A Beauiful Monday in London

Monday, October 26, 2009
On our last full day in London we had a full schedule beginning with the Imperial War Museum which I thought Mitch would enjoy as he watches all those WWII TV shows. Another beautiful day so each day we leave another layer at the B&B. No more coats for us. We scanned our 7 day Olyster Travelcards and boarded the Bakerloo line directly to Lambeth .

I think Mitch likes this particular station because he insists on walking down 125 + steps. I take the lift.






“The Imperial War Museum is the national museum of the experiences of people who have lived, fought and died in conflicts involving Britain and the Commonwealth since 1914.



It tells everyone’s story: the history of Modern war and people’s experience of war and wartime life in Britain. “ There is a wonderful collection of planes – Sopwith Camels, Spitfires, Messersmidts, ; bombs, tanks, etc., as well as artifacts of everyday life, a simulated blitz experience, and special exhibits. It does not glorify war in any way, and I have to admit we skipped the more horrific Holocaust and conflicts since 1945 section. History from our parents' time is bad enough.






















The museum was getting quite crowded and we were hungry so we ate at the snackbar in the park next door before hopping on bus 360 to the Tate Britain. No way were we going to be able to do both Tates. So the Tate Modern will have to wait until next time for a revisit. We admired the Turners and took a gander at the modern stuff before we got too tired. Sorry, no photos says the guard so you’ll have to check out the Turners online.
Tonight we have tickets at the National Theatre for John Lithgow’s “Stories by Heart.”

Stay tuned







Mitch even insists on walking down the escalator. I've only lost him once or twice, but, as he leaves the navigating to me, most times he waits for me at the bottom.

Meat pie with mash

Update to Friday, Oct. 23, entry

We took a good long rest at our minimalist B&B to build up steam again. But dinner, we need dinner even after my breakfast English fry-up, and large prawn sandwich in the crypt at St. Martin in the Field (it's no longer a crypt but a restaurant). And I wanted to photograph at least one of the amusing/intriguing signs we'd seen. Tried to research good pubs for more true Brit food, but the Internet was totally gone, so out we went....unprepared!

We found one of the signs and here it is!

And we were equally successful with the pub. Pubs are not threatened by the fast food invasion and there are still pubs on just about every corner....perhaps not as ornate as they once were and many serving sophisticated food (the maligned "gastro-pub"). So we wandered around looking for the appropriate one serving British food (many offer Thai), and just right for the sedate middle-aged couple we are). We settled on the Monkey Puzzle and had a very delightful evening....first relaxing with beers on the leather couch (beats our B&B hands down), and then progressing to baked camembert with honey and pecans for starters, then pork pie and mash served with 2 perfectly done vegs (besides the potatoes) and a side salad (too much). With just one order we wondered if it would be enough. What do you think? Here is a picture of Mitch's half. And it was delicious!

Cabinet War Room

Today we went to the Cabinet War Rooms, the top destination on Mitch's must-see list, and it was quite good. Supposedly everything was left just as it was at the end of WWII. I'm sending you the link http://cwr.iwm.org.uk/ because I know your Internet connection is better than ours. And of course there is technology to supplement the artifacts - listen to recordings of people talking about working with Churchill, living in the bunker, etc. I don't think one really gets the feeling of too many people in too little space, all smoking like chimneys with no natural light and no flush toilets. And right in the middle of the war rooms is the new Churchill Museum - sort of like a 300 page Churchill multimedia biography. Very well done, but much too much to absorb.

Then we walked up to Trafalgar Square and had lunch in the crypt and a concert at St. Martin in the Field. Young pianist, Beth Chen, played Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Prokofiev. St. Martin in the Field has been renovated and is looking all prosperous and freshly painted, and there was a full house for the concert. I've never seen that before.

We are tired today, so took the bus home through the remarkably congested streets (people and buses)....it's a slow trip, but great views sitting at the front on top of a double decker (Mitch calls the one closest to the side the "terror seat") Don't think we'll do much else today for fear of tiring Mitch too much.