London

May 13 Day 6

We spent the day in London. This is an amazing city, probably one of the most interesting and historic cities in the world, with a definite mix of people from all over the world. We heard languages of all types and from all corners of the world. The only time we heard English spoken was from anyone who was performing their job, and once in awhile on the streets, but most of the people on the streets and in the subway that we encountered were speaking some other language.

Views of Parliament

Statue of Richard the Lionhearted

One of the things I have always wanted to do was go on the London Eye. IT is like a giant ferris wheel that makes one full revolution every half hour. You get into these large glass-enclosed compartments, about the size of a large bedroom, with about 20 other people, and you look out on all sides to various cites of the city. IT is almost directly across the river from Parliament, so you get a great view of the parliament buildings and Big Ben. It's a great way to orient yourself to the city.
The London Eye

The view from inside our capsule


The top of the London Eye

View of Parliament and Big Ben from the London Eye

Buckingham Palace


Whitehall, where all of the government buildings are

We also toured the Churchill War Cabinet Rooms, where CHurchill and other British leaders conducted their war planning business during World War II. They built it in the basement of one of the government buildings before the War in anticipation of Nazi agression. It was completed and ready to use in August of 1939, just a few weeks before the outbreak of the War. The people who worked there actually thought they were safe from any harm, when in actuality, it was merely a basement and not a bunker, and would have been completely leveled and destroyed with a direct hit from a bomb. The key to its success was secrecy.

The cabinet war rooms

The ever-present red phone booths. I rarely saw anyone in them, everyone's using cell phones

Something very interesting, and a little difficult to get used to, is driving in Britain. I just have to reverse everything in my mind. Marilyn is still going for the right-hand front door, normally the passenger side, but here the driver side. I keep telling her if she wants to drive, just say so, but she just emphatically shakes her head. It's gone pretty well, excepts for little blunder. We had gotten off of the motorway to do some shopping, and I was searching for the entrance. I saw what looked to be the logical on ramp, on the right -hand side of the freeway, so I started down the ramp until Marilyn shouted "You're going the wrong way!" Sure enough, I saw the arrows on the pavement pointing towards me. I made a hasty about face and headed back up the ramp. Some boys saw me and were shouting and pointing where I should go. I finally got on the right ramp, but was quite shaken. Hopefully, I'll get used to this before too long.