London Eating and The Churchill War Museum

Playing in the Park

After a long day for Thomas' birthday, today we had a slow start. This is fortunately not a problem with our boys. Andrew enjoys sleeping in, Sam likes his down time, and Thomas & Adam always seem to find a way to be happy with what's around them. So we began the day with playing at a local park.  Do all kids immediately want to climb up precarious rocks to the point where they can't get down - or is it just ours?  

The Crypt

Christine then took us to a lunch place that was  a complete surprise to me - it was in the crypt of a church! Despite the boy's apprehension, we gamely ventured in. Talk about a strange way to make money from your church property! You enter on street level but descend to a level below the church with distinctive arched ceilings and the floor literally contains the gravestones. Turned out not to be quite as creepy as we originally thought it would be and in the end the cafeteria turned out to be a handy to have many selections for lunch items.

Churchill War Rooms

From there we decided to delve into some history and visited the Churchill War Rooms. This the underground bunker where Churchill and his top advisers worked and lived during WWII. The Blitz was on and they needed a safe place to meet. After the war ended, it was closed up and kept secret (or forgotten!) until the 1970's. It has been reopened as a museum dedicated to Churchill and not only has the original rooms as they would have been. Many of the items had not moved since the war concluded - the maps with pins, the mess hall, sleeping quarters, BBC broadcasting room , etc.  They additionally had an entire section devoted to the biography of Winston Churchill - what an incredibly varied and interesting life he lived..

It was certainly an interesting perspective to see and hear about our Allies' experiences and also more about their leader. The audio guide worked well for most of us, though the younger two lost interest much sooner. Luckily there were some interactive displays that could hold their attention a bit (a touchscreen where you swiped to reveal one of Churchill's paintings).

We came at the end of the day, so they hustled us through the last few very interesting rooms - if you go yourself, I would try to go before noon - you can easily spend 2 hours in just the Churchill area alone!

Very interesting seeing a 1930s/40s era kitchen, in its original state.
I could easily work in this kitchen!

Big Ben and Sri Lankan Food

Big Ben is under construction.  Don't bother. :(

But we did get our requisite photo.

Big Ben Under Construction in the Background

That evening, we went to a Sri Lankan restaurant, Hoppers, on the recommendation of an employee at Buckingham Gardens. We had never had Sri Lankan food before. I actually failed in my geography as I could not place Sri Lanka on a map.

We were delighted with the flavours and experience.  I actually asked the waiter to order a selection for us as we did not recognize any dishes.  It was an added bonus that we got a table for 6 immediately at 6:30 pm on a Friday night.  Great breads, curry-ish dishes, and beer.  Yum!

Waiting Expectantly

Goodbye for now!

CHEERS!