World Tour: London

Flying overnight always seems like such a good idea, but when the exhaustion of a morning that has come at midnight sets in, I always swear I will never book a red eye again. We got to London at 8:00 AM after leaving Chicago at 6:00 the night before.

All we wanted was a nap, but with the little bursts of sunshine that were peaking through an otherwise dismal forecast, we knew we had to seize the day. After a round of coffee, we set out walking from our hotel towards Westminster Abbey.  On our way, we passed Buckingham Palace and got stuck in a crowd of people who were undoubtedly waiting to see the queen or someone equally as fascinating.  With our shortage of sleep, we had no patience for voyeurism, so we kept walking to the Churchill War Rooms. The past couple of times I visited London, I had very little interest in history, (I was 18) so this time I decided that we should try to visit some educational spots.

The Churchill War Rooms doubled as meeting rooms and bunkers during World War II. Churchill met with his cabinet, making war-changing decisions, in underground rooms reinforced with steel and concrete.  Some of the rooms, including his cabinet meeting room, were closed up the day after the war ended and were later opened in their previous condition. Maps hung on the walls with pin points and circle marks that looked so archaic to me.  Churchill apparently loved maps:  many of the rooms were filled with them, and cabinets in the hallway stored less-used versions. We walked through the museum, which detailed his life and politics, and included an interactive timeline that was occasionally bombarded with fighter jets or the rising waters of the Titanic. 

One of the rooms that was left exactly as it was.  There were sugar cubes on the desk because someone had left their rationed portion in a drawer.

After the museum, we walked past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben,  and Trafalgar Square to get to the London Eye. Londoners fought this monstrosity, that looks like a grown-up Ferris wheel, but now it is the top attraction in London.  We slowly moved through one big circle. At times, I doubted that we were moving and was sure we were going to be stuck there forever. We could see the entire city, and picked out sites to see the next day.

 The London Eye.  You can see why it was controversial.

 Looking out from the London Eye.

 Taken from London Bridge with the London Tower Bridge behind Nate. London Bridge was disappointing: it is basically just a concrete bridge stretching across the Thames.  Since there's a song about it, I was expecting something more spectacular. Ha! *Side note- this version of the bridge was built in 1973, and before that, there was a more intricate, medieval bridge.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we had walked eight miles on two hours of sleep. We were too exhausted to leave again, so we stayed at the hotel and ate at the Sports Bar.  Being there made me thinking of my dad, who went on so many trips that eating in hotel restaurants was pretty common ground for him. It was hard not to be reminded of him, since I was with him the last few times I went to London. I know that he was happy we were there!