Condensed London

A couple of weeks ago, I whiled away a drizzly bank holiday Monday in the Museum of London. The museum encapsulates seven major time periods, allowing visitors to journey along the city's extensive lifeline. It illustrates the evolution of the small Roman town of Londinium into the heaving, sprawling London of today.

As I progressed through the eras, what struck me was how much London has endured; from the the Great Fire and the Black Death to the Blitz of WWII, the city has been dealt more than its fair share of adversity. London as a centre of culture and high civilisation, the economic heartbeat of the country, the hub for imperialist endeavors, etc. - this image of the city as a 'success story' is generally impressed upon us more than one of a city afflicted by death and devastation. I'm glad that the MoL does not assign more weight to the former image (and I always enjoy the more gruesome bits of history!).

The museum does not miss a beat: it includes archaeological findings, animated disaster stories, paraphernalia from social movements and wartime, mock Victorian shops and much more. A day is definitely needed to explore all the galleries... and perhaps a second visit.