First London Walkabout
Couple of pics from last nights drinks and dinner. After Wicked, a really neat play, we went to the Sky Bar (located on the 35th floor of the Millbank Tower building) for drinks and then to Blacklock City for a carnivore’s dinner!
London Skyline from the Sky Bar
MEAT! Lamb, pork, beef with chips!!!!
Just when I thought I’d get a break, we’re off on a walking tour of London. Gonna try to see about four different sites but who knows, maybe just a couple and then food. Good weather for walking today, warm, 50’s and no rain, at least not until later in the evening.
First stop is Westminster Abbey. About 15 minutes from our flat, this iconic cathedral has been the center of Royal activities since the beginning of time. Coronations, funerals, baptisms, you name it, if it is part of royalty, it happens here. Matter of fact, Bill and Kate were married here not too long ago. Funny, didn’t get an invite.
Westminster Abbey
We not going inside and touring the cathedral, pretty pricey for something that is supposed to be for everyone’s salvation, 21GBP per person. Good enough to see the outside and watch the people doing their funky poses. Winston Churchill was laid in state here and is the only commoner to have a queen pay her respects.
Speaking of ole Winston, we’ll continue on to see the war rooms where WW2 planning was conducted. Not far from the cathedral, only 10 minutes or so on foot.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Westminster Abbey was first mentioned around 960AD when Saint Dunstan and King Edgar installed a community of Benedictine monks at the site. Soon thereafter, 1066AD, William the Conqueror was crowned there and so has every British monarch since that time. BTW- Westminster is not really an abbey, it’s also not a cathedral. Westminster has the unique designation as a “Church of England – Royal Peculiar” which basically means it is a church of the Royalty.
During WW2, the Abbey was hit by incendiary bombs but failed to burn significantly. Falling debris from the burning roof collapsed onto the crossing and prevented the fire from spreading.
We didn’t enter the Abbey, not at 21GBP per person. One would think that the Royal family would open the doors to this magnificent building for the masses to view. After all, it is the English taxes that pay for upkeep and maintenance so in theory, the English people own this building.
We did pay the 17GBP per person to go inside the Churchill War Rooms. This is the site where the planning and status of the Allied efforts were conducted. This large underground complex housed rooms for everything from transatlantic secure comms to sleeping quarters for typists. Winston Churchill had a very nice bedroom here, but he only slept there 3 times preferring to sleep at 10 Downing Street instead. Over the course of the war, the ceiling was reinforced several times with what was affectionately called, “the slab”, a 5-foot thick layer of steel reinforced concrete.
Churchill’s status room (his seat is middle – rear)
Sign telling those underground what the weather outside is like.
Original wooden door for 10 Downing Street
Churchill’s wife’s bedroom
Map room (see next picture)
Someone drew a little image of Hitler on the map (almost in the center of this photo)
Daily tally of V1 & V2 bombs
Churchill’s bedroom
After the war, the rooms were abandoned and fell into disrepair until being resurrected by Margaret Thatcher, a fan of Churchill, and opened to the public in 1984.
After all that touring, time for a late lunch then a casual stroll back to the flat. Tomorrow we’re going to do something different. Jessie, our darling niece, has convinced us to do a Rick Steve’s walking tour. We’ll give it a try and let you know how it goes.
Scenes from our walkabout#1
Hot cherries on mini pancakes, YUM!
Manana, amigos.