While I was gone: Some images, and history, from my trip. (Part I)
Be thankful I'm not pulling out the old Kodak slide carousel.
Most of you are aware that I was on an overseas trip recently, which was the cause of the hiatus at the end of October. I know that showing off “vacation pictures” is one of the most tedious things a person can do—but, running a blog such as this one, not only do we bypass Grandpa’s old Kodak slide carousel, but you, as the reader, can simply choose to skip this article if you want. (I promise some more history will be coming in the next few days!) But if you are interested, I thought I would show off a few images from my trip, which did involve a fair amount of history. I will probably present another article of this type within the next few weeks.
Our trip—my husband and I—took us from London, across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary 2, and then to New York City. As we live in the Pacific Northwest, this was a chance to see a lot of historical stuff that we wouldn’t otherwise have access to. All the photos in this article were taken either by me or by Cody Climer. The header image is the underside of the main dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, which was famously built by Restoration-era architect Christopher Wren to replace the St. Paul’s that burned down in the Great Fire of London in September 1666. The new cathedral was completed in 1715.
This is the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, London. The museum, established during World War I, is now headquartered in a historic building, the former Bethlem Royal Hospital, which existed here from 1815 until 1930. Notorious for its terrible conditions and treatment of inmates, particularly those who suffered from mental illness, the hospital’s name is the origin of the word “bedlam” in the English language, meaning insanity or chaos. The Imperial War Museum moved here in 1936. The guns in its courtyard are from two different Royal Navy vessels built during World War I.
