The Imperial War Museum
Monday, January 30th
We were supposed to meet our class and professor at 10:00am at the museum entrance. However, some of my friends and I underestimated the time it took to get there on the Tube, so we were about 15 minutes late.When we arrived we could not find our professor, but we did find one other person from our class. He told us that Dr. Lintner simply said to take a look around and visit different exhibits for a while. Hm. There were no other handouts, instructions, or even a meeting time to reconvene. It was a very unstructured field trip, and I felt that I could have visited any other day without the class.
But regardless, I ended up enjoying the visit very much. I initially thought the museum would be more like a testament to the glory of war (which I disagree with because I don't approve of any war). The first floor of the museum had some tanks, war planes, missiles, and army equipment.....and it made it look quite awesome. So in this respect, I felt that the museum was showcasing the wonder and magnificence of war, or of warfare technology at least. However, as I made my way through the exhibits, I realized they were also showcasing many of the horrors and negative consequences of war. For example, there was an interactive exhibit about war submarines. First you learned about the history of submarines and how they function. Cool! But they it showed how the soldiers lived in awful conditions, the hardships, the dangers, and the deaths related to submarines.
My favorite exhibit, though, was on the Holocaust. This exhibit was extremely well done. Of course it was not a very happy or at all pleasant exhibit. But it was very informative and had some great pieces of history. I listened to a recorded speech given by Hitler, I saw World War II artifacts, a model of a concentration camp, and read letters written by victims to their loved ones. It was horrible and awing at the same time.
In the end, I believe that was the message of the museum. War can be glorious and striking, but in the end it is always horrible and terrifying.
 |
| old submarine |
 |
| Shell for the largest gun ever made |
 |
| Airplanes! |
Walking Tour of Brick Lane
Tuesday, January 31st
Brick Lane is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End. It is the heart of the city's Bangladeshi community (know by some as Banglatown) and is famous for its many curry houses. Our professor thought it was appropriate for us to take a walking tour of this part of London because it is also one of the largest Muslim communities in the city.
He explained to us that the Brick Lane area is close to the docklands. Consequently, it has been the home of many transient immigrant groups. Originally it was inhabited by French Huguenot refugees. Then, the area became a Jewish neighborhood and remained that way for decades. But in the last thirty years, it has been the home of London's Bangladeshi community. This mixture of cultures throughout history has had a significant impact. For example, there are old Jewish synagogues that are now mosques. There are many bagel shops...but there are also colorful fabric stores and curry houses. The mixture is quite interesting. We also talked about how the area has been commercialized as a place for tourists. The government has updated the area in order for it to be more of a tourist attraction. There are plaques regarding the history of the area, street signs in Bengali, night clubs, and souvenir shops.
At the end of our tour we had lunch at an all you can eat curry buffet. It was delicious! I also enjoyed the meal a lot because Angie and Chris and I sat at a table with our professor. We had a very good intellectual conversation about multiculturalism in Britain vs the US.
I really enjoyed this field trip, despite the fact that it was freezing with snow flurries. I hope to go back again, at least for another good meal :)
 |
| Street signs in Bengali |
 |
| Curry Houses! |
No comments:
Post a Comment