(08.24.11) On day 26 I started with Westminster Abbey. It didn't really stand out much from the other cathedrals. It was kind of cool to look around and go "oh yeah, that's where William and Kate stood while they were getting married..." Yep, I'm a nerd.
After this I headed to the Cabinet War Rooms. Totally awesome. The Cabinet War Rooms are where Winston Churchill basically directed and fought all of World War II. You can see the meeting room and the map room and the bed rooms that were for him and his main advisers. Although apparently, Churchill didn't ever really stay there. I think my favorite part was that they found a stash of sugar cubes in one of the guy's desk 30 years later when they were cleaning it out. Sugar cubes were in high demand so he hid his ration and apparently forgot about them. They were still good when they found them.
After the War Rooms I headed to Wellington Arch and Apsley House. Wellington Arch used to have a statue on it honoring Duke Wellington who defeated Napoleon... somewhere. I need to go back to school to learn history. Anyway, the statue overpowered the arch in a kind of ridiculous way so there's a new statue on top now. Not actually very exciting. Then Apsley House across the street which is the home that belonged to Duke Wellington. He was a big art collector and his descendents donated the house to Britain to display all of his art in return for being able to stay in the house without paying for upkeep. Pretty sweet deal. The Duke had some interesting dish sets from all over the world. An especially awesome Egyptian set. I think all of the dishes and platters could have fed a hundred people and there were center pieces shaped like the pyramids and the Sphinx.
From Apsley House I walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. I wish I had just hung out in the park but I was on my way to Kensington Palace. The park and gardens were beautiful with a giant lake in the middle. There were tons of people out but it didn't feel crowded at all. I eventually made it to the Palace which is where Diana lived while she was alive. No one lives there now and they are in the process of restoring/renovating it to make it more like the other castles and palaces that people visit. It was the lamest thing ever. With maybe the exception of the day I went to Greenwich. (You have to pay to see the prime meridian line. Seriously. It's a line.) So they have the rooms set up to tell you about different princesses but its very much aimed at children. Also the coolest thing about these palaces is the rooms and the way they are decorated but most of the rooms were dark due to the princess theme. I think I'm mostly bitter about it because I didn't realize how far I was from the tube station and how long it would take me to get where Jeff was and so I was 30 minutes late meeting him for dinner. Ooops. I hate being late. I ran up the longest escalator of all the tube stations in London trying to be less late. Maybe ran is a strong word- I might have just been stomping up by the time I got close to the top.
Once I bothered to show up, Jeff and I grabbed dinner and then went to see Fela. Its a musical about a Nigerian singer who was also a political activist. The music was great as was the dancing. I left feeling sad for the people in Africa though as the ending was a little bit depressing. You have to admire someone who fights so hard for what they believe in though. A successful Day 26.
After this I headed to the Cabinet War Rooms. Totally awesome. The Cabinet War Rooms are where Winston Churchill basically directed and fought all of World War II. You can see the meeting room and the map room and the bed rooms that were for him and his main advisers. Although apparently, Churchill didn't ever really stay there. I think my favorite part was that they found a stash of sugar cubes in one of the guy's desk 30 years later when they were cleaning it out. Sugar cubes were in high demand so he hid his ration and apparently forgot about them. They were still good when they found them.
After the War Rooms I headed to Wellington Arch and Apsley House. Wellington Arch used to have a statue on it honoring Duke Wellington who defeated Napoleon... somewhere. I need to go back to school to learn history. Anyway, the statue overpowered the arch in a kind of ridiculous way so there's a new statue on top now. Not actually very exciting. Then Apsley House across the street which is the home that belonged to Duke Wellington. He was a big art collector and his descendents donated the house to Britain to display all of his art in return for being able to stay in the house without paying for upkeep. Pretty sweet deal. The Duke had some interesting dish sets from all over the world. An especially awesome Egyptian set. I think all of the dishes and platters could have fed a hundred people and there were center pieces shaped like the pyramids and the Sphinx.
From Apsley House I walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. I wish I had just hung out in the park but I was on my way to Kensington Palace. The park and gardens were beautiful with a giant lake in the middle. There were tons of people out but it didn't feel crowded at all. I eventually made it to the Palace which is where Diana lived while she was alive. No one lives there now and they are in the process of restoring/renovating it to make it more like the other castles and palaces that people visit. It was the lamest thing ever. With maybe the exception of the day I went to Greenwich. (You have to pay to see the prime meridian line. Seriously. It's a line.) So they have the rooms set up to tell you about different princesses but its very much aimed at children. Also the coolest thing about these palaces is the rooms and the way they are decorated but most of the rooms were dark due to the princess theme. I think I'm mostly bitter about it because I didn't realize how far I was from the tube station and how long it would take me to get where Jeff was and so I was 30 minutes late meeting him for dinner. Ooops. I hate being late. I ran up the longest escalator of all the tube stations in London trying to be less late. Maybe ran is a strong word- I might have just been stomping up by the time I got close to the top.
Once I bothered to show up, Jeff and I grabbed dinner and then went to see Fela. Its a musical about a Nigerian singer who was also a political activist. The music was great as was the dancing. I left feeling sad for the people in Africa though as the ending was a little bit depressing. You have to admire someone who fights so hard for what they believe in though. A successful Day 26.
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