Churchill's War Rooms and more

The rain POURED while we had breakfast, but by the time we set out to walk to Westminster, it was breezy and clear. Lucky us! Saw The Eye and crossed the Thames.

The Big Ben clock tower was GORGEOUS. I bet that's real gold on there. And the huge statues of all the statesmen, chief among which was Churchill, of course, were pretty interesting.

Eric was so excited to see the War Rooms that we got there an hour early, so we got some tea (and I got a sketch!) in while waiting. 🤣 We had tickets for 11am and we stayed until after 2pm! If you ever have a chance to, please go! Most of the exhibits were related to the wartime years, but a good chunk of it was also about Churchill's own personal history.

The Rooms below Westminster were left intact when staff left in Aug 1945, so we could see so much of how the British war effort was coordinated. It was so interesting that I gave up on taking pix! We're had gotten an informative booklet, so I wasn't too worried about that.

We walked to Trafalgar Square, and Joe & I split a burger for lunch at a pub called Silver Cross. Gave ourselves 10 minutes to explore a delicious-looking bookstore, and then continued on to Covent Gardens. It wasn't a garden at all (!!!), but a marketplace with quite a few street performers busking away for the crowds.

Even though we weren't all that hungry, we stopped in at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street in the financial district. This pub was recommended to us, and now we know why. It was rebuilt in 1666 and has operated continuously since then. !!! It had lots of corners, floors, rooms, and twists and turns - so interesting. I got to do some sketching, and the others solved the world's problems, all over the British artisanal cheese board and some glasses of cider.

At that point, we were only 1.5 miles from our place, so we closed the loop on foot. I'm still hoping to ride in one of those black cabs before we head out from London! On the way back, we met Paul Flanders who was doing a small oil painting so we chatted and exchanged info.

Doing laundry now at 11:30pm. 😴😴😴

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