Imperial War Museum London

I made several trips to the Imperial War Museum during my ten days in London. This is an amazing museum. My thoughts:

First, the presentation of vehicles and airplanes upon entry into the museum itself (The "Large Exhibits" Gallery) is worth the price of admission alone. They range from a Sherman tank to a German V-2 rocket to a British Spitfire. As someone who used to build plastic models of many of these, I was on Cloud Nine for the first fifteen minutes of the visit.

Second, from the initial room one can branch off to several permanent displays including Galleries on the First and Second World Wars, Conflicts Since 1945, the Holocaust Exhibit, and The Secret War, which deals with espionage and covert operations. There are "walk through" displays of the Trenches in WWI and the Blitz along with countless static displays of both Wars and many other topics. Younger and older audiences alike will find something enjoyable here.

Third, if the exhibit on "Animals in War" is any indication, the folks who run this museum are perfectionsts and I can assume that any current or future exhibits would be equally as engaging.

I will be making many return visits here on future visits to London. Thanks for putting together a great museum.

P.S. My "personal story" comes from going through the interactive exhibit on the Blitz. After the virtual "bombing" was over and the school kids had stopped giggling, I noticed an elderly lady walk very slowly out of the exhibit, pausing against a wall with tears in her eyes. She told myself and the tour guide that she was a child in Glasgow during the War and that the exhibit brought back "too many memories."

Visited the IWM primarily for the "In Memorium" exhibit and could have spent the whole day here. Very impressive. The Holocaust display was very thought provoking but briliiantly done.

I had thought about visiting Madam Tussaud, but after reading the reviews I gave up. I came across this museum reading the reviews on London Attractions and I must say have not been disappointed at all. This museum is great and most interesting. I took my two daughters, 13 and 10, and after three hours they were so amused and found everything so interesting that they refused to take a rest at the cafe (which for them is rather unusual) and preferred to keep on enjoying the exhibition. The Holocaust section is second to none.

A must.