Imperial War Museum and Hampstead Heath

The next weekend the same three of us went into the city to go to the Imperial War Museum. Mil's dad had been bugging her about it, so we figured it must be worth the trip. It was.

The ground floor of the museum takes you through World Wars one and two, with lots of displays and information. It would have been much better had their been room to move - one of the most convoluted and cramped museums I've ever been to. We took our time moving through (like we had a choice), looking at everything from weaponry and uniforms to mission documents and ration packs.

Funniest moment - hearing this stupid American woman going on about how America just HAD to step in and save everyone, because the Allies kept jumping out of their trenches to make attempts to advance their position (trench warfare anyone??).

Moment that angered me the most - having gone through all the details of major battles and who helped out, and how many died and what was gained - and seeing Gallipoli barely mentionedl. It said that Australia and New Zealand took the beach, and that was it. No mention of casualties or the reason we were there in the first place.

Upstairs was the Holocaust Exhibition. It was amazing, but simply too big. We spent a lot of time in there, and I learnt a lot from it, but I think we were all feeling a little suicidal by the time we went out of it, and none of us had read or watched everything. I do recommend going if you ever have the chance though.

Needing some light relief, we headed into the centre of the city for a very late lunch and to decide on our next stop. Originally we'd planned on going to Hampstead Heath, but we hadn't counted on being at the museum for so long. In the end we decided to go there anyway, as there were still quite a few hours of daylight left. We caught the tube out there and wandered towards it. We weren't sure of what we were going to find out there, but Mil mentioned going to Parliament Hill - one of the highest points in London. We wandered around for a few hours, past several lakes and along scenic pathways. We also bush-bashed our way through several parts without tracks - can't take us anywhere! In the end we did find Parliament Hill, and the views, whilst not stunning, did cover a lot of London.