Oklahoma City - Quiet Reflection

As I mentioned on the journey in, there were a lot of roadworks in the centre of Oklahoma City. I don't know whether it was because of this, but it was very quiet walking around in the evening. However, this did give me the opportunity to find out that the city centre was a lot smaller than I expected - I don't know why the hotel offered a shuttle bus when it was within very short walking distance!

My main visit on the Tuesday was to the Oklahoma City memorial and museum. This is dedicated to the bombing of the Federal Building on the 19th April 1995. There is a memorial garden (see above) and 168 empty chairs, one for each peron killed. The museum (in a building which itself was damaged in the blast) takes you through the timeline of the day, and the aftermath, in a very powerful and moving way. The availability of media means you do get to see a lot more of the response than you did (for example) at the Hirosima museum which does a similar thing.

After this I visited the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (for possibly the first time haing to pay at a gallery!) which had an interesting exhibition relating to the art of the New Deal in the 1930's. Then, all too soon it was time to leave Oklahoma City (with just a quick walk past the botanic gardens, below) as I had another leg of the journey ahead of me.