On our trip to Kansas City a few weeks ago, we decided to go to the Liberty Memorial. It is also home to the only World War I museum in America. It's something Andrew had been wanting to see for a while, but we finally found time for it on this trip.
Now, I'm not much of a museum person. I like the idea in theory, but usually get bored pretty quickly. This was not the case at this awesome museum. They had movies, artifacts, and many interactive displays. The first display had pictures that had 2 pictures on one frame...you could see one, then you'd walk 1-2 steps and see a completely different picture. This was the kind of quality that was in every piece in the museum.
It's easiest to show the museum in pictures, so here they are:
Propaganda designed to appeal to women
They had models of the trenches - for the countries of Britain, Germany, & France. It was neat to see the differences between them. Germany's were the best designed and kept.
The timeline that spanned the room - it had all the major events of the war as well as things that were happening back in the United States.
This one speaks for itself - sad.
Andrew and I with a real WWI TANK!! Cool! There was a spot on the side where there was still damage from the war.
My favorite part of the museum was the listening room. They had a cubicle that you could sit in and listen to music, poems, & speeches from the war. I enjoyed hearing "In Flander's Field" and listening to speeches given by Lenin and the Kaiser. There was also the big band marches from Sousa that were becoming big. And of course, Over There sung by Nora Bayes. They also had active boards in the middle where you could play games (WWI related), find out more about ammunition, or even design your own WWI memorial. Very cool. It was definitely the best museum I've been too. I was engaged for the whole 4-5 hours we were there. And we didn't see it all. We'd like to go back at some point and finish looking at all we didn't see.
After the museum, we headed up into the tower. Good thing they had an elevator to assist in the journey to the top. It was the best view of Kansas City's downtown I've ever seen. I could've spent all day up there - especially if we'd brought our binonculars!
The buidling in the foreground is Union Station
Andrew and I with the beautiful city!
With mom & dad
I loved everything about the day. It's fun exploring new parts of my hometown. And really, What a view!!
3 comments:
This was an amazing trip to the Liberty Memorial (not KC Memorial). I was like you, totally surprised that 5 hours after we arrived, I was reluctant to leave! Thank goodness for the on-site restaurant to have lunch and renew our stamina. And the view from the Tower is quite amazing. Dad and I drove past it this week and marveled that we'd been atop it just a few weeks ago.
Sounds fantastic! I would love to go someday. Do you think the kids would like it or do we need to wait? I am worried about taking them to the tower.. (??)
This is something for 10-12 or up. Not much that's geared for younger kids, I don't think. Lots of reading. They might enjoy the tower, but the wall is about chest high, so they'd have to be held to see anything. I think we need to wait til they're older.
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