Underground and Overground

Today I visited the Churchill War Rooms (part of the Imperial War Museum).

They were left nearly untouched after the war, which makes the trip much like a step back into time. Moving, to think of what was dealt with there.

From the day book on what was going on a special day…

More about that later.

I’m off to the Transport Museum near Covent Garden for the other part of the underground and overground elements.

 

 

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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12 Comments

  1. Girgadis says:

    Ah, one of my favorite places which I’m unlikely to see again. I think it had just opened when we visited it in 1984. If you haven’t been to this one already, you might also enjoy the museum’s exhibit on the Resistance movement during WWII. If my fading memory serves me correctly, it’s housed where the asylum Bedlam once existed. Enjoy and be safe Father.

  2. NoTambourines says:

    “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here! This is the war room!”

  3. yatzer says:

    I was in the War Rooms about a decade ago, and also found it quite moving.

  4. Laura98 says:

    Yes… this was one of the real highlights of London! To actually be IN the place… Agree with Fr. Z’s category for this – “Just too Cool!” Along the same path would be the Imperial War Museum… First Rate all the way!

  5. tecumseh says:

    any further forward with the blog nic Father . . ??? [Good question.]

  6. acardnal says:

    Fr. Z, I think you could actually be in England to celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Anniversary.
    Hmmmmm . . . .

  7. Precentrix says:

    Just had to add…

    …. Wombling free…

    Thought there was a reference to Wimbledon there..?

  8. The Cobbler says:

    “If my fading memory serves me correctly, it’s housed where the asylum Bedlam once existed.”

    Suddenly I know where the term “bedlam” meaning “mad, chaotic ruckus” came from!

    @NoTambourines: Ha! I believe that’s what we call “an oldie, but a goodie!”

  9. John Nolan says:

    Bedlam – a corruption of Bethlehem, as the former hospital was called. In the 18th century you could pay a shilling to go in and see the lunatics. The term ‘asylum’ (a place of refuge and safety) was preferred by the Victorians who had a more enlightened approach to mental health; they built asylums on the edge of cities so the patients could look out on the countryside and prurient visitors would be discouraged.

    Opposite the Imperial War Museum is St George’s Cathedral, bombed out during the war and rebuilt in the 1950s. Its choir, directed by Nick Gale, delivers the best Gregorian Chant in England (‘new’ Solesmes).

  10. ContraMundum says:

    I knew about Bedlam, but I did not know it was a corruption of Bethlehem. The poetic truth of it blows me away.

  11. The Cobbler says:

    @John Nolan: Fascinating, thanks for that tidbit! (Now I’ll see if I ever find a chance to impress my friends with it. I should sooner or later.)

  12. WaywardSailor says:

    Interesting that the first paragraph after the announcement of unconditional surrender reports that Third Army continued to do what it did best right to the very end – “sweeping” through Europe on a wide front. Nevertheless, despite Patton’s repeated pleas to Eisenhower and Bradley to be allowed to capture Prague (even the State Department, Truman and Churchill wanted it done), Eisenhower ordered him to halt at Pilsen. Prague, and Czechoslovakia with it, was sacrificed to the Soviets.

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