London- Tuesday, July 23, 2013

     We had one more day left on our London Pass today, so we tried to pick sites that were included in that.  After sleeping in a bit, and hotel breakfast, we walked back across Westminster Bridge, past the Houses of Parliament, to Westminster Abbey so that we were there when the abbey opened at 9:30.   It stormed last night and was overcast for most of today, so the view of Parliament wasn't quite as brilliant as it was yesterday.  Once in the Abbey, we used the audio guides and followed the shuffling crowd of tourists around.   We tried to see all the major parts- the Coronation Chair that has been used for every British monarch's coronation in the abbey since Edward I in 1297, the tombs of many British monarchs including Elizabeth I, and the tombs and memorials of so many important Englishmen and women, like Isaac Newton.  We saw the famed "Poet's Corner," where so many English writers are memorialized, from Chaucer (who is buried here) to Shakespeare and Lewis Carroll (who are not).  Anna was interested to be in the church where Will and Kate got married, especially since the girls have been hearing so much about the baby they had yesterday.   However, Emma started to freak out when she realized how many dead people were near her, and she had a hard time.  Scott also had a hard time because the slow shuffling played havoc was his feet today.   Julie was trying to compare this church with Notre Dame.  The light brown of the stone makes this church a brighter one than Notre Dame, but it's so full of "stuff."  The many huge monuments do seem to clutter up the place. 

     From there we went to the nearby Churchill War Rooms, which is where the famous Prime Minister and his cabinet helped to lead Britain through the trying years of World War II and the Blitz.  Much of the underground bunkers are left exactly like they were or are restored to their war time appearances.  The cabinet room and map rooms, along with many of the living quarters and offices seems as if it IS 1941, and the occupants have only just stepped out.  Attached to the War Rooms is the Churchill Museum, which explores his life in very creative ways.  Of course, there are many artifacts that were owned and used by Churchill.  The museum makes very creative use of multimedia for interpreting his life.  A large, long table in the middle of the room shows his life, and seemingly each day of his life can be explored by museum visitors.  It's actually a little overwhelming in its scope.  This part of the museum is oddly arranged, and doesn't follow his life in chronological order.  Emma came to life here though, partly because we had left the dead people of Westminster Abby behind, partly because it was air-conditioned, and partly because the audio guide that she was using was different then the adult ones we had.  Hers was using the same stops, but had a child-friendly narration about each one.  Scott kinda wished he had hers instead.

    After the War Rooms, we headed for lunch.   We went to a place near Trafalgar Square, but the service was very slow.  By the time we were served and done there we had taken a big chunk of our afternoon time and had to make decisions.  We decided to go to St. Paul's Cathedral via the subway.  By the time we got to the entrance there, it was about 3:50, and the staff was letting everyone know that they were closing and the sightseeing was ending at 4:30.  We used the museum pass to get in for free though, and we had already been introduced to the cathedral from the bus tours.  We knew it was designed by Christopher Wren to replace the one that had burned down in the Great Fire of 1666.  Because of the time, we skipped any guided narration and strolled around the interior on our own.  We did manage to see the memorial and grave of Lord Charles Cornwallis (who surrendered his British and Hessian troops to George Washington at Yorktown), and Scott went found the large tombs of Admiral Horatio Nelson (of Trafalgar fame) and Arthur, Duke of Wellington who beat Napoleon.  Both are placed prominently in the crypt.  There was going to be a choir performing at 5:00, but we all felt like we would fall asleep because of the heat if we stayed, so we bought a book to tell us about what we missed and went back to the hotel.  Scott was disappointed that at both Westminster Abbey and at St. Paul's photography was not allowed.  (The same was true at the chapel in the Tower of London.  When she saw the sign there, Emma said, "Hurray! You can't take pictures!")  Julie said she liked St. Paul's better than Westminster Abbey because it was both bright and open, and not clutterered with monuments and screens.  She and the girls sat on the front steps and pretended to feed the pigeons like in Mary Poppins, but we think there's a fine for really feeding them now.   There was only a few birds around and nobody else was feeding them.

     We took the subway back to our hotel, and Julie got Subway for us to eat, along with drinks and a bag of ice from the store across the street.  After we had a chance to eat, rest and cool down, Scott said he wanted to take everyone somewhere, but he didn't say where we were going.  We got on the Tube again, and we went Leicester Square Station.  Scott got a little lost trying to get the family to the first surprise destination, but it was one of those fortuitous kinds of being lost where you can keep stumbling on interesting surprises that you weren't expecting.  We saw an Agatha Christie memorial, and Julie got her picture taken there because she is one of her favorite authors.  We found Chinatown, which Emma was excited to be in.  Anna found another iPhone case she liked with London pictures on it, and Julie haggled to bring the price down a few pounds.  We finally had to ask for help to find what we were looking for.  It was the M&M Store, featuring the candy coated characters from the advertisements.  It's kind of a random thing to find in London, but the girls had a lot of fun looking there.  The store is quite big, with four stories of merchandise with the M&M characters doing British things.  And of course, we bought some candy.  There was a long row of colors that you could choose from for your bag, and the girls brought a small mixed bag back with them.  It will drive Julie crazy trying to find two that match in this bag.

     That wasn't the end of the night, though.  We took one more trip on the Tube out to Earl's Court Station, where just outside the door is a blue police call box.  It looks almost just like the TARDIS from Dr. Who.  We took our pictures by it and came back to the hotel via a different subway line.