Churchill War Rooms, Tower of London, St Paul's and We're Headed Home

 

                                            

June 23, 2025 - Today we have tickets to the Churchill War Rooms, which is a historic underground complex that housed the British Government command center during WWII.  It also includes a museum of Churchill's life.  After the War Rooms Museum, we walked through St James Park, had a picnic lunch and wandered by Buckingham Palace.  We then walked to Westminster Abbey for a tour there.  We've been using the Underground to get where we're going.  Today it took longer than expected because of some train delays, but to get to downtown London, it's been taking us about 45 minutes to get there from our apartment in Notting Hill.

My first sighting of Big Ben, past yet another man on a horse statue (we've seen a lot over the last month).

The War Rooms Museum came with an audio tour that was quite good.  The place was packed though, so it wasn't as enjoyable as it should have been.  This was the map room which was staffed 24/7 during the war.  

This told the staff what the weather was like above them, since they didn't have any way of knowing

lots of reminders everywhere to keep things quiet

NOOOOO whistling!

This was the door to Number 10 Downing St.  It was changed to a blast-proof door in 1991 due to security concerns after an IRA mortar attack

Churchill's dining room

As more staff was needed they split some of the quarters to accommodate the growing numbers of people living there.

this is a map of where the War Rooms is located (a small black side-ways T) and the red holes are where bombs hit.

Much of the War Rooms were left as-is and were made into a museum in 1985.

the map of the war lines, updated with pins, as the war was happening

different colored phones for different things in one of the command centers

ice cream in St James Park after lunch

gardens and flags in front of Buckingham Palace

Not the changing of the guards (that happens at 11:00 each morning and lasts 45 minutes) but a little pomp and circumstance as they change out a guard or two.

those are some massive gates

the Union Jack is flying, which means King Charles is not home

It was decorated around Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour on June 14th

more Big Ben 

A walk by Parliament

more Parliament

Next our tour of Westminster Abbey

Stephen Hawking's ashes are buried in Westminster Abbey

I didn't love Westminster Abbey.  It seemed to me it was over-run by memorials.

pretty flags and ceiling

The Coronation Chair is at Westminster Abbey.  It was made by King Edward I to hold the stone of scone which he brought to England in 1296.  The chair has been used at every coronation since 1308.  The stone which filled the space below the seat was returned to Scotland in 1996 but will come back to the Abbey for future coronations.

We walked by Big Ben on our way across the Westminster Bridge over the Thames.

we walked along the river for some views

The London Eye

Beers and a break on the rooftop of the Bow Street Pub (it was 5 flights up, which we didn't know when we headed up there)

Next a walk through Covent Gardens, which had lots going on, with shopping and restaurants

Kev trying to get free chocolate at Neuhaus

Covent Garden

the stairs into the underground look like piano keys

Narrowboats on the Regents Canal!!

June 24, 2025 - Our last day sightseeing in London!  Tomorrow morning our 1 hour flight to Dublin leaves at 9:50 and then we have an 8.5 hr flight to Indy from there (after a 3 hour layover).  Today we have tickets to the Tower of London, then St Paul's Cathedral.  After today we can no longer say ABC (another bloody Cathedral, another bloody Castle).  We've seen a lot of both on this trip, but the UK is certainly full of them.  We're sad to be heading home, but it's sure been a great trip!  Five and a half weeks was barely enough time!

 

The hidden entrance to our apartment complex

Kev's double (Kev's on the right)

Tower Bridge 

such a cool bridge!

the Tower of London

We did the Youghman's tour, which lasted about 45 minutes and then wandered on our own with the hour forty five minutes audio guide that came with the ticket ($48/each).  And another nice clocktower. 

where Anne Bolyn was beheaded

long line to see the crown jewels (no pics allowed inside)

the armory museum-Henry the VIII's suit of armor

the BIG book that kept track of all the armaments for 3 years (900 pages)

punishment for a gossip

a chopping block that looked like it had been used twice.  Usually they were used once and burned after use

it turned into a sunny day

and before we left, we did a walk along the wall, which was quite winding 

the white palace (which houses the armory museum), which was the first building on the grounds.  If the tower was under siege they would burn the wooden stairs to protect the king.  

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from the wall

On the wall were towers used as prisons.  Prisoners would carve their names in the walls.  This was Henry Walpole

Tower Bridge from the wall

nice bench and interesting wall

doesn't this building look like the triangle you hit for "play"?

guard on duty

happy guard on duty

you need a telephone booth in the tower of London

one more pic of Tower Bridge 

view of the Tower of London on our way to the subway

mind the gap

St Paul's is our last ABC

The architect was Christopher Wren.  When it was built it was the largest dome outside of Italy (second to St Peter's Basilica in Rome)

These are the original doors which are 27 feet tall and are only opened on special occasions

We took a tour in St Paul's and the guide told us about the group of people who worked to save the church, during the war by putting out any embers

we're going to climb to the top of this dome...all 528 steps

mostly clear windows (instead of stained glass because Wren wanted lots of light)

this section was a memorial to the Americans of WWII, with a window with all 50 states' flags.  Here's Indiana...we looked but couldn't find NJ's

hearts

View from the Stone Gallery, the second view point.  The first stop was the Whispering Gallery, which looks down onto the cathedral floor.

