Friday, May 17th: Parades, War Rooms, Palaces, Oh My!

Today was a fantastically packed day for the students on the Ireland/UK trip. We started off the day by having a quick breakfast at Regent's, and then we went on our way. On the agenda for today was the Winston Churchill War Rooms Museum, Kensington Palace, and Buckingham Palace.

After taking a tube to the Winston Churchill War Rooms Museum,  the class was pleased to discover that today was one of the planed rehearsal days of the "Trooping the Colour" parade for Queen Elizabeth II's birthday celebration next month on June 2nd. (Interesting fact: Despite Queen Elizabeth II's birthday being on April 21st, it is tradition to celebrate the Sovereign's birthday in the summer, due to much nicer weather. So technically, the Queen gets to celebrate her birthday twice!)  The class made the choice to wait about 40 minutes outside the museum so we could watch the parade of guards walk by. This unexpected event was fantastic, as we got a peak at the celebrations that will unfold. There were convoys, with soliders who found it amusing to have their picture taken, troops on horses, a full marching band, and a large amount of regular foot soldiers.

After the parade, the class was given an hour to explore the War Rooms Museum. The exhibit explored every aspect of Churchill's life: from his early childhood, his rise in the political sphere, his role in World War II, and his later life. The museum was fantastic, because it recreated important scenes from history, such as war bunkers and conference rooms. The walls of the exhibit were decorated with quotes from Churchill, and it was these quotes that really provided insight about this famous man. Everyone knows how important Churchill was during the war, but many people forget that he was a writer and words man. He had a natural command over languages , and reading experts from his diary, you could see he was full of wit.

Once we were finished exploring the Churchill War Rooms Museum, the class walked up to the Horse Guards Parade Grounds, as that is where the "Trooping of the Colour" parade began to practice. It also should be recognisable to many people as this is where the volleyball games were played during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Then the class then went on to Kensington Palace. Much like yesterday's palace gardens, Kensington was on beautiful grounds. Inside the palace, there were several exhibits dedicated to the Victorian time period. Unlike most museums however, this museum was decorated in a fantastical, Tim Burton-esque manor. The Gothic decorations surrounding the classical paintings made them come to life, and the museum seemed like a surreal wonderland. In one of the exhibits, people could chose to do a "choose your own adventure" type thing, in which you read and make choices from a book that described royal court life in the 1700s. At the end of the book, you are given a task to do. The task my group had to do was tell the Royal Librarian the king liked a specific type of sausage. The task was carried out by Rosemary Crowley, and after she talked with the Librarian for a bit, she was given the job of "window cleaner " (aka royal spy). The whole thing was a lot of fun, and the interactive portion of the palace really helped to keep the attention of the students.

After the Kensington Palace, the group went to Buckingham Palace. Although the actual Palace was closed to the public, the group did get to see two exhibits: The Royal Mews and The Queen's Gallery. The Royal Mews exhibit showed us the history of the royal horses. We also got to see the various carriages the Royal Family has ridden in over the years, as well as the current carriage and some of the horses that pull them. There also was the official Royal Limousine that the Queen uses today. Although it was interesting, a large portion of the class agreed that they enjoyed the Queen's Gallery a bit more. There, the Gallery consisted of three portrait rooms, where guests were given touch screen cell phones as audio guides. We were given the option of listening to a more traditional audio tour or listening to a musical playlist based on the paintings. Some chose the musical playlist over the traditional historic audiotour. The playlist was packed with modern techno and dub step music, and these songs set up an interesting juxtaposition with the art. The themes expressed in these classic paintings- love, loyalty and lost innocents, were all in the dubstep music as well. This odd paring proved to be a unique listening experience for all, and it is something we surely won't forget.

After the museum, it was time to head back to Regent's College. Today proved to be a unique day, as the class was shown that there are many different ways to experience culture. Both museums we saw today were outstanding in the way they made history assessable to the modern person. It was truly a fantastic day!

Top Sights (Click for More Info!): 

1. Winston Churchill War Rooms Museum

2. Kensington Palace

3. The Royal Mews

4. The Queen's Gallery

The playlist for the Portait Rooms:

Playlist