Continuing Adventures in London

Yesterday was our first full day in London, with a full night's sleep behind us.  Ah London!  Being a complete bibliophile, I have a long reading acquaintance with London, and there is too much I want to see here in the little time we have.  I am also a history geek, and there is so much to absorb in a city with such a long history.  Where to start?

We took the tube from West Kensington to Westminster. Some of the Underground is actually above ground.

The West Kensington platform:

The first sight to meet me as we emerged from the Underground at Westminster (which is actually underground) was Big Ben.

I was so excited to finally see this icon that I could hardly keep from skipping down the street.  There was so much to see on the crowded street.  We walked out on to the bridge for a view of the Thames and  the London Eye.

Greg had to indulge me with several pictures of telephone booths with Big Ben in the background.

We decided to start at the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (http://cwr.iwm.org.uk/).  It was fascinating to walk through the underground offices and rooms constructed in anticipation of aerial bombing in WWII. It was dimly lit and very tight quarters; I can't imagine what it would have been like to spend days in there, especially with bombs falling overhead.  It was quite a testament to the spirit and endurance of the English people.

Entrance to War Rooms:

From here, we walked over to Downing Street, which was very heavily guarded (and crowded with tourists like us).  Unfortunately, we couldn't walk down Downing Street.

We decided to head to the House of Parliament to see how long the wait was to see the debates.  We were in luck; the wait to get into the House of Commons was only about 5 minutes.  After going through security, we entered Westminster Hall, built in 1099.

At the head of the stairway at the end of the hall was a magnificent stained glass window.

We walked up to the House of Commons and took our place in the gallery. I was hoping for a rousing debate with lots of MP's, the likes of which they occasionally show on CSPAN. Instead, there were only about 20 MP's in the room, serenely debating a police bill with no real opposition.  Nonetheless, it was a fascinating look at representative government at work. Before exiting the secured area of the grounds, we took a few more pictures:

From the House of Parliament, we walked to Westminster Abbey (http://www.westminster-abbey.org). 

There was no photography allowed within Westminster Abbey.  I will admit that Westminster Abbey was the biggest surprise of the day for me.  I had always heard of all the kings, queens, poets, and dignitaries buried within Westminster Abbey, and I pictured a giant, enormously old, graveyard beside the church. What I didn't know until I entered the church was that all those people are buried inside the church.  There are over 600 memorials within the Abbey.  We took our time walking through the Abbey and seeing the ancient graves.

After all the walking we did, it was time to refresh ourselves with a late lunch at a nearby pub.

After lunch we decided to visit the British Museum, since our information told us that it was open late on Thursdays. We hopped the tube over and walked to the gate.

We were then turned away, because my guidebook was wrong about the hours. Note to self, double check hours online before visiting next time.  We will hit the British Museum on the last day of our trip, because I do not want to miss it!

Today we leave for Stratford-upon-Avon, a must-visit place for a Bardolator such as myself. We will be renting a car, and it will be interesting to see how I do driving a manual transmission on the opposite side of the road.