Day 15 - A Stroll across London

After an exceptionally yummi English Breakfast at the hotel we had a big day of exploring before us. We decided that we were not going to lug all of our bags around Britain on the tour and so we hopped into a cab and headed across London with 2 suitcases to our next London hotel the Hilton Metropole, where we had made arrangements to store out bags. This is the hotel that the Globus tour finishes at and so they are happy to store them for a modest fee and it will be much easier for us:)And Anne Marie will be pleased to know that there is a Marks and Spencers shop right across the road!! Shopping!

Back on the Tube and our first stop today was the War Cabinet Rooms and the Churchill Museum. Our friends Karen and Enid had told us how fantastic this little London gem was and we were not disappointed. This museum is located in the basement of the treasury building and was top secret during the war, lying under a 6feet concrete reinforced ceiling. Much of it is in the original condition that it was left in on 16 August 1945 when it was not needed any more following the surrender of the Japanese in WWII. What isn't original has been faithfully restored using eyewitness accounts and original materials. A large part of the area has been devoted to the Churchill Museum and some of the technology here is just amazing. An interactive timeline allows you to click on particular years and when you click on 6th August 1945 it wipes out the whole timeline in a simulated atomic explosion. So well thought out and executed.

As St James Park is just across from the war cabinet rooms we went for a walk towards St James palace, where we caught up with the guards that were marching down to the Mall. Then we kept walking.. across Green Park, up Constitution Hill to the Wellington Arch, an imposing structure that has been rebuilt or relocated 3 times in all and has had two different statues on the top. It was built to honour the Duke of Wellington ( after Waterloo). It is on the busy Hyde Park corner and so, having checked out the top of the arch, and having had a quick mooch in Aspley house (the home of the duke of Wellington) it was into Hyde Park for a long walk.

we found the Holocaust memorial. A beautiful peaceful shady little garden with a simple rock memorial featuring a quote from Lamentations.

As we walked up the hill we were greeted by the Serpentine dam and a whole lot of tourists and Londoners out in row boats and paddle boats. We skirted the lake in search of the Diana Memorial which is interesting and very simple, but such a contrast to the Holocaust Memorial. No peace here. Children screeching and children and adults wading and playing in the fountain. In some ways it was a bit of a disappointment.

Across the road in Kensington Gardens we saw the huge Albert Memorial and then across the road from that is the Albert Hall. We were fortunate to just be the last two places in the 3pm tour and it was a fantastic look at how the Hall has developed and who has performed there. We even sat in the box next to the Royal Box. There were people queuing outside, because, at the moment it is the BBC Proms series and you can buy standing room tickets for 5 Pounds.Tonight the London Philharmonic were playing so i can understand why people would queue. At this stage we were feeling totally exhausted so we hopped on a London bus which got stuck in a terrible traffic jam on its way to Piccadilly Circus. It even changed routes half way through the trip but at least we got to where we needed to connect with the Tube for our trip back to the hotel.

After a quick freshen up we headed off to St George's Catherdal Southwark for evening Mass... and what did we find??? A visiting Australian priest from Manly was concelebrating! it is a small world. Dinner on the way home was picked up from a Marks and Spencers Simply Fresh and now we are organising life, ready to head off on the tour tomorrow. We have labeled the bags and Chris has even written on the name tags!!! Eeekkkkkkk!