Five great tank museums

by Sean McLachlan on

OK, I’ll admit it, inside I’m still twelve years old. I love big lumbering metal monsters that crash through brick walls and blast away with cannons and machine guns. Tanks rock. So with no further justification, here are five of the best tank museums in the world.

The Tank Museum, Bovington, United Kingdom
The British invented the tank in an attempt to break the deadlock of trench warfare during World War One, so it’s only appropriate that they boast the biggest tank museum in the world. Located in Dorset, this museum has the best collection of First World War tanks I’ve ever seen, including some one-of-a-kind models. The collections for other periods are excellent too, including the Interwar period, World War Two, and the Cold War. In all they have almost 300 armored vehicles from 26 countries.
Several of the tanks are in working order and there’s a track where they’re driven during the summer. This is the only place in the world where you can see the famous German Tiger I tank of WWII in full running order. There’s also an American M4 Sherman so you can see what the good guys were driving. Check the website for the next live demonstration.

The General George Patton Museum, Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA
A military genius, Patton realized that many old cavalry tactics could actually be used with modern armored vehicles. The results are history. This museum is dedicated to his memory and the development of the American tank. Not surprisingly, the WWII section is the best, but there are good collections for other periods as well. Some tanks have their sides cut away so you can see the cross-section and get an idea what it was like to be in one. There’s also an excellent exhibition on the man himself.

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Deutsches Panzermuseum, Munster, Germany
I know someone is going to give me grief about this, but it’s undeniable that the Third Reich had one of the most advanced armies the world has ever seen, and the Panzers were its backbone. There are more than a hundred tanks and armored vehicles here, including some rare examples from World War One, the more familiar Panzers and Tigers of World War Two, and East German tanks dating to the Cold War. There’s also an exhibition exploring the career of the “Desert Fox”, General Erwin Rommel, and a massive collection of German firearms from both world wars.

Kubinka Tank Museum, Kubinka, Russian Federation
The Third Reich may have had a great military, but the Red Army crushed it, thanks in no small part to its huge number of mass-produced tanks. This museum in Kubinka, near Moscow, tells of their proud history. The main displays are of World War Two, including the famous T-34 that did so well against the Germans, and the tanks of the Soviet Union. Like the museum in Bovington, they claim to have the biggest collection in the world with more than 300 vehicles. I guess I’ll just have to go count them!

Le Musée des Blindés, Saumur, France
The French get a lot of unfair ribbing about their military. It’s often forgotten how well they fought in World War One and how they’re fighting the Taliban right now. An U.S. Army Ranger I met who served in Afghanistan says the French fight very well and we should appreciate what they’re doing. The history of French tanks is on display here in the historic town of Saumur, which also has a nice castle if you’re into more old-school militaria. More than 200 of their tanks and armored vehicles are in full operating condition and conduct an annual parade. Be sure to check out the curiosity room with its collection of experimental and unusual vehicles, like the Killer Vespa shown in the photo gallery.

Of course most national military museums have tank collections. The Imperial War Museum in London has some good ones, but it’s beaten by the excellent collection at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels.
Trivia question: How did tanks get their name? Tell us in the comments section. No prize, just bragging rights.

Winter weather doesn’t deter amorous Brits

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Next time you’re stuck in a London hotel, with snow falling and few options for getting out on the town, order a little entertainment to your room. It will make you authentically British … if you take the latest survey by IllicitEncounter.com at face value. The website, which helps married people find a little action on the side, revealed that its traffic increased on Wednesday morning, as a winter storm tore through Hampshire, Berkshire and the West Country. To help people get a little secret sex, IllicitEncounters.com has even had to bring on temp staffers.

According to Sara Hartley, a spokesperson fro the site, “In light of these figures, I’d be interested to see how much work those ‘working from home’ have actually done.” She continues, “Perhaps these wives and husbands have just been waiting for a time when they could join, away from the eyes of their work colleagues and, most importantly, their partners…”

IllicitEncounters.com has more than 350,000 members in Britain, so if you’re lonely in London on a wintry day, maybe you should skip that walk by Buckingham Palace and enjoy a little takeout.

[Photo by Je@n via Flickr]

Buy clothes there – Packing tip

by Gadling Staff on

Depending on where you’re headed, it may be cheaper to pack fewer clothes and purchase new outfits upon arrival.

Destinations such as Bangkok, Thailand, for example, sell quality, fashionable clothes for low prices. For destinations such as these, pack about three outfits and plan to shop soon after you get there. This may not be advisable, however, for travel destinations such as London or Tokyo. In order to make the right decision, research your destination’s clothes prices before departure.

