The Churchill War Room

The universe does not want us to see Macbeth. It’s just that simple. We have now been to the box office to get day tickets 4 times, and the one time it worked, although it ended very fortunately, we had quite the series of unfortunate events. We also tried to get tickets through Arcadia, (the program we are all studying abroad through) so that’s 5 times we have tried to get tickets. Yesterday was definitely the most painful. After getting to sleep at 1:30 because I was skyping my mom, (which was lovely to talk to her!) I woke up at 6 to shower before we left at 7. We got to the box office at 7:15 and there were already 14 people in line. It was raining and cold so we decided to go back to bed.

However, the rest of that day was lovely! I took an audio tour of the Churchill War Room with Megan. I was impressed with the presentation of the museum. The War Room has been left the way it looked when WWII ended.

The War Room

 I personally am extremely against any war or fighting of any kind. It was the way I was raised. But I decided to go into this museum with an open mind. It takes a lot of military planning and brains to be involved in a war. (A waste of these resources if you ask me). The people working and sleeping in the War Room lived in stuffy dark conditions. Most of them smoked making the air quality that much worse. It was amazing to see the rooms they lived in. Their small size caused extreme moments of claustrophobia to most people sleeping there. The furniture denoted social status. I would have gone crazy down there, and probably would have become severely depressed. 

One of the rooms in the bunker

It is scary how the individuals living there felt so safe and secure, while in reality a bomb that hit the area at the correct angle would have demolished the bunker. I learned so much about WWII as well as living situations and conditions during war time; Not something I would be pleased living through. It seems ridiculous to me to be fighting with another country, especially after learning that Winston Churchill was able to create alliances with past enemies to help Britain fight.

A map used by Churchill to plot the routes of enemy soldiers

 We did learn a lot about Churchill. He was a wartime hero, putting so much time into military planning and keeping the country safe. He was a bit lazy and liked to live like a rich aristocrat, but he accomplished so much. Did you know he painted in his free time? I did not until Saturday. He painted when he was young and then took it up again upon becoming depressed after retirement. He was described as an amateur painter, but I like his paintings quite a bit.

Churchill's smock, paints, and a couple of his works.

We also celebrated St. Patricks Day Saturday by hitting up a pub in Camden Town. Alcohol around here is so expensive. £4 for a pint at the pub we were at and it can be more expensive than that! So after getting one Carlsberg we decided to head to the UCL pub, The Huntley, for £1.70 drinks. Things close quite early around here so at 12 we either had to move downstairs to another UCL pub, Mully’s or head back to our flat. We decided to call it a night and head back. I know, early, right?

Happy St. Patricks Day everyone! I hope you had more fun than me yesterday; I did schoolwork all day and will be doing it all week. It’s my last week of classes, but I have three assignments due. However, I have just those hurtles to get over before three exciting weeks of travel!

Have a wonderfully marvellous day, cheers! ~Laura