DAY THREE - LONDON - JULY 26

It is important to note that at the end of this day, museum day, we had a camera malfunction.



Okay, so it was more like a camera OWNER'S malfunction.





While I thought I packed everything we could possibly want or need in Europe - travel sickness pills, band aids, tums, cough drops, Tylenol, extra glasses, cell phone chargers and camera chargers, I forgot to pack those cord thingees that allow you to transfer photos from the camera to the computer.



Which is how I do it at home all the time.



Having no cord thingees, we had to take the memory card out of my camera and insert it into my little computer to transfer pictures at the end of museum day.



This is when the memory card got stuck in the computer. But thank goodness I had packed a pair of tweezers.



If only I could have found them.



I don't know how Paul finally got the memory card out of the computer - because a cork screw didn't work and a steak knife didn't work and a pair of nail clippers didn't work - and I don't want to know, but suffice it to say we lost some photos on this day - museum day. I do remember hearing Paul mutter "Doggone it!" and "Oh, for Pete's sake!" throughout the flat as he struggled to remove that tiny little card from the tiny little computer.





I finally found the tweezers the night before we headed home - 6 days later.





Oh honey! I found the tweezers.



Yes dear, but it's a little late.



So then.




Not only was this day museum day; but it was also subway day. We decided to buy a one day pass for the subway, which in London is called The Tube, to make our way around the city.



Paul and the kids love the subway.



Myself? Not so much.



After exiting the subway station we began our walk to the Imperial War Museum. We happened to pass a church whose doors were open and I suggested we sit on the steps and listen to the singing. You know, enjoy the music and feed our souls on this Lord's day?



But NOOOOO-uh. We must keep moving said my husband-turned-dictatorial-tour-guide.




No time for music. No time for rest. MUST. KEEP. WALKING.



The Imperial War Museum was a favorite for all of us. It had wonderful displays of British involvement starting with World War I.


They also had a Holocaust display that could not have been more moving and heart wrenching.



Each of us went through this display on our own, walking, reading, listening at our own pace. The beginning of the walk allowed us to see actual home movies of Jewish families in the happiest of times. Films of celebrations of faith and family showed little girls in crisp dresses and little boys in knickers and shiny shoes.




And lots of laughter.




Gradually, but much too quickly, the tour took us to the evil of the Holocaust. We saw first hand accounts of what these individuals lived through - written accounts, audio accounts, and video accounts.




We saw personal items that had been found when the concentration camps were liberated.




Cameras were prohibited in this area of the museum; and rightly so, as it would have seemed somehow wrong to photograph this evil scar on our world's history.




And besides, the images will never leave our minds anyway.




Each of us came out of the exhibit at different times and we were drained. We all carried ourselves a little slower for the next hour or so; we didn't laugh as easily. Part of me wished I hadn't seen what I had just seen - that our children hadn't seen what they had just seen, but it is a huge part of our history. It is one of the reasons my grandfather left his wife and infant son at home in central Illinois and landed on a far away beach in France. And if the survivors of the nightmare I had just glimpsed could live through it; then I could certainly read about it and look at a few photos.

After the Holocaust exhibit we decided to look around the museum a little more. This is when we came upon "Little Boy," which was a bomb just like the one dropped on the city of Hiroshima. So I said "Hey Blake come over here and let me take a picture of my little boy by Little Boy."

Now is when you have to imagine a picture of Blake standing by a big bomb because, you guessed it, that's one of the photos that was lost.

After buying a few souvenirs we headed back toward the subway station. We stopped in a little grocery shop for a snack, which was to serve as our lunch. Noting the big MasterCard sign on the door, Paul handed his over to the clerk who simply looked Paul in the eye and shook his head no. It was the kind of "no" that we knew allowed no arguments so we spent the last of our pounds buying some water and candy bars to get us through our next subway trip, which would take us to The Museum of London.

I spent the next three days apologizing for that decision....