June 7th - London

The day started with a visit to the Churchill War Rooms which is a part of the Imperial War Museums (the museum in Manchester was a part of) and let me tell you, they know how to design museums! The audio guide was included which was nice, they might as well just include in the price instead of charging you again! It was fascinating to see the rooms where huge decisions were made and the places that kept Churchill and his government safe. The rooms have been restored as they were back then. It's an incredible maze of rooms that would be hard to navigate without signs telling you where to go.

There was also a section on Churchill's life and it was gorgeous and very interactive. There were a few letters from George VI to Churchill and I enjoyed reading those.

A specially designed gas mask for the switchboard operators
so they could continue their work if there was an attack

Someone's drawing on a map in one of the conference rooms

The kitchen

The switchboard operators could work up to 18 hours a
day so they slept and worked in the same room

Churchill loved maps and were maps all over the war rooms

The war scoreboard, still the same as it was
during WWII

Churchill's bedroom, he only slept there 3 times during the war

The enigma encoding machine, used to decode
German Intelligence

Interactive timeline of Churchill's life

Churchill's medals and orders

After the war rooms we walked a block over to Westminster Abbey. It was crazy expensive but we had to see the inside, I mean Will and Kate got married there! It is very interesting how many people are buried in there and how incredibly old some of the tombs are. Several, well it seems most, monarchs are buried there. Elizabeth I and Mary I are buried together which I found interesting. Mary Queen of Scots  is also buried there. Allison and I thought it was a little weird walking all over people's graves essentially and I read later the only one you cannot walk on is the tomb of the unknown soldier. Also the coronation chair is kept there but we couldn't take any photos inside.

After all of that we went to Leicester Square to buy tickets to a show. The one show we both hadn't seen was Mamma Mia so it was an easy decision. Then we went back to our room to get ready for a night out at the theater! We first had dinner at Balthazar which was delicious and very fancy and the guy from American Pickers was sitting right behind us! Then it was time for the show. We both really enjoyed it, just a very fun show. After the show we went to a few bars and at one we did what we always do and made a few friends! The bars in London seem to close really early, like midnight! That's crazy! We walked to a nearby club that was still open with our new friends and stayed there all night. My feet were not happy with me. We had a great time though, they had great music and good martinis. Nice night out I'd say!

Guy from American Pickers on the
History Channel!

Dinner

Theater

Out on the town