Imperial War Museum

If you want a naturally cheery day, don't go here. I am currently experiencing the remainder of emotions I had after I left the holocaust exhibition and I hope I am one anti depressant away from feeling relatively normal again. I have a mega interest in history and war, and war related objects such as tanks, planes and weapons. Despite being obviously born the wrong gender, I enjoyed my trip out today with 2 of my good friends Rosie and Johnny.
We all got the double decker bus as a treat and went top, front row, naturally.

There are some super dope battleship guns on your way in, which set a precedent that today was going to be top drawer and full of cool shit.

We immediately felt like we needed to fill our tummies before embarking on a journey through history and went into the IWM cafe. The food looked amazing. On a "I haven't been employed since January" budget, I just had a flat white, but they had sandwiches like butter bean houmous, kale pesto and crumbled feta and their salads looked off the chain. It looks worth going there just for some nice lunch out. Needless to say, their prices were off the chain too, but probably worth it. Johnny may disagree from his £3 Dalston coke that tasted like aniseed.

We wondered around the first floor where there were an abundance of gift shops and 15 year old kids which we wholeheartedly tried to avoid for the entire duration. There were some awesome tanks and planes on the first floor and an introduction to WW1.
We then went up to the next floor where we had a look at some cool submarines, boats and bomber planes.

There were bits and pieces on uniform, weapons and a fake trench to which Johnny said " What has happened in my life where I'm walking through a trench, avoiding 15 year olds".

One bit i thought was particularly cool was Princess Mary, daughter of George V had put together a Christmas "fundraiser" in the 1914's to send packages out to soldiers out at war. Smokers received tobacco and cigarettes and non- smokers received a bullet pen - which was wicked cool - and paper to write to their loved ones.

We then wondered up to the Holocaust which Johnny had outright decided from the beginning, wasn't a good idea but we ignored our better judgement and submersed ourself in the Holocaust world.
Mate. Unless you are a mentally stable person, just don't even bother. I think the bit that stuck out to me the most was a letter that a man had written to his wife on the way to a concentration camp. He had given it to a friend who was somehow involved with the railway to post it without a stamp. He said "To my little darling wife" And proceeded to tell her to stay strong and not worry about her future. To feel the hope that he does. And how if this was the last time they spoke, that that letter had all of his love and tender kisses in it. My eyes proceeded to well up against my will, did some sniffling and then found Johnny for a hug, who happened to be in the room that told you all about the concentration camps.

I'm going to go ahead and admit that I am not the most academically educated person. I didn't really know much about the tube bombings on 7/7/05 which Johnny laughed at me for but realistically, it's not funny. Ever since moving to London, I've realised how sheltered my life has been and I'm pretty embarrassed by it but as far as rectifying it goes, I'm in it full force.

After watching a holocaust documentary which was aired on TV not that long ago, and vague memory of history classes back when I was 15, I knew about the concentration camps but to not so much of a level that was presented in front of me.
I think that might have been the worst and most engrossing part of the day for me.
The imperial war museum takes you through a blow by blow account of the concentration camps including models and rare photographs. The room is dark and dingy to imitate how you feel and it requires minimal visual evidence to make you feel how you will undeniably feel in that room.
Just simple paragraphs will let your brain create no where near as close as you could possibly feel to the truth.

After feeling significantly haunted, we made our way back downstairs and decided that was enough history for the day. I have since comfort ate on a pasta bake and had a sit down.