Free Essay on the Bank of England Museum and Other Tourist Spots

England is one of the interesting places in the world. Our group trip has organized to travel in several places in England. We will start off by visiting the bank of England Museum, which is located in the City of London inside the Bank of England. To get to this place, we will use the Bartholomew-lane that can be found off Thread needle Street. To locate the lane, one can easily look for either bank tube station or bank junior. We are planning to visit on a weekday when the museum will be open. No charges will be paid since it is often free charge day on weekdays and the day of the lord mayors show (Millar, 2016).

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We are expecting to meet a tour guide who will tell us the history of the place, why it was created and how it has progressed over the years to its current state. We expect to learn deeper insights about the operations that have been happening in the past. We will expect answers for various questions. For example, were are expecting answers to questions such as: How do the operations carried out in the museum? What are the artifacts in the museum? What are the cultures of the English people as evident from the museum? And what are the benefits of having such a museum? According to the information obtained in class, the management decided to make its collection and display to the world for views in1980s, and this is how the museum was created. The museum was officially opened 1994 and declared as the Bank of England Museum. Before all these, however, there were challenges including the 1986 fire that resulted in 18 months reconstruction and rebuilding. It was until 1988 that Queen Elizabeth II opened the place, and a city heritage award was given (Millar, 2016).

The Bank of England Museum is a big building measuring up to 1,000 sq. ft. The museum is equipped with sufficient displays. The display ranges from collections that were being used in 1694 when the bank was started to modern day collections. We would visit several displays in the building, especially the office constructed in the 18th century. According to information in various sources, the office had been reconstructed to suit its uses. The displays significantly carry the history of the bank, and this has been done chronologically. A simply view will give one image in chronological order from the display of the inter-war period to the rebuilding that has taken to date. We are expecting to see how things have changed in the bank following technological advancements. The observation will play an essential role in determining how the uniqueness of the Bank of England museum has been maintained. The modern technology being used in the bank is believed to be efficient in maintaining current activities in the bank, thus reaching out to a wider audience (Millar, 2016).

2. Imperial War Museum

The Imperial War Museum is the second place we will visit during our group tour. The Imperial War Museum branch is located in London, off Lambeth Road. The goal of visiting this site is to get the pictorial study of the history of modern war and the experience of the war. The museum was established to record military and civil war sacrifices and efforts for Britain during the WWI. The place was opened in 1920, but it kept relocating from place to place until in 1936 when it acquired a permanent home in Southwark. The museum developed and declined over the war period years, but expansion was at a higher rate. Several Imperial War Museum branches were, therefore, established based from one museum (Powell & Kokkranikal, 2015).

I am looking forward to understanding more aspects of the WWII, what happened and some of the memories that are still kept in the museum. There are several questions that I am looking forward to getting their answers. Some of the questions include: Are there any documents that can be used to bring a correlation of what happened during the past years and current years? Are there any videos recorded, films or oral history? Is there someone to explain this history to us when we visit? I will also be looking forward to seeing some of the art collection if any or if they have been placed in a library for display. I will be keen to know if there are any remains of the military vehicles used or any other form of artifacts that could have been stored (Powell & Kokkranikal, 2015). If there is still information in the museum which I expect to see, how is this being maintain, especially the issue of oral history?

Besides, we will expect to meet an oral history narrator who will take us through the past events one after the other. We are looking forward to understanding how the job is maintained? What if the oral narrator is not present, will another narrator comes or there will be no narration to those who visit. The point here is to get an understanding of how the museum is funded and how the museum is being maintained to ensure that it stays present for more views in the coming years. What are the plans for keeping the historical information for the coming generation? I am hoping to enjoy this tour and learn more about the wars that took place in the past years to better my historical information on the civil and military war (Powell & Kokkranikal, 2015).

