After our really wonderful days in Edinburgh, we packed up and headed south to London for the next couple of days!
It was nice and gray when we arrived, which I feel was only appropriate for my first visit to London.
Our flight was pretty early in the morning, so we got into London by mid-morning (it also helps that it's a super short flight). We took the Tube into town from Heathrow and dropped our bags at our hotel before heading off to try one of Lauren's recommendations for lunch in London: The Clarence.
Side story: we had an awkward moment when we got there and found that there were no seats available. The waitress was not very nice and even less helpful, giving a vague suggestion that we could go upstairs. We tried to clarify that she meant there was another dining room upstairs but got no clear answer. We went upstairs, found that they split toward two different rooms, and went to the left. Once in there, another waitress looked at us like we were complete idiots when we asked about a table, informing us that we needed to go to the other room. We back-tracked to the other room and stood there, glancing around to see if we were to seat ourselves or be seated (there was zero indication about how that worked), when the waitress that we'd met in Upstairs Room #1 showed up and took us to a table. We chalked this series of events up to being Americans and not understanding the etiquette...until we watched, literally, every single person or group that came in after us go through the same confusion. There was some comfort in that.
Side story #2: After lunch, I went upstairs to the ladies' room, and on my way down, I missed on of the narrow steps and would have cracked my ankle in two, if I hadn't caught myself with my elbows...which I bruised HORRIBLY. And, I did all of this in front of a couple fellow patrons, who then felt very concerned and slightly awkward on my behalf. Bless it. What a way to usher in our time in London.
Despite all of our awkward social interactions, the food was great.
After lunch, we headed to Westminster Abbey and prayed the rain would hold off while we were in line. (unfortunately, our walk past Parliament was anti-climactic, as it's being remodeled and is currently covered in scaffolding. Womp womp.)
We passed by Winston.
Sad. This was the best I could get.
Ta da!
We waited in line for about an hour to get in, but we were next to some lovely western Massachusetts folks who were fun to chat with and took pictures for us.
Photography isn't allowed inside the abbey proper, so I didn't get to capture any of the awe-inspiring structures and treasures (so I grabbed these on the way out). It was fascinating to listen to the self-guided tour and see the myriad of historical relics. I, shocker, loved looking around the Poet's Corner. I especially loved a) finding C. S. Lewis's memorial stone and b) a plaque honoring Longfellow, given by "English admirers of the American poet."
And then I grabbed this shot as we were leaving. I love it so much. Westminster Abbey, lamp post, London cab. All the good things.
We walked a short way from Westminster Abbey to the Churchill War Rooms. IT WAS THE STUFF OF MY MUSEUM-GOING DREAMS. We thought we weren't going to get in that day, given the length of the line and the lack of time left in the day when we arrived, but the stars aligned and we were able to start our tour with about and hour and a half to make our way through.
I love studying the life and work of Winston Churchill. I find him fascinating and inspiring, and getting to tour these preserved war rooms and read/listen to all of the information that they can share about the work done in those underground tunnels was just what I was hoping for. One of my favorite parts of the exhibit was the video interviews with the men and, particularly, the women who worked with Churchill in the Rooms. Their memories and impressions were wonderful to listen to!
This (fake) guy made me jump when we stumbled upon him.
The museum exhibits are divided into two main parts: the actual rooms + the Churchill exhibit. I could have spent actual hours going through the information and exhibits in the museum section, but we had to hustle, given our time constraints. What a pity. (Also: these are not awesome pictures. I took them more for my own personal perusal later, rather than going for quality blog pictures. My apologies.)
Honorary American passport. He was extremely proud of his American heritage (his mother), so he was also proud of this little trinket.
We had to really truncate the second half of our tour through the rooms (the Churchill museum part is halfway through the walk through the rooms), which wasn't ideal, but we got to see everything and learned so much about the inner workings, including tidbits about the day-to-day life stuff, like meals and sleeping quarters.
I particularly like seeing Clemmie Churchill's bedroom that she made as homey as possible.
I wish I'd taken more pictures, but hustling while listening to the tour was the most I could handle, it seems. I would love to return one day and go at a slightly slower pace. Ahem, just so you know, Brad...
We grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to the hotel for an early bedtime, which was necessary, given our lofty touristing goals for the next day. (This did not stop us from watching a tear-jerking British home improvement show on the BBC...)
No comments:
Post a Comment