During my trip down to London I managed to squeeze in a quick visit to the Imperial War Museum which btw exceeded my expectations which were already high. Being a history student, most museums do interest me but the Imperial War Museum specifically has been a museum I had wanted to visit for a long time. Firstly the entrance of the building is so magnificent and the grounds are so fresh and clean with picnic benches if you were to bring a packed lunch for the day. I think there are 5 levels to the museum and there are different types of exhibitions on at various times in the year. One of the exhibitions that is on just now is the fashion on the ration, focusing on how women made the most of their appearance whilst goods were rationed. For example, they substituted lipstick for beetroot juice. There was a free craft class on to create a headscarf women during WW2 would have worn.
Both the world war exhibitions were fabulous, they even have the original artefacts such as THE Union Jack the Japanese used to surrender and one of the original plans the Nazis had to invade Britain. On the rooftop is the Holocaust exhibition which is only for age 14+. It is a very moving and an emotional experience reading about personal accounts of how individuals were treated during the horrendous time by the Nazis.
I finished my time at the museum by a visit to the shop which again, was fabulous. I picked up a pen which looks like a lipstick, a nametag they would have used for children during the blitz, a rations book and an original sheet of newspaper for my dad.
I truly would recommend the IWM for anyone who has the opportunity to visit, you really could spend a whole day there and either eat in the café or bring a packed lunch. I fully intend to return for a longer visit. Oh and I should mention that it is free entry a great educational daytrip for all the family
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