We are all worms. But I do believe that I am....

Who said this?

Can you finish the statement?

Day 2 in London we awoke to a quiet Sunday city.

If the trees could talk, would these ask not to be pruned?

Ever a way with words.

Here is where Kate got out of the car...

A good selfie 

First stop is the Churchill War Museum, the reconstructed bunkers below Whitehall where he led the country during WWII.   These bunkers were constructed in the mid-1930s in response to the increasing threats of aerial bombardment. Supposedly Churchill toured them at the beginning of the conflict and pronounced: This is the room from which I will direct the war!

Churchill's bunker office

The Command Room

WWII was fought using pins and maps and paper...

The State of the War

Consolidating notes from the field

...and the Enigma machine...

The Bunkers' Enigma machine

...and Ultra, the British term for intelligence gleaned from decrypting German messages coming from the Enigma.  Churchill credited their winning the war to Ultra.

I remember from high school history that the English won the war because of us Americans and our money and guns.  I learned that perhaps Churchill engineered our involvement by not warning us about the attack on Pearl Harbor. The museum states that although Churchill did have information regarding a Japanese attack, he considered it "too vague and unspecified" to be prudently passed on.  Hmmmm, that may be a judgement that we could have made?? Note that the museum did state that Churchill did know about the 1941 German attack of Russia and that Churchill did warn Stalin but Stalin "ignored" this information.

All sorts of interesting things are on display.

Cigarette lighter on the wall of the Command Room.

Churchill's bedroom (he slept here only 3 times)
and chamberpot (presumably he used it not many more times).

Behind this door was a....

Many believed that behind the door shown above was the Bunkers only flush toilet (no information provided on how this problem was solved) but instead behind it lay...

...the transatlantic telephone! Note the red cigarette ends box on the desk.

...the transatlantic phone room. Here Churchill talked directly and secretly to Roosevelt.  I learned all these tid-bits through the audio tour which I highly recommend.  Without it, the museum is just a bunch of stuff and the tour offers up factoids that put you right there as best can be.  And the tour gave me this pause: there I was holding a tiny device more technologically advanced than any object in these rooms...and in these rooms men and women waged WWII!  

A special room for the telephone, what a concept.  As a kid I remember "the front hall telephone" which was nestled on a special seat in the center of our square spiral staircase (yes, "square spiral" is a accurate descriptor here).  The telephone and anyone talking on it owned that space.   

Then the telephone migrated to the kitchen with that long spiral cord and by stretching it you could go into your own special room, for me it was around the corner into the Little Room, when talking to your boyfriend or talking about your boyfriend.  Now the phone is in our pockets and anyone can go into any room to talk on the phone SO WHY DON'T THEY?  

Yes, there were women down there, working 24/7 in these typing rooms.   Note woman on left touching up her lipstick.  

The information room.  The clock says 5, is that AM or PM?

I stupidly did not take a picture of the weather indicator so here is one from the War Rooms web site.  

George Rance, the Clerk and Custodian of the Cabinet War Rooms, adjusting the weather indicator boards in the main corridor of the Cabinet War Rooms. When a heavy raid was in progress above, Rance, as a private joke, would put up the board bearing the word 'Windy'.

Note how well-dressed he is. One gets the full British character down here.  Yes, we are being bombed but hell no that will not destroy us and certainly will not force us into sloppy dress.  Now, let's have a cup, shall we?  

It was time for US to have a cup so we headed off to nosh a la Gordon Ramsey at Bread Street Kitchen.  Surprise surprise not only was the Circle Line closed, so was the District line!  Makes for a challenge to be a tourist and without data service or wifi, we cannot so easily respond to Enormous Changes at the Last Minute.  So we walked. 

More jumbled London from Embankment

The day was nice enough, but we had already done a lot of walking. Still we were keeping it together.

Another for-the-record selfie

London is full of surprises.  Here on our Embankment walk we come across Cleopatra's Needle. 

From about 1450 BC.  About 70 feet high. 

This obelisk has no relation to Cleopatra and is one of a pair (the other is in NYC) that were first constructed in around 1450BC, inscribed 200 years later, moved around, then finally toppled and left in the sand for the next 2000 or so years. In 1819 it was presented to the UK by the Egyptian ruler (I kid you not) Muhammad Ali in honor of several British war victories in the area.  Thanks but no thanks said London, we don't want to pay to have it transported here.  

Fastforward to 1877 when a wealthy Brit decided to fund its excavation and transport.  He had the thing dug up and a special floating casket built around it, complete with a rudder, sails and a deck, so it could be towed behind a ship.  The casket was nicknamed the Cleopatra, hence its name. 

Well the ship ran into trouble and after a long saga which you can read about on Wikipedia no thanks to our Congress, it was finally erected here in 1878.  School children got the day off. Yipee!

We were tired and cranky upon arrival, good thing the food came quickly.  Carl our boy of why-does-the-food-takes-so-long-to-come every 45 seconds after ordering would have loved this place.  Had wifi too.  Only picture we have was taken by Eric as I was in the bathroom. Always use the bathroom in nice restaurants when out and about in London, even if you don't have to go.

From the restaurant above looking into the bar below.

After food and the amazing restorative properties of caffeine, we headed out again.  ARE YOU TIRED YET?  Its only 13:45!  

The afternoon has to be another post as I now have to get going to my lunch haunt and then onto inventory at the TSN then to the gym then home again.  As I write this I am also baking cookies for Alice who, after her regional cross country meet today, will arrive home to an empty house with strict instructions to get that homework done young lady so we can watch Moneyball tonight!  

Last night we could not stay up until 2AM for the State of the Union address so instead we watched Ides of March.  Fun, perfectly paced and DARK!  Perhaps not that unlike Mr Obama's speech?  We are looking forward to the more uplifting Brad Pitt.  Is this possible?!?

Also you all now have time to complete the phrase or google it or whatever.   

Marty you MUST know that Blue utters this in response to her final rejection by the BlueBloods?!?

Onwards, with caffeine!