Day Thirteen, Ben Visits Bedlam

Today Ben visited a place that was once known as "bedlam" -- the former site of the Bethlem Royal Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in the 1800s which gave its name to the term "bedlam", meaning confusion. The former hospital is now used as the site of the Imperial War Museum. Ben was especially interested in the entrance hall, where there were tanks, planes, shells, jeeps, submarines, etc. Naturally, there were also 57,847 schoolchildren visiting the museum at the same time we were, so it was a bit crowded in places. Still, it was very interesting and fascinating. The Holocaust exhibit is really moving, and the Blitz Experience lets you feel what it was like to be in London during World War II when it was being bombed.


We didn't get to spend nearly as much time in the museum as we would have liked, because we had ticket to see The Mousetrap, the longest running play in the world. It is currently in its 57th year. We went to an afternoon performance, and the theatre was not very crowded. It was smaller than the other theatres we had visited recently. We were up high, but had a very good view of the stage and the action below. The story, written by Agatha Christie, concerns a couple who have just opened a small hotel. Their first guests arrive just as a blizzard cuts them off from the outside world. At the same time, news of a recent murder in nearby London reaches them. A policeman comes by to question everyone, as he believes the murderer is at the hotel -- and has more victims in mind. It was very good and quite interesting! We were sworn to secrecy at the end, so I can't tell you "whodunnit."

Our final event of the day concerned real, not fictional murders. We went on a Jack the Ripper Walk to visit the areas where the famous murders were committed. The guide, Philip Hutchinson, was knowledgeable as well as entertaining. Aside from having a lot of background information about the area and the times of the events, he also had laminated photos which showed how the area (and the victims!) looked at the time. Most of the sites are now completely unrecognizable from the contemporary sites shown in the photos, but our guide knew exactly where the events occurred. He also showed us a restaurant, whose doorway is the very site where Jack the Ripper dropped part of an apron he'd used to wipe his bloody hands and knife, below the famous "Juews" graffiti. The guide pointed out that the doorway was one of the few areas that it can be definitely stated that Jack the Ripper actually stood!

After that scary tour, we are off to the HMS Belfast and Wicked tomorrow.