PapaMarshall

Day 16 – 9/10 – Westminster and Whitehall

The day started (after breakfast, of course) with a trip to Westminster Abbey.

It’s interesting to view the Parliament/Abbey complex right now.

That’s Big Ben under all that scaffolding
And the House of Commons end of Parliment is being worked on as well.

We were told that this is a 3 year restoration effort necessitated by the fact that the buildings are currently sinking.

Between the tube stop and the Abbey we crossed Parliament Park. Here are a few of the statues lining the park.

That’s Churchill on the top imitating Steve.
Gandhi
Nelson Mandella

Anyway, we were a little late getting to the Abbey but never fear, we have Steve with his handy-dandy cane.  He uses it to great effect to prey on unsuspecting officials who assume that he is sufficiently infirm that it is a bad idea to make him stand in line.  In fairly short order we were inside, decked out in our audio guides and ready to soak in all that history.  Unfortunately they have a stupid “no cameras” rule so I can’t show you the neat stuff (like Stephen Hawking’s tombstone).  You’ll just have to take my word for it.  You need to put this place on your bucket list.

An hour and a half later we turned in our audio guides and headed across the cloister for lunch.  They didn’t say we couldn’t take photos of that part of the complex so

Halley’s memorial
The memorial to those who served the crown in the colonial territories
Captain James Cook

After a fine lunch in the Abbey’s cafe we had dessert

Then we visited the gift shop.

Then we made our way to the statue of Boudica where we met our tour guide Robert for a walking tour of the life and times of Winston Churchill.

Robert

Robert is a Churchill-o-fil who manages to overcome his strong Irish accent long enough to add a very good impression to various Churchill quotes.  It was a great tour, ending at the War Rooms.  This is the secret underground command post where Churchill, his cabinet and his military leaders conducted World War II. We got back-door access to the facility and spent a bunch of time wandering the hallways (listing to our audio guides) and perusing the adjacent Churchill museum.

Here are a few shots.

The cabinet meeting room. For the purpose of conducting the war he assembled a diverse group of people from across the political spectrum to be the “command circle.”
The military command center. Note the map on the right hand wall.
Someone has drawn a caricature of Hitler – probably to release some tension.
A posting of the current weather outside. If an air raid was imminent or in progress the weather would be listed as “windy.”
Churchill’s dining room.
His bedroom
His personal Chef’s kitchen
His personal private line to Roosevelt. The room was disguised as his loo.
The typing pool
The switchboard
The communications center
The BBC Broadcasting station
The tourists taking a break

Here are a couple of signs that looked interesting.  Keep in mind that these people worked and lived in close quarters, underground, constantly, for over 3 years. Cheryl says to mention that there was only one bathroom for the whole complex.

Churchill hated noise. He even required that the typewriters be specially designed to be quieter.
Even though they were underground there was a constant possibility that the building above them might suffer a direct hit – causing debris to block their exit doors.

Following the War Rooms visit we needed sustinence.  We repaired to The Red Lion across the street.  This pub is noteworthy because it was a favorite haunt of parliment back in the day.

Dinner was excellent.  The Red Lion is known for their meat pies.

Here is Cheryl digging in to her Chicken Tikka Masala pie with Sweet Potato fries.

Following dinner, and an extra round of ale to kill some time, we headed back to the tube and back to the hotel to rest, update the blog, read, and prepare for the morrow.

Tomorrow we start at the Tower of London and aim to hit the British Library after.

Wish us luck.

3 Comments

  1. – Westminster Abbey was amazing – all the kings and queens of England since 1066 until the people beheaded Charles 1, then Cromwell took over. When he died he was also buried but the people reinstated the monarchy (who dug up Cromwell, tried him for regicide, found him guilty, beheaded him and buried him somewhere else). Queen Elizabeth 1 is buried over the top of her half-sister Mary. In the floor are thousands of gravestones that you walk over listing all these famous peoples you have read about, however I was moved to tears by the newest gravestone – it’s a flat black stone with the universe and some equations inscribed on it and says “Here lies what was mortal of Stephen Hawking”. His ashes are buried there right next to Isaac Newton’s.

  2. You guys watched the Crown with Churchill? I couldn’t help think of those scenes when looking at these pictures. Wow.
    And Westminster- what a weighty place. Bri and I tried to get in- we missed closing time by 30 minutes.
    🙁

    1. Yes, they really nailed his larger than life self-image along with his single-minded devotion to England.

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