London, United Kingdom

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We planned to do two activities today and try to slow down in this fast paced city. First we went to the Museum of Natural History which is free to enter (donation appreciated) and is only one train stop from our hotel. Its actually not far to walk but we need to save our feet for a big day so may as well use the Oyster card that we purchased.

It was very warm this morning and we hoped that the museum would be a nice cool place but it was not, in fact it was stuffy with no air flow and probably nicer outside. There are four sections to the museum, and more than one building but they are interconnected. We may have avoided the crowds of school holidays at places, but not the school groups which makes for mass groups of people at venues – and they tend to be noisy. I like the idea of the Picasso museum we went to in Barcelona where you had to prebook for a timed slot – this avoided overcrowding and made a for a more pleasant experience. I fully appreciate the value that students gain from these excellent and interesting places but they are a hindrance to the individual traveller. Another idea I had was that they should have certain times of the day for groups and tours blocked out.

Anyway we enjoyed the museum in particular the fossils, dinosaur, big blue whale, mineral and gems sections. The English do museums very well and the quick fly through we have done at these sites really warrant a lot more leisurely look to be able to really absorb and take in all the information and interactive material. People are fortunate to have such a wealth of history and information resource available.

After our museum visit we hopped back on the train (all underground in London) and went to the city near Westminster Abbey and Big Ben (we wont make it to the Abbey this visit as much as we would like as we have to drop some things) and walked towards where the Churchill War Office Museum is. Also in the district is ’10 Downing Street’, and we walked up near there to find a place for lunch. The only one we could find was an old upmarket pub which made special pies amongst other things. It was a wonderful atmosphere, built around 1800’s they had it beautifully maintained/restored. We had a ‘lamb hot-pot pie’ and ‘gammon, cheddar and pickle’ sandwich plus cuppa tea and coffee for £25 pound all up which was very good value for the quality and inner London prices. I thoroughly enjoy these ‘nice’ pubs which serve surprisingly good food. The gammon was thickly cut and warmed, and the pie nice and meaty with just the right amount of delicate gravy and some thinly sliced potato.

There was a bit of a queue for the Churchill Museum as they limit numbers going in as its an underground bunker/rooms situation with limited space. I am pleased to say that there were no school or tour groups – yeah! It only took about 15 minutes till we got in which is not too bad considering some lines we have seen. The museum is where Winston did all his planning with the military and advisors for the war, including the communications room, strategy, sleeping quarters etc. It was left exactly as they had it and they have added on a large section on Winston Churchill’s life from birth to death – even including some of his handwriting, many books he published, art (he was a painter) and more. This was one venue I would have skipped to have some time out but I am so glad I went as it was very interesting. I kept thinking of my brother Tom and how much he would have enjoyed it. We were there as long as we could till closing time – about 1.5 hrs and for risk of repeating myself I would have loved to have more time to read about Winston and get into the fantastic museum displays they had on his life. We got to walk through the war offices part completing it with enough time with the good free audio guide.

We headed back home and had dinner at the little place we enjoyed the first night, which this time was not so nice. I ordered stuffed capsicum and it was nowhere as good as mine or as it looked. The filling was bland and the capsicum undercooked (should be soft, sweet and caramelised). I had a big feed of beans and broccoli though and a greek side so that filled me up. Vern had a pizza which was better (but not wow) and he could not eat it all so we gave it to a hungry young man sitting next to us that only had a panini. He was so appreciative which was sweet, we did it in thinking of our son KC who has hollow legs …. The evening was completed with a call into the supermarket to get another cider, from another region. We chose an oak aged scrumpy which is 8% alcohol instead of the usual 4%. It was rather tasty – more like a hint of wine than the lighter ciders and fuller in flavour. We also found a New York cheesecake from the reduced section which was as good as any restaurant in the UK so far. Nom.