Further, shopping abroad gives you the opportunity to explore local cultures — and maybe even purchase some cool, wearable souvenirs.

Bonus: Saving space in your luggage may, in turn, result in less luggage — and fewer baggage charges!

Five art exhibitions you must see this year

by Sean McLachlan on

Art lovers, take note, 2010 is shaping up to be a great year for exhibitions. Here are five of the best, but there are plenty more than these!

Tokyo
It’s hard to beat Japanese art for sheer naturalistic beauty, and the Tokyo National Museum has an extensive collection of the best. See the work of one of the great Japanese masters in Hasegawa Tohaku: 400th Memorial Retrospective. This painter, who died in 1610, specialized in nature and Buddhist subjects, and you can see an example of his work in this post. The delicacy and ethereal quality of Japanese landscapes always gives me goosebumps. The exhibition runs from February 23 to March 22.

Madrid
Spain’s famous Museo Nacional del Prado is hosting The Art of Power: Arms, Armour and Paintings from the Spanish Court. This is a collection of weapons and armor from Spain’s Golden Age, along with paintings by important Spanish artists emphasizing Spain’s military might at a time when the country ruled most of the New World. Many of the suits or armor were the personal property of important kings such as Philip II. The show will be on from March 8 to May 16.

London
From March 4-June 6 the British Museum will have Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures from West Africa. Ife was an important kingdom from the 12th to the 15th centuries in what is now Nigeria. Its artists specialized in creating human sculptures in brass, terracotta, and stone. I caught this when it was in Madrid last year and it was amazed at the level of artistic achievement in a civilization I’m ashamed to say I knew almost nothing about. The thing that most impressed me was how lifelike the sculptures were. I felt like I was staring into the faces of priests and kings who have been dead for five hundred years. My kid preferred the statue of the crocodile god.Paris
For something a bit more grim, go to the Musée d’Orsay between March 15 and June 27 for Crime and Punishment: 1791-1981. The dates refer to the year of the first call in France to abolish the death penalty and the year it was actually abolished. The exhibition is a series of paintings with crime as their theme, by famous artists such as Picasso, Goya, and Magritte. There are also paintings of capital punishment, showing that crime does not pay, at least some of the time. This show is disturbing enough that it comes with a warning label, a bit like the Eros exhibit of ancient erotic art in Athens, which you can still catch until April 5.

New York City
If you want to see something right now, The Museum of Modern Art is showcasing the work of director Tim Burton until April 26. It’s a collection of more than seven hundred drawings, storyboards, puppets, and other items from his films. There’s also a large collection of his personal artwork that even most of his fans have never seen. They’re showing his movies too!

Obituary: The Orient Express

by Sean McLachlan on

I screwed up big time.

I’ve always wanted to ride the Orient Express, the famous Paris-to-Istanbul sleeper train made famous by countless movies and novels. It’s an elegant train steeped in glamor and history. Ever since it opened in 1883 it was the way to go to the East. It’s been one of my travel goals for as long as I can remember, but I figured I could always put it off until next year because it would always be there.

Today was it’s last day.

Operators say it’s a victim of competing rail services and cheap airline carriers, but I don’t think that’s the whole story. I think it’s a victim of a corrosive effect I’ve been seeing in travel culture for twenty years now–the concept that cheaper and faster is always better. In an age when you can fly from Paris to Istanbul for less than a hundred bucks–hell, sometimes less than fifty–leaving after breakfast and arriving in time for lunch, why would you want to spend a few hundred dollars and a couple of days rattling across Eastern Europe to get to the same place?

Because the trip is more about the journey than the destination. Because you can’t see the details of the land from an airplane window. Because people talk to each other on trains.

Yes, commentators are pointing out that the route has changed many times over the years, and the train that shut down today didn’t even run the whole way anymore, but that’s like saying that the Parthenon isn’t the real thing because half of the stones are gone. Something old and wonderful has still died.

So next time you think you can leave a dream until “next year”, don’t. You might wake up and find the dream’s over.

CLARIFICATION: There have been a couple of comments saying the Orient Express is still operating. The train that shut down is, indeed, the direct heir of the original Oriental Express, although it had stopped its full service decades ago. Modern companies, such as the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, have used variants of the name but are not the original service. The original Simplon Orient Express opened in 1919, although it too has gone through permutations over the years. For a time there were three “Orient Expresses” running simultaneously, with the Simplon being the second oldest. The original, true “Orient Express” started in 1883. The Venice-Simplon Orient Express is now the closest to the original we have, with vintage carriages from the 1920s and 30s. I’ll have to ride it some day, assuming it doesn’t go out of business too!%Gallery-26075%

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