Day #4 Synopsis – Headed for Southbank first thing… the IWM is the space for WWII stuff in London. Reservations are made for a 10:00 AM entry… that will take a couple of hours. Then a strut through the neighborhood (Parliament/Westminster), a 2:00 PM booking at the British Museum (Free) and Horizon 22 @ 5:00 PM (Free). The British Museum is a must see… so, if for nothing else, you can get a look at all the “stuff” the British liberated from the colonies. We do have a choice of Museum… British Museum or Museum of London Dockyards in Canary Wharf area. If we do head out there to Dockyards, I’d suggest that we take a Thames Clipper (basically a water taxi) and maybe do an extra in that eastern part of London. I’m very up for last night in London suggestions…
I haven’t said much about where we’re staying and the booking. Janie handled the reservation and did a bang up job! Sweet setup… all the amenities (including washer dryer) so in the moments that we did crash, it was without worry. Only issue is it stays a little warm, and that may have been our issue because we hadn’t quite figured out the heating/cooling system. In the end… we opened the huge bay doors each evening and fresh air everywhere!
The morning began with a peak time commute into King’s Cross for a little unfinished business… the matter of a Harry Potter photo. Then to the Waterloo Station area to begin our last full day in London. We started out underground, with something entirely different… the Graffiti Tunnel that traverses beneath Waterloo Station. Very cool… decades worth of layered paint that articles popular and counter culture. Really quite amazing… takes my viewing at the Cloverville train track to an Uber level! Then a quick stop for a caffeine fix at Sista Barista Cafe on the way to our morning attraction! Girls enjoyed yummy “Strawberry Delight Smoothies” and the older set java… including a big foamy latte! We sat outside in the sunshine, with a fresh, cool breeze enjoying the city sounds and smells. Very happy place!
It was a beautiful stroll to Imperial War Museum (IWM) and we arrived just ahead of 10:00 AM entry. We queued, passed security and met the collection head on. After a quick orientation we started in the lower floor exhibits. It’s a well organized collection, presented by one theme per floor in chronological fashion. We circulated WWI, WWII and the Holocaust themes on our visit. An immense body of story and artefact, presented through a distinctly British perspective. A solid introduction to the British entanglements in the early 20th Century!
A 10 minute walk put us at the doorstep Art Cafe London – a homestyle restaurant that had ambience and great menu (excellent reviews). Our friends Andrew & Lori Graham put us on to experimenting with Apps to locate and filter “just right” establishments like this one. The Art Cafe serves breakfast, paninis, salads, pasta all day. Winner, winner chicken dinner! Vegan, vegetarian and gluten free possibilities for everyone. We, in short, had a wonderful lunch! The staff were helpful and friendly, the food delicious and we ended up just a few minutes walk from the Elephant & Castle Tube Station.
Our main afternoon commitment was The British Museum. I recall two other visits, each leaving my head spinning with the “vastness” of relics / exhibits as well as the question of “How did all this get here”? In many ways, not the most opportune time to visit, as the heat in exhibits combined with an overflow of crowds really washed us of the energy we had left. We did, however, manage to see the Egyptian & Roman collections and, a favorite of mine, the Sutton Hoo Mask on the Upper Floor as well as the Rosetta Stone, Assyrian Gates and Elgin Marbles on first floor. Required listening, should one ever have opportunity to visit, should be the “Stuff the British Stole” podcast!
We didn’t belabour the British Museum, as it was a hot mess in both volume and temperature. We actually were a little disappointed… not of the collection, but of the sheer weight of visitors. Bathroom line ups, entry, and getting around inside were plain tough… so we moved on. Janie nabbed a bus to Covent Garden, where in fact there was a little something for everyone. We caught closing at Jubilee Market for the shoppers, Buskers in several locations for the music aficionados, and best of all some elegant Gelato 🍧 from Morelli’s for the taste testers! We got to sit, people watch and start the planning for Day 5 in Berlin!
Then the Tube home… Janie and I hung back, and without a word the girls led the charge on the Piccadilly Line from Covent Garden to home without a flinch! Fun and rewarding to see 👍. The evening was all business, with washing clothes, securing boarding passes, web updates and packing/planning for the second leg of our trip. All hands seem to be doing great and, for the most part, we’ve stuck to the itinerary adjusting as required. It’s a “pushy” schedule of events and I’m trying to measure when to lean forward or fall back. Knowing what we do about how most travel, I’m guessing we have 5 days worth of travel condensed into three. The Berlin portion is more relaxed in planning, however, and I suspect we’ll tame expectations as we get closer to the finish line! 😂
Another crazy day… and a couple of new suggestions for us. Love reading about the food adventures although London food (and prices) doesn’t excite me as much as some of your adventures of the palate:) You folks were the first to introduce us to travelling light and we’ve been improving each trip. Actually did 3 weeks in Portugal with carry-on and it was pretty seamless. Reading your description of your accommodations and talking about laundry night got me thinking about your story of wearing the same clothes on your second day because no one would know you… except for the couple you saw on the bus/metro the next day after meeting them the night before:). So…. is there anything left on your London list after several visits? I’m guessing yes.
One bag travel is the only way… Janie got these laundry “sheets” from Teasdales out Beech Hill… we washed clothes with them and results were overwhelming! The speed we move through terminals, or being able to just store a few bags, creates a tremendous opportunity to experience more! We did a lot of “returns” to attractions this time around, as I think it was important for our awesome first-timers to see them. Next time… I’m so down for an English Football game as a potential “immersion” into that culture. I’m hoping, should stars align and we return, that I can make that happen.