Awake and ready for one last day of sightseeing. We’re in a pretty good groove now with having some breakfast, grabbing some sandwiches at the local grocery and hopping on the tube subway. We had to make one quick shift to a second train and then we were off. This morning would be spent in a very special place. These are the Churchill War Rooms. This was a special place built under governmental buildings during World War II where Churchill and hundreds of leaders and workers battling World War II did their work.
It was used until March 28, 1945. And as soon as Japan had officially conceded the war and things were over, they locked the door, and especially that command map room was kept exactly the same really to this day. The war rooms opened somewhat in the 1980s for people to tour, and then it was redone in a very fine way in 2005. We spent several hours going through the various rooms and seeing, the places where the planning and implementation of this war on so many battlefields was centered.
There were videos as well as an audio guide that allow us to hear firsthand accounts of elderly people who were young workers during World War II in these buildings. It was amazing, as well as sobering, as we got to learn how eminent the people felt that Germany would be invading London. And to see the state of the art communication devices, such as the first telephone scrambling devices were implemented.
The workers talked about how they worked 12 to 18 hour shifts in the darkness and eventually they brought in sunlight tanning devices trying to help them stay healthy without basically ever getting a chance to see the daylight. This work was all done in secret and their family and friends couldn't know about it.
The map rooms especially were very powerful and we were so glad that someone had the first sight to save it.
There was also a part of the museum that was focused especially on Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He was the leader for the during the entire war and he had a really challenging job. There was a lot of very interesting things that we learned about Churchill. He became Prime Minister the first time when he was 64 years old. And eventually died when he was 90. Powerfully done museum.
We then walked over to St. James Park and had lunch as we had done a couple of days ago. Still fun watching the crowds of people go by.
Then, we went and walked across Westminster Bridge to get some additional lovely views. It is crowded today and a little overwhelming. As we crossed over to the opposite side, we ran across the surprise of a national memorial that was dedicated to people who had died in the UK of Covid. As far as we could see there was an overwhelming amount of hearts with the names of peoples who had died thoughts from their loved ones. Lots of them dedicated to parents and grandparents.
The remainder of the afternoon included a World War II and London small group tour. We were pleased to join our guide Alex, who took us through a deeper understanding of what was going on in London during World War II. He especially shared more about Churchill, as well as talked about some family connections to WWII. He was funny and gave us some really good information. He had a difficult job because it was Sunday afternoon and it was very crowded and the area around Parliament and Westminster Bridge. And there was also a variety of different backgrounds and needs people on tour. And we went by a film crew that was shooting some type of secret service or Men in Black type film, as well as a protest in support of the Ukraine. Not exactly the quiet atmosphere that one would hope to have for a speaking tour. But we enjoyed it nonetheless. We walked around the Westminster area, which includes Parliament and then ended up at the Churchill War Rooms where we had visited earlier.
Then we realized it was nearing 4 o’clock and we were tired. We decided we were ready to head back to our flat to cook some dinner and start packing up for our trip home the next day. Time to stop.
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