3. House of Parliament

The third place we will be visiting is the house of parliament. From the class readings using different sources, I believe that this moment is going to be fantastic. The house of parliament is also referred to as a place of Westminster where two parliamentary houses are believed to seat the House of Commons and that of lords. The setting of the UK parliamentary system has influenced other parliamentary settings in the world and visiting the mother place is one major intriguing experience I will live to tell. Big seen and clock tower are some famous feature I am looking forward to visiting. The books we read in class define the Big Ben as an elegant clock tower that has a light that illuminates during parliamentary sittings. Visiting the Parliament and the sections is allowed, and I cannot wait to see how huge the tower is and how beautiful the inside of the tower appears (Parliament, 2008).

Other places that we will visit includes the Norman porch, lord chamber, members lobby, aye lobby, St. Stephens Hall royal galley just to mention a few. After the tour, I believe I will have a better knowledge of how parliamentary sessions are carried out and how activities are coordinated in the parliamentary setting. I believe that there are two houses. However, I do not understand the reason for having two houses. Therefore, the tour to the house of parliament will help in understanding the reasons for having two houses and how legal processes are carried out in the two houses. I believe that the tour is purposeful for the educational purpose since I will understand more about the history of some of the iconic features in London. I will use tour opportunity to understand more about its parliamentary system within the time scope that we will be allocated. A lot has been happening in the house that has not yet been recorded in the historical books we read. Am hoping that this visit will elaborate more on how activities are conducted to observe power balance or is it that one house is powerful than the other house? (Parliament, 2008).

Oxford Street

Oxford Street, the famous street in the west end of London, is located in the city of Westminster. My expectations are that it looks like a Wall Street. From what we have learned in class, the street is the busiest shopping center in Europe with more than half a million visitors on daily basis. Unlike other areas in Europe, traffic in this place has been regulated and only restricted to taxis and buses. There are some histories about the originality of the road and how it developed to become the present day Oxford Street. Both streets like other places we will be visiting have a major contribution in the events that took place in WWII. It is believed that this street was a center for booming. My major concern and something I would like to know is how activities took place in this area and facilitate the supply of booms that were used to kill people during the war (Rothwell et al., 2004).

Some of the damages that were caused by the war include property loose, and John Lewis was one of the stores in Oxford Street that was affected by the activities of World War II. I would want to know what happened in the location by getting first-hand information rather than depending on the written sources. I will also want to know if there are new buildings or there is renovation of the old buildings (Rothwell et al., 2004).

Apart from the normal business, I will have information about any other activities taking place on the street after visiting the place. During the tour, we expect to see unique and outstanding features on the street since we have learned regarding the appearance of the street in books and other academic sources. My expectations are high, especially with the buildings and how people carry out different activities in the street. I will use the information I have collected from different academic sources like books, Websites, and approved articles and compare the data with the activities that take place on the Wall Street. The purpose of the comparison is to understand if there are much in the Oxford Street than what we are reading in class (Rothwell et al., 2004).

In conclusion, the trip to London is one tour I am looking forward to attending. It is more of an educative adventure for me than entertainment. I enjoy traveling around the world but learning new things and discovering more ideas is what I enjoy. Visiting the four places is one experience that is going to sharpen my memory, especially on the events that took place during WWII. Also, the tour will equip me with the history of different attractive places in London. I have hopes that I will have a beautiful experience full of educational surprises because I consider that what we are going to see is more than what we learned in the classes.

References

Millar, S. (2016). 11 Heritage. Managing Tourism, 115.

Parliament, U. K. (2008). House of Lords. FRONTEX: the EU external borders agency European Union-Ninth Report, European Union Committee, London, 26.

Powell, R., & Kokkranikal, J. (2015). Motivations and experiences of museum visitors: The case of the Imperial War Museum, United Kingdom. InCultural tourism in a digital era (pp. 169-181). Springer International Publishing.

Rothwell, P. M., Coull, A. J., Giles, M. F., Howard, S. C., Silver, L. E., Bull, L. M., ... & Farmer, A. (2004). Change in stroke incidence, mortality, case-fatality, severity, and risk factors in Oxfordshire, UK from 1981 to 2004 (Oxford Vascular Study). The Lancet, 363(9425), 1925-1933.