London 2015 – Day 3

We started off the day by picking up our friends at their hotel, and visiting the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum.

Very interesting exhibits, but you could spend DAYS in the Museum; it’s so packed with information that it’s overwhelming. We spend about an hour an a half, which was a bit of a compromise because Mr Chicago could have spend double, even triple, the time in there at the expense of the rest of the day.  He said he plans to come back one day on a trip with his son and they will plan a full day for this activity.

 

After this he wanted to go to the British Museum, but I suggested we put that off to tomorrow since it’s supposed to rain and take advantage of the nice weather to do outdoor things instead. (My husband and I are not interested in revisiting that museum anyway; we have our own plans for when they go.)

He agreed, and we spend almost all day outdoors.

We strolled through St James Park, then down The Mall to Buckingham Palace – too late to see the changing of the guard (fine by me, I find that boring as Hell!!) but we heard the band from a distance and saw them coming back.

 

Then of course, we had to brag about Canada Gate!

 

From there, we kept walking to Hyde Park Corner where we got on the tube heading west to Tower Bridge.

We had lunch in a nearby pub, then they inquired about tickets to the Tower of London (another activity my husband and I will pass on re-doing). Not sure when they plan to go.

After that we crossed the Tower Bridge to get to our ultimate destination: The Shard.

In 2013 there were no bars or restos up there, and I did not want to pay the money just to see the view. Now that there is something to do up there, we went for a drink and relaxed while admiring the scene.  The best tables for this activity were the tables for 2 around the edge of the floor, and they were all taken. Still, we had a nice time and it felt good to rest our feet!

Here I am showing Mr Chicago where we were on the map:

The plan after this was supposed to be St Paul’s.  We took the tube over, but it was closed by the time we got there so we just got some pictures of the facade and walked back down Fleet Street and The Strand to Trafalgar Square.

Supper was casual Italian, followed by a night cap at the Sherlock Holmes pub:

We parted ways around 9:45 and got ‘home’ just after 10:30.  Now it’s midnight, so I have to hit the sack!

Good night!