Fodor's Expert Review Firepower Royal Artillery Museum

Adjacent to the old Royal Dockyard at Woolwich is a brilliant exhibition, the Firepower Royal Artillery Museum. Housed in the old Royal Arsenal leading down to the river shore, the museum's setting provides an evocative sense of the Thames and its lingering effect on the capital's history. Inside, the Field of Fire experience is a powerful recreation of what it was actually like to be in the thick of the London Blitz and the D-Day Landings, complete with giant projections of archive film on all sides, live smoke effects, and a floor that quakes in time to the roar of exploding bombs. The Gunnery Hall exhibition contains a vast array of artillery, armored vehicles, and assorted firepower (some bearing the scars of battle) from more than a century's worth of conflict. During school holidays, there are plenty of activities for kids, such as learning the basic skills of a field medic or "battle wound" face painting.