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• Pole Dancing and cannabis at The Artist Tree in Weho,

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Are several lumps of sugar worth putting in an historic museum? That may sound like a funny question, but the fact is that yes they are – especially if they’re part of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (CWR) in London.

Located a short walk from Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the CWR opened in 1984 and is, at least in my view, one of the most intriguing museums in London. Although the city is full of captivating museums to suit almost every taste in things to see and do, the CWR should be a “must see” for everyone visiting London. Seeing it up close and personal makes you feel as if you’re actually there in those dark days of 1940 when Hitler’s troops were expected to invade Great Britain tomorrow. Every room in this magnificent museum has been restored to the way it was when World War Two ended in May, 1945.

One of the most important areas of the Cabinet War Rooms is the Map Room and, when you first see it you’re struck, as I was, by the profusion of white, red and green telephones – they’re every where. The desk of the most important man in the room – the Chief Map Room Officer – is strategically located in the center of the display, and it turns out he had a very sweet tooth. Maybe it was because sugar was in such short supply back then, but for some unknown reason he saved all his sugar lumps in an envelope – which he placed in his top desk drawer. During the restoration in 1980, when it was decided to make everything look the way it was during World War Two, one of the restorers opened all the drawers of this desk and, lo and behold, found these still perfect lumps of sugar! Wow!!! And yes, they too have been saved in this intriguing museum, at least they were when I visited a few years ago.

Because the CWR was the nerve center of Churchill’s strategy in the planning of Britain’s wartime efforts in those days, the museum’s location is also “somewhat secret.” Their exact address is Clive Steps, King Charles Street, London, SW1A, but it’s very easy to miss because it’s almost hidden from view off the Horse Guards Road. Unless you knew it was there, you could easily miss it altogether. It’s online at the Imperial War Museum site and then scroll down the page and click on “Cabinet War Rooms & Churchill Museum Home.” For more information on Great Britain in general, let me suggest you go to the Visit Britain site – If London is in your travel plans, I hope you’ll find time to visit this unique, one-of-a-kind museum. I know you’ll find it fascinating.

A final question. When they found those lumps of sugar in the restoration process, and as they wanted EVERYTHING to be “as it was in WW2” do you think they left those EXACT lumps, or did they insert new ones – and possibly change them periodically due to dust and such?

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Virtual Sicily

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL SICILIAN SIGHTSEEING TOUR
Sicily, Italy by Fyllis Hockman: “It happens all the time with Overseas Adventure Travel. I start out expecting to write about the trip itself – in this case, Sicily’s Ancient Landscapes & Timeless Traditions – and I end up writing about all the things that are not on the itinerary – what OAT refers to as Learning and Discovery.”

FYLLIS HOCKMAN’S ARTICLE ON SICILY

Virtual Antarctica Adventure

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL ANTARCTICA SIGHTSEEING TOUR
Journey to the Bottom of the Globe by Ed Boitano: “After setting foot aboard the deck of my vessel to Antarctica, I began asking guests why they chose to take an eight-day cruise to the coldest, windiest and driest continent in the world; a landscape which is 98 percent thick continental ice sheet and 2 percent barren rock; a continent so cruel and unforgiving that almost no life can survive on it. The overwhelming answer from my fellow cruisers was simple: ‘Because now I can.’ It was a good answer. The more I thought about it, I realized it was my reason too.”

ED BOITANO’S ARTICLE ON ANTARCTICA

Virtual Hemingway’s Paris

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL HEMINGWAY’S PARIS SIGHTSEEING TOUR
A Magical Walk Through Hemingway’s Paris by Richard Carroll: “Magically enchanting and much-loved Paris, the Urban Empress of Europe, remains eternally young and amorous. Occasionally vain, always passionate, and with a long and turbulent history, the legendary city has a special flair for life that has captivated many of the world’s most inspired artistic talent.”

RICHARD CARROLL’S ARTICLE ON HEMINGWAY’S PARIS

Virtual Churchill Museum

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL CHURCHILL MUSEUM SIGHTSEEING TOUR
2 Lumps of Sugar Make This Churchill Museum Unique by John Clayton: “Are several lumps of sugar worth putting in an historic museum? That may sound like a funny question, but the fact is that yes they are – especially if they’re part of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (CWR) in London.”

JOHN CLAYTON’S ARTICLE ON THE CHURCHILL MUSEUM

Virtual Aran Islands

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL ARAN ISLANDS SIGHTSEEING TOUR
The Aran Islands: A Living History by Ed Boitano: “In Robert Flaherty’s brilliant 1934 documentary film, Man of Aran, we see an Irish man smashing limestone rocks to bits, while his wife gathers seaweed from the shore below the island’s steep windswept cliffs. Meanwhile, their young son scavenges for animal manure and precious particles of dirt that have collected between the rocks, blown from the mainland. These four ingredients will be used to create the soil in order to grow potatoes – the family’s main source of subsistence. This is the Aran Islands; a landscape made almost entirely of solid limestone rock.”

ED BOITANO’S ARTICLE ON THE ARAN ISLANDS

Virtual Frank Lloyd Wright

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL TALIESIN WEST SIGHTSEEING TOUR
A Tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West by Susan Breslow: “Taliesin West should be an inspiration for everyone who faces another birthday and thinks: I’m too old to follow my dream. Frank Lloyd Wright, who had achieved public acclaim back east for his architectural designs (as well as public disdain for his scandalous affairs), was 70 years old when he arrived with a few apprentices in the foothills of Scottsdale Arizona’s McDowell Mountains in 1937.”

SUSAN BRESLOW’S ARTICLE ON TALIESIN WEST

Virtual Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway

EXPERIENCE A VIRTUAL LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH CLIFF RAILWAY TOUR
2 Classic Trains in England by John Clayton: “Growing up in Great Britain, I loved the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway. Situated in a setting of steep, ruggedly rolling green hillsides alive with unequalled beauty, below which lies a perfect picture postcard sea, and enriched by a town that looks as if it stepped out of a Beatrix Potter book.”

JOHN CLAYTON’S ARTICLE ON THE LYNTON AND LYNMOUTH CLIFF RAILWAY

Virtual Bluesman Phil Gates

EXPERIENCE A PHIL GATES CONCERT
Phil Gates – Following Tradition by T. E. Mattox: “Bluesmen have been lacing up their walking shoes and relocating to Europe for generations. So, when L.A.-based guitarist Phil Gates packed his bags in 2016 and moved to the Swiss countryside, he was just following in the footsteps of a long-standing blues tradition.”

T.E. MATTOX’S ARTICLE ON PHIL GATES

Virtual Skeleton Coast

EXPERIENCE A SKELETON COAST SIGHTSEEING TOUR
Exploring the Surreal Skeleton Coast by Skip Kaltenheuser: “The Skeleton Coast is one of the most appropriately named stretches of land in the world, a place where many hapless sailors of centuries past have mingled their bones with whale ribs and shipwrecks.”

SKIP KALTENHEUSER’S ARTICLE ON THE SKELETON COAST

Virtual Berlin

EXPERIENCE A BERLIN SIGHTSEEING TOUR
Berlin: Yesterday and Today by Ed Boitano: “I can still recall in detail my first arrival to Berlin. As the cab driver raced passed Tiergarten; the Memorial for the Murdered Jews of Europe; the Reichstag; and Brandenburg Gate, I asked about the new Kennedy Museum, now located in the Mitte (middle) district). Without hesitation, he offered his own personal narrative about JFK’s “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech of 1963: ‘Over 90% of the people in West Berlin were on the streets. None of us had ever seen anyone so charismatic.'”

ED BOITANO’S ARTICLE ON BERLIN

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