London - Churchill's War Rooms

We decided to go get our train tickets for Amsterdam and then meet up with JoAnne and Ginger for lunch and a tour of Churchill's War Rooms.  Went to the international ticket office at St Pancras Train Station.  Got our reservation and their credit card machines would not take our Bank of America credit cards or the other card Terry had with her.  Neither of us had brought our cash cards for the ATM, so we headed back home two underground stops to get them.  As we started into the underground, I realized that I could get cash with my credit card, found an ATM which accepted my B of A Card JUST FINE and got cash (although it charged me a fee to do this).  Anyway, we rushed back to the ticket office and got our tickets.  Crises averted, we jumped back on the underground and headed into Central London to meet up with JoAnne and Ginger.  We ran into huge crowds of people on the street and numerous barricades with policemen attending.  We heard band music.  At first we thought we had come up on the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace, as it was about the right time.  NOPE.  It was the Queens birthday parade.  She was in the parade (NO we didn't get to see her, as she had already passed) (Terry thought she might have seen her, but wasnt sure).  I think it was the tail-end of the parade, because the crowds began to disperse soon after.  Our route to the Churchill War Rooms off Parliament Square was blocked.  When we asked a policeman if we could get through, he detoured us around all the barricades, along with the hundreds of other people at the parade.  Said the barricades wouldn't be lifted for a couple of hours, as the Queen was still in the area.  As we made our way through the crowds, we saw people dressed to the nines in top hat and morning coats, or dresses and Queen hats or Princess Kate hats (obviously VIP parade attendees) as well as all us common folk.  It was quite the zoo.  Amazingly we finally found our way around to meet up with JoAnne and Ginger at Churchill's War Rooms.   Like to never found lunch as there weren't many restaurants around the war rooms area.  Finally found a pub with the one table left (the tiniest booth for 4 people I've ever seen)

Finally got back to the War rooms at about 2:30 PM.  

German 250 Kilo (500 LB) Bomb

Transatlantic telephone room

Testimonials of people who worked in the war rooms

Early war years 1939-40

The Map Rooms

The captured Enigma machine (de-coder for German messages)

Secretary typing rooms

Quarters for officers

Churchill's kitchen and dining room

Churchill's bedroom

Wife Clementines bedroom

It was a realy well done tour with audio narrations.  When the war ended, the underground offices were left ias they were for years.   The clerks, typists, radio operators, cooks and what ever just walked away.  All workers had signed the war secrets act and were unable to talk about their jobs for many years.  Recommend it for any WWII buffs.

By the time we got through the tour, it was five o'clock and we were all exhausted from walking and standing, so we grabbed a taxi back to the apartment.  Saw a few naked bikers.  YEP, they were naked.  Maybe I didn't tell you about the flock of naked bikers in Bristol.  We were sitting in a very nice outdoor cafe when they rode by on the street. There must have been 50 of them.  Somebody said they do this every year proclaiming bicycle safety!!!  What's safe about riding naked???  I would think somebody gawking at naked bike riders is apt to run over them.  Anyway, we certainly didnt expect to see more naked riders in London for pete's sake.  They were apparently just ending their ride and were standing around in a park on the side of the road.  If you dont believe this story, just ask Terry, she took a picture of the latest ones. This is turning out to have a few unexpected adventures.

Ginger googled naked bike riders.  World Naked Bike Ride was formed to protest dependency on oil.  Nudity signifies the vulnerability of bike riders in traffic.  They are riding in London this weekend for nine miles.  Rules are:  There are no rules against nudity in London, but please do not undress until just before the event begins and re-clothe at the end of the event, so as not to deal with police.  I guess they ride for a good cause, but not sure they have to do it naked.  It does, however, get ones attention.