Imperial War Museum
With our mission coming to an end, we had the day in London today and spent a fair bit of the day at the Imperial War Museum.
It is a bit like the war memorial in Canberra and has extensive displays on both world wars plus the conflicts since 1945. It also has some special displays, one on art in war and one on the holocaust.
In the WWI section we even found an exhibit of badges and colours of the Australian 17th battalion AIF – the same battalion my grandfather, Emerson Anderson, belonged to !
They had a couple of “experience” exhibits – one on the trenches from WWI and one on the blitz from WWII – certainly not up to Disney standards but interesting all the same. We had lunch here also from the “Kitchen Front Cafe” and Liam had a wartime treat – pig in a blanket (a sausage wrapped in pastry) !
St Paul’s Cathedral from
the Millenium Bridge
After lunch we caught a bus to the Thames and walked past Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, across the Millenium Bridge and up to St Paul’s Cathedral.
From here we caught another bus to the Strand then walked along to Trafalgar Square. Anyone would think there was a big event happening in London. The traffic is chock a block, there are people everywhere, there are flags on all the pubs and other buildings and on poles lining the streets.
The Mall
We walked into the Mall which runs down to Buckingham Palace and there are port-a-loos everywhere and more still being bought in on the back of trucks. From the Mall we walked across St James Park down to Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. All these streets are barracaded already and there are tv cameras set up at strategic points everywhere.
Big Ben and London Eye
So we could beat the peak hour crowds on the tube, we got on the tube at Westminster and headed back to the stop nearby here – Goodge Street – and walked back. We will head out again soon to get some dinner.
Tomorrow is our last day and we will leave the bags at the hotel whilst we do a little more sightseeing – not sure what yet. We will then collect our bags around dinner time and head to the airport for our late flight.
Not sure if we will have anymore internet so if not we will see you all soon !