London Day 3 - Westminster Walk

Busy day today…beginning at (of course) our neighborhood Starbucks for some coffee and free wi-fi so we could update the blog. Say what you want about the Starbucks monopoly, but it sure is nice to know that when you find a Starbucks you know exactly what you’re getting (especially the free wi-fi).  And they seem particularly fond to market the “Pike Place Blend” coffee… “roasted in Kent, Washington!”

Big Ben

Then we set off to take the “Westminster walking tour” laid out in our Rick Steves’ London book.  Got off the tube at the Westminster station, walked out the door, and it was one of those “ah-hah” moments: there was Big Ben and the parliament building literally across the street.  It was like walking out into history.  The street was packed with people doing the same thing we were, too.

Outside of Parliament

As directed by Rick, we walked out to the middle of the Westminster Bridge so we could get a sweeping view of the parliament building and Grande Ben.  Made for some nice pics, to be sure.

Mandela Statue

We kept walking the route that took us to Westminster Abbey, via Parliament Square…a small parked ringed in statues of famous Brits and a few famous other people. Thank heavens they put “Nelson Mandela” on the foot of his statue, or we might have thought it was Morgan Freeman. Legend has it that the Winston Churchill statue has a small electric current running through it because he didn’t want the birds pooping on his head.  Looks like Mandela wasn’t as lucky.  Biggest loser of the bunch was Abe Lincoln, whose statue was placed across the street from the park.

Not nice, birds!

After more walking, we went underground to tour the Churchill War Rooms and Museum.  This is where Winnie ran the WW2 war effort, and you saw the rooms looking just as they had during the war. When we bought our tickets, we encountered a true English gentleman, who said things like "Thank you, good sir."  Typical.  

The War Rooms were pretty insightful, but about half way through the tour, we started getting hungry and hurried through the last of the rooms (which were all bedrooms and such so who cares).  It was sure nice to get back out into the fresh air.

Her "My Name is Earl" pose

After a stop for a rather late lunch, we continued our trek to Trafalgar Square, where they had even more statues, and even more people looking at the statues.  On one side of the square was the National Gallery museum, which of course attracted Ally and Jorge.  I didn’t mind, since it was just 40 minutes to closing so I knew the agony wouldn’t last long. All museums not run by the Queen are free, so it’s no big deal to pop in for short while.

We got to see a bunch of priceless artwork from the likes of Renoir, Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Rembrant, Reubens...and others.  At 6:00pm on the dot we were herded out of the museum by the attendants.  Thankfully on the way out we walked through the Renaissance rooms, which meant we got to see a bunch more exquisite pieces. (BTW, Ally wrote this paragraph. Gail would not be this much into the art.) 

Messi

Next stop was Leicester Square, known as London’s theater (excuse me, theatre) district. Ally said this is where the movies hold their big London premieres. The area was ringed by just about any kind of restaurant you could want. Couldn’t resist snapping a photo of the Messi caricature drawn by a street artist. (See you soon, Messi!)

From Leicester it was onward to Piccadilly Circus, even more stores, more restaurants  and more people wandering around. You’re probably getting the idea that we did a lot of walking today…and you would be right.  But we weren’t done yet.

"Hellooooo" Chilling outside Buck House

Our final stop of the day was Buckingham Palace, affectionately known here as Buck House. We walked around to the familiar front of the palace, and you could almost hear the “clip clop, clip clop” of the horse hooves as some royal would meander by in a carriage. 

Buck House gardens

We saw the famous balcony where the royals come out and yell “Helloooooo” to the masses below.  It was now dusk, but we had to get a photo of the royal flower beds for Gramme.

We ended our day of touring with a walk through St. James Park to catch the tube back to Earl’s Court for a dinner of yogurt and leftovers.  It’s not quite 10pm, and Ally is falling asleep on the couch.  Think we’ll call it a day and start over again tomorrow.

Oh yes…the new season of Downton Abbey debuted tonight over here, but the cable in our apartment doesn’t get that channel.  So we’ll have to wait until next January, llke everyone else, so catch the new season.  We’d hoped to visit Highclere Castle, where the series is flimed, but it closed the day we arrived for five months to film the next season’s episodes. As they would say here, “bollocks!”

And last but not least…Happy 17^th Birthday Emily!!!