Our day trip to London almost did not get underway. We were waiting on the wrong side of the road for the bus to take us into Cambridge to catch the train! Luckily the bus driver understood our mistake and laughed along with us as we boarded on the left (correct) side of the street. (This just confirms my belief that my driving in England would be a huge mistake). The train trip to London is quite fast--about 45-50 minutes which is less time than it would take us to walk from our apartment to the Cambridge train station.
Our goal was to see London from the streets since the weather hadn't paid attention to the forecast and was actually sunny and warm. We took the tube (underground) from Kings Cross to Westminster station and joined the hoards gawking at London's iconic sights along the Thames. The tower containing Big Ben and Parliament were on one side of the river. I thought I had recorded the chimes of Big Ben at noon but alas! I have yet to master the video button on this camera. The Parliament building is massive; I wonder if our Capitol and Congressional buildings take up as much space. We decided to take a boat trip along the Thames to see what we could see from the river.
It's hard to miss the London Eye--the huge Ferris Wheel built to celebrate the millennium. The guide told us it is already being remodeled to include WiFi in each of the "eggs" seating 25 people!
The next attraction for me was Cleopatra's Needle. It was a bit jarring to hear this obelisk referred to in this way since I had thought Cleopatra's Needle was in Central Park which we have a family history of visiting. I later read that this is a sister obelisk to the one in NYC, both coming from the same Egyptian city Heliopolis.
Our cruise took us to the Tower Bridge before we headed back. One could probably spend the whole day exploring the Tower itself which is off to the left side but we simply took many pictures. We were lucky to see the bridge open for the sailing ship passing through. The Thames is the longest river in England at 215 miles; it flows west to east and drains into the North Sea. Currently there is someone attempting to swim its length.
Of course there were many other noted buildings we could see at least in part from the river: St. Paul's Cathedral, the replica of the Globe Theater and the Tate Modern being three of them. There is quite a mixture of old (stone) buildings and new (glass) all butted up next to each other.
After our boat trip we decided to walk along Whitehall, a short distance with lots to see. Opposite Parliament is Westminster Abbey, site of THE wedding this spring. The church was closed except for evensong which would be given later. Over one of the doors (not the main one) on the front of the building were statues in honor of 20th century martyrs including Oscar Romero and Martin Luther King Jr. We decided to keep walking after a quick stop at the gift shop.
Whitehall is the center of government so perhaps it should not have been surprising to see so many statues commemorating military leaders looking gallant astride their horses. Then there was another statue which, much humbler, is more representative of war.
Continuing on Whitehall we passed the barricaded Downing St. All we could do was to take a picture through the bars of #10. Lots of unsmiling guards all over the place.
One of the side streets led to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Room. The War Room was the underground bunker where Churchill met with his war cabinet during WW II. Although it was well fortified, Churchill knew it could not withstand a direct bombing hit. The Churchill museum is all about Winston. Both museums were very good with lots of modern audiovisual displays. What came across was that Winston was not an easy man to work for--he kept extremely long hours and expected his staff to do likewise. Also, what a gift for language he had! One display says the war was fought as much with his words as with guns.
Museum visiting is exhausting so we had afternoon tea at the museum cafe. As the British would say, lovely!! Those little cucumber sandwiches, cake, and tea helped us keep going for another couple of hours.
From the museum we headed back to Whitehall and continued on towards Trafalgar Square. This "square" which from what I could see was really a circle, reminded me of Paris' Arc de Triomphe. Lots and lots of visitors around a monument celebrating a military victory. In this case it was Lord Nelson's victory over the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson died in the battle and his body, placed in a casket filled with brandy, was brought back to London for a state funeral. The tall column shows Nelson at the top.
Our outing ended with a look back at where we had started. The rain had come, umbrellas were out and it was time to head home.
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