The crowds of London

It’s getting late, and we have an early morning tomorrow.  So just a quick recap.

First I went off on my own on an early morning jaunt to the Churchill War Bunker.  This is the underground shelter that housed Churchill’s government during WWII.  I had visited there back in 2001 but had read that they added a new Churchill museum.  It did not disappoint.  Nice stuff for the history geek.

On the way, I spent a little time sitting in the beautiful St James Park, a place where every view is perfectly choreographed and where even the waterfowl are scenic.  Here’s one of their pelicans.

Then we all met up at Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard.  It’s an interesting ceremony, but it’s probably the worst example of crowding that we encountered in London.  This is definitely tourist season – there are vast crowds of people in the various places we’ve been, and this was an example.

Then it was off to Westminster Abbey via St James Park.  Here’s Andy and Kate against one of those choreographed views.

I love Westminster Abbey, a place where vast numbers of really famous people are buried.  There are not only all those Shakespearian monarchs (Elizabeth I, Mary, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry V, Henry IV, Edward the Confessor, Edward I, Edward III, Richard II – okay, not all of those are in Shakespeare plays), but there’s also Darwin and Newton.  No photos allowed, though, so no photos here.

Then Diana took a break from crowds while Julie, Andy, Kate, and I visited the British Museum.  Here’s a couple of pictures from there.

Then it was dinner, and we all went to see “Doctor Faustus” at the Globe Theater, a reproduction of Shakespeare’s Globe.  Here’s the kids in our box.  Well, sort of, anyway.

And one last note: I love London cabs.  We never have trouble getting a cab.  It’s cheaper for five of us to ride a cab than the Underground.  And unlike American cabs, you can fit a family of five in one taxi without any problems.  Of course, two of those five have to sit backwards, and given that Diana and Julie get motion sickness when riding backwards, I’m pretty much always one of the two.  So here’s a standard view of one of our cab rides.