Tom took us through Whitehall today and down to the Churchill War Rooms. We walked back streets and alleys, passing business men in suits and hipster Londoners in long scarves and blazers. Clutching my tea with milk in my hand (It's an addiction that I refuse to give up and indulged in at every chance when I was in London), I lost myself in the loveliness of St. James Park. There was a Pelican in the park!
Walking in CHurchill's steps
What can be said about the Churchill War Rooms? Words pale in comparison to the emotions that are conjured up when walking the narrow hallways and tunnels. There is a quiet that permeates the space, as if people feared that speaking would scare the ghosts of long ago. 115 meetings were held over the 6 years the rooms were in use. Churchill slept below, but was notorious for heading to the roof of the building to survey London during the Blitz. How like the man to thumb his nose at the Nazis. The snippets of phone calls and copies of letters passed back and forth between the Allies help those not so familiar with WWII history get a real feel for the time. The rooms were shut up in 1945 and not opened again until 1986.It was like stepping back into the time of my Grandparents and understanding a bit what war was like for them.
THeatre of my soul
Because we had a free night on Day 3, I used it to see more theatre. Over the course of my trip I was able to see three productions. Warhorse, which blew me away, King Lear, which fed my Shakespeare addiction to its hit, and The Mystery of Charles Dickens, which made my English Lit Degree holding heart squeal like a teenager at a Justin Beiber concert. Each production was amazing and enchanting in it's own way. Warhorse was visually stunning and the puppets are wonders of modern theatre. Jonathan Pryce is Lear. There, I've said it and I stand by my conviction. The ability of Simon Callow to play 40 some characters in the course of 2 hours is a testament to the man's talent. Bonus was each night I ended up seated next to a lovely British couple with whom I shared some great conversation during intermission. One lady had met the Queen three times!
the tube and trivia
Upon walking back to the hotel from the National Gallery, I got to talking with Tom. (Yes, I had a cup of tea in my hand and some theatre tickets in my pocket.) We chatted about the War Rooms. I mentioned how one of my grandfathers had fought in the European Theater in WWII and was stationed in London and France. Pa was an turret gunner because he was small and lanky. I shared with Tom that Pa never really talked about the War until he was close to passing. Tom said 'Most of them didn't talk about it.' He also said that because of men like my grandfather the world can be the way it is today. Without them, Europe would have been a very different place. We both teared up a bit talking about it. The closeness of our countries once again struck me as I sipped my tea and walked. We headed to the Marleybone Station because Tom wanted to show it to us. It still has much of it's original Victorian flavor and is used in TV and Film. One of my favorite BBC mini-series, North & South, filmed the final scene there. Wonderful!