Tuesday 22nd July 2008

Day Nine - Westminster Abbey, Cabinet War Rooms

A perfect blue sky greets us as we board the coaches to London. 30 minutes of congestion on the outskirts threaten to stop us in our tracks but we still make it to our drop-off point (the London Eye) without losing too much time. Four guides are waiting for us Jo, Chris, Pamela and Jacki and we split up into four groups for our walk around Westminster and into the Abbey.  The guides are excellent and wear a blue badge - the official mark of a London guide.  There is plenty of history around Westminster and it is great to walk around with the sun shining.  Each group makes its way to the Abbey and enters into one of the most fascinating buildings on our tour.  As well as being religiously important the Abbey has the greatest number of memorials and tombs of the great and the good from England's past.  The coronation chair, tombs of Richard II, Henry V, Queen Elizabeth I and Poet's Corner where the greatest literary figures are either buried or remembered are highlights.

We continue our walk towards St James' Park at the back of Horseguards Parade and have our lunch.  Then it is into the Cabinet War Rooms, Churchill's underground HQ during the Second World War.  The rooms are pretty much as they were during the war and you get a very good insight into conditions and atmosphere. Also as part of the tour there is a museum to Winston Churchill with a superb interactive timeline that never fails to interest. After an hour underground it is good to get out into the sunshine; during wartime the many staff who worked in the subterranean corridors must have longed to breathe in that fresh air.

We then walk to Trafalgar Square, stopping to take photos and up to Leicester Square, home of movie premiers.  We join the crowds of people who are heading to Piccadilly Circus and everyone is given some time to explore.  Back on the coaches in Pall Mall and the journey home, passing Hyde Park Corner, Harrods and later Twickenham Stadium - home of English rugby.  A great day that ends with the news that we will all get to see Stonehenge tomorrow.