Whirlwind day in London

Last weekend we flew to London!  It was our first time flying with RyanAir, and I'm on board!  There's no leg room, and they don't have drink service in-flight, but I have short legs and can bring water with me.  I'm definitely in favor of cheap tickets.  I just wish they had more flights out of Nuremberg.  (They only fly to 3 locations at the moment).  

London is expensive!  Very, very expensive.  We made a list of all the places we wanted to visit, and decided it was worth it to buy the London Pass (ie: get into everywhere 'free' after paying an arm and a leg for the pass.)  That meant we were trying to cram in all of the expensive places we wanted to see in one day to take advantage of the passes.  

Hyrum spent Friday afternoon feeding his soccer obsession, so I'll have him write about that another day.  

Saturday was our whirlwind day through all of London's top sights.  (At least in our book.)

First up, the Churchill War Rooms.  Fourteen years ago my dad took me and my sister to London.  (Half of my life ago! Crazy to think about...)  This was one of the museums we went to, and I knew Hyrum would love it.  I was right--he said it was one of his favorite things from the trip.  (Probably right after the soccer stadiums.)  

  

You can walk through the underground bunker where the British government directed their efforts during WWII.  Winston Churchill slept, ate, and worked here.  Everything looks like it did in 1945 when the war came to a close... gas masks on the dresser, rows of telephone lines (one line going straight to FDR), maps on the walls, etc.    

[bottom right picture is Churchill's bedroom]^^

I think that since Hyrum just came back from deployment this all hit home for him.  We saw Britain's Chiefs of Staff conference room with maps all over the walls and pins tracking the movement of troops around the world.  Hyrum said things worked the same in Afghanistan, but the technology was a bit more advanced... maps shown on screens instead.  It was interesting to see all the signs up, just as they were 70 years ago:  "Quiet Please" on top of the Prime Minister's office door.  

The three photos below give a glimpse of the construction of the underground network.  To the left is the staircase coming out of the museum.  On the right (top) you can see the thickness of one wall, and on the right (bottom) is a section of the 5' thick concrete/steel slab built above the bunker protecting it from bombs.  

An addition they've made since my last visit was the Churchill Museum--a huge display of artifacts, correspondence, quotes, and interactive displays giving a glimpse into the life of the Prime Minister.  To give my feet a rest, I spent some time at a machine reading some quotes from Churchill.  He said some pretty funny things:

"I'm just preparing my impromptu remarks."

“Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result.”

“I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.”

Lady Astor: “Winston, if I were your wife I’d put poison in your coffee.”

Winston Churchill: “Nancy, if I were your husband I’d drink it.”

Hyrum thought it was pretty cool to see Churchill's gun

 And I'm pretty sure I need this war propaganda poster to hang in my kitchen:

From there, we ran through St James Park over to Buckingham Palace to catch the changing of the guards.  I hate big crowds, so it was kind of miserable.  (Plus I was trying to feed Santiago while we stood and waited.  Not ideal.)  But we saw it, despite a few heads in our way.  

 

Here you can see Santiago's just-woke-up face.  Full of joy, right?

After all this traveling I feel like I should start a list of all the odd places I've fed Santiago.  Here we are in the park with some Asian tourists.  With everyone flooding past after the changing of the guards.  Good thing I'm so discreet! (ha, or just don't care anymore.)

Walking back towards Westminster Abbey, we saw a double-decker bus that said, "I Love Mormon".  Hyrum didn't realize it was for the play, and said, Mormon ads in London!  Take a picture!  And even though they're for the Book of Mormon show, I still think the publicity is cool.  Why not let someone else pay to get the word out?  Another bus said "I love the Book of Mormon."  Yes!

Westminster Abbey is THE church to see.  British royalty have been crowned and buried there since 1066...almost a millennium!  We walked across the tombs of Charles Darwin and past Sir Isaac Newton.  Then on to Queen Elizabeth, and her half-sister Mary who she killed.  All the King Henrys...  Everyone.

Pictures inside aren't permitted (except for the cloisters) so here are a few pictures from the internet:

I mentioned before how ridiculous it can be to get someone to take a picture for us.  We wanted a shot in front of Westminster Abbey, and the first two people as asked failed miserably.  One took the picture horizontally and cut out the entire church, and the other person took the picture and included more of our legs than the church.  Then we tried a 'selfie' (hard with a dslr camera!)  

Finally someone offered to take one for us.  Great!

In the same area we were also able to see the Parliament building, Big Ben, and the London Eye.  (Nothing sounds more miserable to me than being stuck in the compartment of a ferris wheel standing up with a bunch of strangers for such a long time!!)

 We took a boat cruise down the Thames River, and got out at the Tower of London.

We had a great view of the London Bridge (actually called Tower Bridge).  Except Hyrum doesn't know the nursery rhyme so it didn't mean anything to him.

The weather in London is crazy.  On Saturday it wasn't all that cold, but we'd go through periods of heavy rain and wind.  Then 15 minutes later the sun would come out and we'd see blue skies.  During one rain storm the umbrella attacked Hyrum and he got a huge cut across his face.  (You'll see it in all of Sunday's pictures.)  We escaped into the museum in the White Tower to see the suits of armor, and then to the crowned jewels display.  It's amazing that after seeing a dozen crowns with real diamonds and stones the size of Tiago's fist, there was a donation collection at the exit!!

Santiago was always happy for the chance to get out of his carrier and stretch his legs.  

Here we are with the Yeoman Warders (aka Beefeaters).  We went on part of a tour that they were giving.

Just like Westminster Abbey is where everyone was crowned and buried, the Tower of London is where everyone was imprisoned and executed.  It's been around since 1077.  Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded there.  The tower also housed the Royal Mint and Royal Jewel House, among other things.

After a long day, we grabbed some Chinese food to-go and rode the bus back to our hotel to get this sleepy baby into his uncomfortable hotel crib, and grab a bit of sleep ourselves before continuing our adventures the next day.