Saturday, October 05, 2013 Churchill, Westminster, Art and Skyline

Saturday, October 05, 2013  Churchill, Westminster, Art and Skyline

We met for breakfast at 9:45 this morning.  It was all Sue and I could do to get there; as a matter of fact, we were late.  We were still very tired from our big Paris adventure yesterday.  We all had a good breakfast here at the hotel – they do serve a very nice buffet and you can also order from the chef.  Nice.

We then took taxis to the Churchill Museum and War Rooms.  Sue and I took a longer taxi ride to 50 Old Street to pick up her phone that had been left in yesterday’s taxi.  Golden Tours said it would be delivered to us, but Abbey Cars said Golden Tours said we would pick it up.  We just wanted to phone back, so we went and got it.  We are now in communication with Golden Tours about possible reimbursements for all the extra trouble we had in relation to our Paris adventure after they responded to Sue’s tweet about the whole thing.  It would be very nice if they would make it right!!  We’ll see.

The War Rooms are the underground rooms from which the British leaders ran WWII and they were sealed up and preserved just as they were.  Later  they were unsealed and preserved for the future. They were pretty dinghy and worn but that’s what you would expect from all those people living so long underground in such terrible conditions as the war created for them.  The audio monologue helped me understand what I was seeing expect that the numbers we were supposed to push for each station were not clearly presented so I got a little lost in the middle of it.  There was also a museum in the middle of the War Rooms about Winston Churchill’s life and it was also very interesting.  He was truly a unique man and the exhibits reflected that nicely.  I’ve very glad I got to see all that.  It must have been a terrible time.

 This photo of Hitler in front of the Eiffel Tower struck a real chord with me and Sue after being there ourselves yesterday.  I sure am glad that German General refused to follow his orders to blow up Paris!!

 They have placed a few dummies into the War Room museum here and there, but this map is the one that was in the War Rooms during the war.

We then took taxis to Westminster Cathedral.  Boy, that sure is a big, high up place.  (I know I don’t really use proper language, but that’s just me!)  They would not let us in!!!!  What a disappointment.  However the Abbey Shop let us in and we shopped! 

They were going to allow people in for the Evensong at 3:00 so we sat on some steps nearby and rested until time for the service.  I was taking orders for water, a man sitting just in front of me said he’d help me get up if I’d get him so beer!!  We all had a good laugh about that, but they didn’t have any beer for sale.  When I got back and we were all sitting around, his wife and her sister came up to him.  We ended up taking photos of us, them and other strangers that were in the area.  Turns out the man and his wife were from Florida and her sister was from Atlanta – how’s that for it being a small world!!

We went into the Evensong service and got to walk the full length of the cathedral.  It was so beautiful.  The ceiling is SOOOOO high up – how on earth did the builders construct that thing so many hundreds of years ago????  There was a lot of singing by a boy’s choir – beautiful – and a new canon was brought into Westminster.  That means a new man got hired to work there – in totally non-religious terminology.  Anyway, it was a special service because of that and we all enjoyed witnessing the event. 

We then took taxis back to the hotel to decide what to do for dinner.  (I keep saying taxis because the most people a black taxi can take is either four or five, so it takes two taxis whenever we go somewhere.) After talking to the concierge, we decided to walk almost to the London Eye and eat at a pub called the Slug and Lettuce.  Yup, that name grossed me out also, but we walked about two blocks and found it easily.  I don’t know that I would call it a pub, but it was pretty good.  The music was very loud and the lights kept changing colors, but the food was good.  We have had many of our London meals at the hotel so this was a very nice change.  We had British Beef Pie, Cottage Pie, Scampi, and a couple of things I couldn’t pronounce and can’t remember and several of us had desserts.  Good meal.

After that we split up.  Paula and Sarah rested a bit then went to the Tate Modern Art Museum.  They said they toured the museum in an hour so I think they kind of rushed through parts of it, but they did see some of the paintings that went specifically to see.  

The others went back to the hotel and called it a night.  Things to do, like thinking of how to organize all this ‘stuff’ we have accumulated since we got here and how to make it all go in our luggage for the flight in a few days. Guess I'll have to face that some time or other.

I went the other way and walked on to the London Eye.  That sure does hold a LOT of people at a time – it is a marvel of engineering and amazing to watch.  It seems to never stop.  It moves so slowly that 30 – 40 people in each compartment can get on/off without any stoppage, unless there is something special like a wheelchair involved.  I’m looking forward to riding it sometimes soon.  I also walked up and down the riverbank taking photos of the skyline in the setting sun.  My pictures don’t do it justice but it was beautiful.  The sky was actually mostly clear, for a change, and the clouds that were present were mostly brilliantly pink or orange.  It was nice to watch.  

 I watched it along with thousands of other people.  This time, I’m sure there were thousands of other people on the riverbank with me – there HAD to be.  Then I walked back to the hotel and started working on the Paris journal and today’s journal.  Writing this journal helps me remember what I did during the day and sort of organize it in my razor sharp mind.  Yeah, right.  More like in that muddy water covered by spider webs.  Anyway, it does help me at night to write about it.  You should try it when you go on travels – it’s a good thing to do even if you are tired.  It’s worth it years later when you go back and read it again – it all just jumps you back to the trip and you remember it so much better.

Tomorrow, most of the girls are going on a boat trip to Greenwich and then to a play about the Beatles tomorrow evening.  I’ve again decided to go another way.  I have a list of things I want to do before I leave London and even though I know I won’t get to everything on the list, I’m going to try to do as many as possible.  I’ll let you know tomorrow night how it goes.

Hey, I’ve stayed up also too late – it’s already 9:20.  I better hurry to bed.