Westminster and Whitehall St.

Our room at the hostel is all female and has ten twin beds in it. There was only one other lady in the room the first night. Twelve hours of sleep seemed barely enough as we dragged ourselves out of bed around 7am the next morning. We had breakfast at the hostel, it wasn’t very busy and the only others there so early were a couple with two little kids.

We took the underground to Westminster and took pictures of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge just as the sun was coming up. We meandered the streets looking at the old buildings and streets as we made our way to Westminster Abby. Westminster Abby has been the location for English coronations since 1066 and is home to over a thousand years of English history as well as 3000 tombs including G. F. Handel, William Pitt, Queen Elizabeth, William Wilberforce, and Isaac Newton with memorials to many famous authors, poets, musicians, scientists, ministers, and monarchs of England. The Abby was really lovely, I enjoyed exploring the many chapels and gazing at the altar as I imagined the wedding of Prince William and Kate that occurred in April.

 





Next we went to the Churchhill War Rooms which memorialize the subterranean offices and living quarter of Churchhill and his officers during the Blitz of London 1941, it also has a large room that is filled with information about his life, career, and funeral. It was very informative but I was rather lost because I didn’t know a lot about Chruchhill’s influence on things during WWII and it was focused almost exclusively on the British involvement.

From the War Rooms we strolled down Whitehall Street where we saw the white stoned Cenotaph, a monument to the dead of WWI, a black stoned memorial to the women of WWII, and the heavily-guarded #10 Downing Street which houses the offices and residence of the British Prime Minister, currently David Cameron (Tory). We passed the horse guards who have been a military checkpoint for 200 years as an entrance to the street which leads to Buckingham Palace and were soon at Trafalgar Square. It was such a lovely, sunny day outside so we sat on the Column that is dedicated to Horatio Nelson, naval hero of 1805, and took in the sights and sounds of the busy square. We turned back up Whitehall to have a much-needed lunch and mulled cider at The Clarence.