landing Craft Tank 157, which carried tanks to beaches. They flew this flag made my a friend back home's mother

the armies needed air support so in order to get it, they used these Clarkair bulldozers to build temporary landing strips

This Sherman M4A4 tank landed in Normandy with the Guards Armored Division. It was made in the US and used by British troops so it became a symbol of the combined Allied effort that helped liberate Europe

This stone and bronze German eagle adorned the Chancellery where Hitler committed suicide 

The Mitsubishi A6M fighter was a symbol of Japan's military might. It was well-armed, fast, and light. It became known as the "zero" to the Allies. This wreck was found 50 years after the war.

On September 7, 1940 through May 16, 1941 the Germans heavily bombed British cities. This 1,000 kg (2,200 pound) mine was meant to be used at sea, was dropped on land instead.

The jumper and helmet were taken from a German spy who landed in the UK during WWII

Connor reading up on how to become James Bond

The suitcase radio set here was used by a German spy. Icelander Ib Riis was recruited by the German military in 1940, but gave himself up to the Allies in 1942 and became part of the British "Double Cross" deception strategy

The Enigma Machine was used by the German Navy, Army, and Air Force, but British, French, and Polish code breakers knew about the machine and figured out the messages.

Uniform used by the Force 136's Eastern warfare School based in India that trained in weapons, field craft, and map reading, as well as survival techniques and jungle warfare.

All the different floors of the museum with planes, trucks, and boats dedicated to military use.