London Day 5 Churchill's War Rooms

London Day 5 Churchill's War Rooms

 

Well. once again I started the day with a plan, but as they say in the classics... "The best laid plans of mice and men...."

The plan was to see both the Churchill War Rooms and Westminster Abbey. I achieved one and not the other, but had a few bonuses on the way!

The first complication was the Tube! Earls Court station is on the District Line and they decided to close down the District line for the whole weekend for "engineering works"! I could go as far as South Kensington, then I was stuffed...

Hmmm.. more problem solving on the go...

I worked out  an alternative route that took me to Charing Cross station which I figured was the closest I could get to Westminster, and once again I ended up in Trafalgar Square, where there was a big promotion of American football... moving right along...

Anyway  I went through this arch (not sure what it's called  - help from my London friends needed here!)

Then I realised I was on the edge of St James' Park, and on the road that led up to Buckingham Palace.

But just as I was standing there working all this out, along came the guards on horse back...

After that little bonus, I ventured into St James' Park for morning tea. The views were outstanding...

St James' Park - lovely place for morning tea

St James' Park - lovely place for morning tea

St James' Park - lovely place for morning tea

So after that lovely little interlude I walked just a few minutes to the Churchill War Rooms. This was another one of my priorities to see.... I have been really interested in both Wars since I have had to teach about it, so was keen to see where the hub of the action was during WW2.

After a short queue time we went down in groups of 10 which enabled us not to be on top of each other...

I just loved it down there. Once again we were given audio guides and they had lots of interactive displays and models of what it was actually like. It also traced the life of Winston Churchill from his boyhood right through to his death,  but the main emphasis was on the years during WW2  when  he spent a great deal  of time in this bunker.

Once again it's impossible to bring the whole experience to life but I'll try to give  you a flavour...

Info about the war cabinet

Actual cabinet room

More info about the war cabinet

Seems Winston was quite a hard worker and worked very  long hours... expecting his staff to do the same..

Model of BBC Transmission Room

Model of telephonists

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Model of typists -on call nearly24 hours

Map room - plotting where the convoys were

Army and Air force also involved

Churchill's actual bedroom underground

Perhaps it's hard to get the picture, but for me it was an amazing experience that really brought the whole war thing to life.

So, after nearly 3 hours, I left the bunker with the intention of going to Westminster Abbey next. Maybe it's a Protestant conspiracy, but both times I've tried to get  in I was blocked...  This time they told me it was closed at 1.30pm. Damn! And closed on Sunday too!

So what to do next....???

I had already arranged to meet Karys again for a coffee so I went to Victoria Station so  I could find some free wifi to text her. She was happy to move our coffee forward a bit, so my next task was to find how to get to Clapham South. No worries, when all the trains are doing what they should.

So I met Karys outside Clapham South Station and we walked up to Clapham Common and had a beer at O'Neill's pub, where  "Seamus" tried to join us (that was his real name) but he kind of missed the chair! He was a few ahead of us I reckon!!!

Anyway we moved on pretty quickly and walked back through this beautiful park

Clapham Common

After our quick beer experience we decided we needed a coffee, and it was the first one I've had since a left Perth that actually tasted like the flat whites that I know...

Bit fuzzy - blame the waiter who took the pic!

The next challenge was to get home - given that my district line was down for the weekend...

But I took a bus  to Clapham Junction, then was able to get a bus that  took me straight to Earls Court Station. It was actually lovely to ride the bus overground, and to see the sights of London at night. Because Clapham was south of the river, we had to cross the Thames and it was great to see the lights of London. I rode at the top of the double decker bus, right up the front so I could see it all.


So, that was my day... a bit different from what I had thought this morning, but very enjoyable, none the less....