View from the top, the Golden Gallery!  It was a crazy little circular staircase to the very top and the girl in front of us was not taking the climb very well

view of the Thames and the London Eye

nice skyline

Tower Bridge

pretty mosaic floor in St Paul's as we leave

They love the curved buildings in the UK

Chicken Kiev at The Cow, a pub around the corner from our apartment

Last Guinness of the trip!

One last time through the gate to our apartment at 11 Shrewsbury Mews

And we started our trip with the Brakes with Prosecco and decided we should end the same way!  What a great trip!

 

London - Portobello Road Market and the British Museum

 

June 21, 2025 - We're starting our day with a walk to Portobello Road Market, which is just a 20 minute walk from our apartment.  Next we tried the British Museum and found that we needed timed tickets (even though they were free tickets).  Since there wasn't any availability until tomorrow we decided to do the Hop on Hop off bus tour around London, but after we bought the tickets ($54/each), we found out that there was a protest that was closing down the central part of London and was making it difficult for buses to get around.  We rode for an hour and got out to check out Harrods.  We then had to wait quite awhile for the next bus, and once we were on the bus it was barely moving, so we got off at Kensington Palace and walked through the park and then stopped at a local pub called the Champions, for beers, which then turned into dinner.

Portobello Road has lots of colorful buildings with cute shops.

On Saturday the market spills into the street and it goes on for many many blocks

We never even made it to the other end of the market

more colorful buildings

And by the time we left it was really busy. (we got there before 9:30 when it was just opening and left around 11)

Next the Tube, which is really deep.  The escalators just kept going down

always so festive

lunch in Russell Square

It was a hot day (hottest of the year)! 

 

                      

and we had the top deck of the bus to ourselves

pretty dome (and the sound system on the bus didn't work, so we didn't know what anything was)

not quite a clocktower, but interesting anyway

a quick ride up the escalators in Harrod's to get cool (and it wasn't all that cool in the department store)

a walk through Kensington Gardens, and a quick stop in front of the Queen Victoria statue

June 22, 2025 - Today we have timed tickets for the British Museum.  The earliest we could get was 12:20, so we'll do some exploring on our way to the museum.  We thought we would ride Lime bikes through Hyde Park, but we couldn't find 4 bikes together, so we walked through the park and thought we'd see if the museum would let us come in early.  We went through security and no one ever asked us for our timed tickets!  Glad we didn't twiddle our thumbs for an hour and a half before entering the museum.  After exploring the museum for about 4 hours Kev and I headed to Notting Hill for Sunday roast reservations at Ladbroke Arms.

The Italian Gardens in Hyde Park

Peter Pan statue

Across the Serpentine we could see the Shard and just the tip of the London Eye

Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Walk

Next the subway to Russell Square

Hoa Hakananai'a, a significant moai (ancestor figure) from Easter Island

The Rosetta Stone is a fragment of an ancient Egyptian stele inscribed with the same text in three scripts:  hieroglyphic, Demotic and ancient Greek.   It was found in 1799 by French soldiers during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt.  It was crucial in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics because Greek text was a known language

This was the backside of the stone, looking through at the mass of people trying to see it

The head and upper body of the younger Memnon, a colossal granite statue of Pharaoh Ramesses II.  It was originally placed in front of Ramesses II's mortuary Temple in Thebes, Upper Egypt.

The Shabaka Stone, the text describes the creation of the world, emphasizing the role of the god Ptah of Memphis as the supreme creator

a wall of hieroglyphics

Kayung Totem Pole in the Great Court (which is the largest covered public space in Europe).  The totem pole was created by the First Nations People in the Pacific Northwest.

The Parthenon Sculptures known as the Elgin Marbles.  These ancient sculptures originally were on the Parthenon in Athens and they were brought to Britain in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin.  The ownership remains a debate with Greece advocating for their return (imagine that!)

In 1903 the British Suffragists (WSPU) used tactics of civil disobedience to try to bring attention to their cause and illegally stamped their slogan on coins.  VOTES FOR WOMEN

Lewis Chessmen, medieval chess pieces found on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland in 1831

Hinton St Mary Mosaic, which is believed to be the earliest depiction of Jesus Christ found in Roman Britain.  It dates from the early 4th century AD and was discovered in Dorset England in 1963.

We took the subway to Ladbroke Arms in Notting Hill for dinner

Sunday roast, with roasted potatoes, carrots and Yorkshire pudding (which I had never had before).  The Yorkshire pudding is like a muffin, not sure why it's called pudding!