Here's the third and final blog installment from my trip to London last week.
One of the places I took in during my short stay in London was the Imperial War Museum, which has a truly gripping exhibit about the holocaust. I left in tears, still unable to fathom how the situation could have escalated to the point of genocide. But it did, and we need to know about it so that this never again happens to our human family. So if you're ever in London, may I recommend this excellent exhibit, which consumes a good portion of the top 2 floors of the museum. (From the photo it almost looks like there's only 3 floors, but the back of the building is taller, and you can access all 5 floors from there.)
Another interesting museum-like experience came at, of all places, the first Hard Rock cafe to grace the planet. Right across from Hyde Park is the little corner restaurant that started it all back in 1971. The chain now also owns a store for their merchandise across the street, the basement of which is set up with several large vaults which previously held some of the Queen's goods. It now houses a special exhibit of guitars and other rock memorabilia, and is appropriately called “the vault“. You can go there and strum away on one of Jimi Hendrix' guitars! (The one I'm holding in the picture is Jimi's, worth over 5 million dollars. Good thing I didn't drop it.) Also guitars owned by Jeff Beck and Stevie Ray Vaughn. I must say that was a blast, and as a sidenote it feels totally strange to play left-handed.
The time flew by and unfortunately before long it was time to head back. Here's a view from part of my last tube ride back out to Heathrow:
Excellent how well the public transportation system works out there. I very much wish it was that good here, and then I could ditch my car, and thus really do my part to slow global warming. Maybe with the recent price hikes in crude people will be less inclined to vote down light rail in the Phoenix area the next time it shows up on the ballot.