ATW80: LDN

I’m sorry that I didn’t mention it in at all in yesterday’s entry but yesterday was the 4th anniversary of the London bombings. Here I was, riding the Tube without realising - crap, this is something that happened 4 years ago. The many modes of transport that I was freely exploring London on were terrorised in a cruel act that took the lives of 56 people, including the 4 perpetrators. Today, London is somewhat changed. I don’t think it will ever be the same after 7/7, although they’ve moved on - nothing against NYC but you have to build, rebuild and then move on.

I thought about going on a day break to either Bath or Brighton but backed out when I saw what the prices were. I had 2 hours to kill before the Science Museum would open - time for a visit to the Queen.

The changing of the guard wasn’t to happen until 11.30am but I did the tourist thing and got some happy snaps done. Also I had to get a few pictures of Buckingham Palace in the background. I found a plaque in the ground indicating that I was on the Princess of Wales walk. This was a memorial walk dedicated to the late Princess Diana. It took me through St James Park and right up to the UK Treasury, which also hosted the Imperial War Museum’s Winston Churchill exhibit.

To think that this was the ‘war room’ in the heat of WWII is pretty crazy, but this is where you will get to know one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th Century. How exciting! I spent the best part of 3 hours learning about him, his wit, his command of the Allies and his hand in the liberation of Europe. In fact there were some places that I would be visiting in the next few days.

I then went up for a walk past a few of the touristy places - Big Ben, 10 Downing St, and Trafalgar Sq - before deciding to go to the actual Imperial War Museum. That meant more Tube action! I was beginning to master the system and get around town, even if it meant climbing a whole lot of stairs.

The collection at the IWM was so huge (it reminded me of the Smithsonian at Washington DC), that I only managed to get up to the exhibits in the lower ground by closing time.

I went back to St Paul’s, laid on my bed and thought about going down to the Rising Sun for a beer, but went straight to zzz.

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