City Weekend Breaks: An injection of culture
March 24, 2009
When people are looking for holidays this year many are now finding that with the current financial climate that they have to forget about Caribbean holidays and think closer to home. Whilst there will no doubt be some disappointed holidaymakers out there, that doesn’t mean that UK tourists can not have a good time this year.
There has been a resurgence of the city break holiday in recent years with cities like Rome, Prague and Venice increasing significantly in popularity thanks to the cheap flights boom of the early 2000s. This trend has not faded in recent years and is becoming the annual holiday for many couples and single travellers who are after a different kind of vacation.
It’s not just abroad that these city breaks are becoming popular during these financially unstable times; there are many cities in the UK that are proving popular such as Manchester, Newcastle and Cardiff. These modern cities have had an influx of hotels which are being snapped up for weekend breaks whether it is for tourists or events like Stag or Hen Weekends and Birthdays.
As well as this modern breed of UK tourists there are still plenty of attractions and sights to see of a more traditional sort, Cities like Manchester and London are home to many excellent Museums and Galleries for those who are looking for a slice of culture during their stay.
London can provide even more in the way of culture with many stage plays taking place in the city making it perfect for the musical fans. Hotels in London can get snapped up pretty quickly during key events as obviously thousands of tourists will be in town as well as the usual crowd of tourists seeing the Palace and Big Ben.
There is a seemingly never-ending list of sights to see in London with attractions like the O2 arena in Greenwich which aside from being an excellent live music and sporting arena has many shops and eateries surrounding the former Millennium Dome.
As well as the capital city there are other city breaks that are popular with all tourists including Dublin, a short ferry or catamaran ride across the Irish Sea drops tourists off in the historic city which is home to one of Ireland’s greatest exports: Guinness, around St. Patrick’s Day it can get pretty hectic with every bar filled to capacity.
So as people are worrying about where they’ll be able to afford this year for their holidays there is a growing interest in vacations closer to home that can offer a different kind of holiday for those interested in more than just lounging on a beach. For holidays with culture and a wider variety of activities then city breaks can offer so much more for your money.
Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms at 1984 Prices
March 16, 2009
To celebrate its 25th birthday, London’s Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms is offering visitors 1984 admission prices for one day only on 4th April 2009. Prices will be reduced from £13 to £2, the museum’s entry fee when it opened on 4th April 1984.
Visitors are encouraged to join in the birthday celebrations and turn up wearing 1980s style costumes. The museum staff will be taking photographs of people in 1980s gear and awarding a prize to the best dressed. Early birds will also be rewarded, with the first 25 visitors through the doors at 9.30am being offered a free bacon sandwich in the cafe.
Classic 1980s dishes including, Victory Soup, Shepherd’s Pie and Apple Crumble and custard will be available all day in the cafe with significantly reduced prices which will suit today’s credit crunch budgets.
Phil Reed, Director of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms says, “4 April 2009 is a landmark birthday for the museum. In the past 25 years, over 5 million people, including heads of states from all around the world, have visited us to discover what life was like inside Churchill’s authentically preserved secret headquarters during the Second World War. We are looking forward to celebrating our birthday in style with a 1980s theme running throughout the day. Winston Churchill was a flamboyant dresser so it is a very fitting tribute that people turn up in their 1980s gear.”
“The museum has grown significantly in 25 years with the addition of the remarkable Churchill Museum in 2005, which is dedicated to the life of our war time leader Sir Winston Churchill. This year is the 70th anniversary of the start of the Second World War and the Cabinet War Rooms becoming operational, and we will be launching a new exhibition later this year to mark this, so it is an exciting time for us. We hope that our 1984 pricing will attract hundreds of new and repeat visitors to join in our fun birthday celebrations.”
Visitors will also get the chance to enter an exclusive raffle. The first prize, valued at £650, is a private VIP tour with the Director of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms for up to four guests. Winners will enjoy privileged access inside the War Cabinet Room and the Map Room. The rooms have been perfectly preserved since 1945 and it was in the Cabinet Room that Churchill announced “This is the room from which I will direct the war.” The winner will also receive a bottle of Churchill’s favourite tipple, Pol Roger champagne, and four souvenir guidebooks, along with a signed copy of ‘Churchill’ written by Churchill’s granddaughter, Celia Sandys.
Second prize, valued at £220, is an Elite Dinner Cruise for two with ‘star treatment’ on London Bateaux. This luxurious treat includes champagne on arrival, a sumptuous five-course a la carte meal with fine wines, followed by after-dinner dancing.
The lucky third prize winner will receive a year’s free Friends of Imperial War Museum membership. This allows free admission to all exhibitions and free entry to The Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms, HMS Belfast and Imperial War Museum, Duxford. This winner will be able to take their family on a day out to a museum of their choice, as they will also receive Family tickets (2 adults and three children) worth £60.
Some of the many highlights of the Cabinet War Rooms include the Map Room, the communications hub during the Second World War, left almost exactly as it was when its doors were finally closed in August 1945; Churchill’s bedroom, strategically placed next door to the Map Room, and the War Cabinet Room, where Churchill held meetings with key advisors, selected Cabinet members and his Chiefs of Staff, while, outside, the bombs rained down on London.
Visitors can also enjoy the Churchill Museum, which uses cutting-edge technology and multimedia displays to bring to life the story of Winston Churchill, who was voted the ‘Greatest Briton’ in a nationwide poll in 2002. From Churchill’s childhood to his ‘finest hour’ and later years, visitors will not only learn more about his political exploits but also the man himself, his successes as well as his failures. Interactive displays allow visitors to further their learning and engage in a debate on many of the key decisions taken by Churchill.
Central to the Museum is the state-of-the-art Lifeline exhibit – the world’s largest interactive display - a 15-metre-long interactive table on which visitors can access information from every year of Churchill’s life, even drilling down to specific weeks and days. The Lifeline puts key events in Churchill’s life in context and engages users through a variety of animations and sounds.
Website: www.cwr.iwm.org.uk
