London Continues

I probably should be sleeping right now, but we have plans for sleeping in and breakfast in our room (amazing!), so instead I'm blogging.  And using as many commas as possible.

Today was our second day of using the London Pass around town.  I think it's safe to say we got our money's worth.

We started with a trip to Churchill's War Rooms and Museum.  The place was incredibly interesting.  The entire basement of a building on Whitehall was reinforced and used as the government headquarters during World War II.  All the rooms had been recreated and an audio tour provided detailed information.

The Churchill Museum

The museum itself was crazy.  It was very interactive, but provided a ton of information about Churchill, his family, and his interactions from others.  My only regret was I didn't have more time to go through it all.

Changing of the horse guards.

We darted from there to the parade grounds for the horse guards for the changing of the guard.  The horses are gorgeous, the sun was out, and it was cool to see the ceremony (even if it was crowded).

From the horse guards, we walked to Trafalgar Square for a few touristy pictures then headed into Covent Garden for lunch.  After consulting Mr. Steves, we picked Belgo Centraal.

The countdown for the London Games at Trafalgar.

The restaurant is located underground, specialized in mussels, and has a huge variety of beer.  The atmosphere was great and the bathrooms were semi-unisex.  Overall, I loved it.

From Covent Garden, we took the tube back down to Westminster Abbey.  The lines were long and the church was crowded (I blame the Royal Wedding), but the audio tour provided a huge amount of detail about the church, its history, and the many different tombs on the premises.

After wandering around the church, we stayed for the evensong service.  The choir was amazing, made up of men and boys (who actually attend a school that is connected to the church).

Next up was dinner before our second (and sadly final) show of the trip.  We walked to a little seafood restaurant (aptly named Seafresh) down the street from the theater.  I got the Fisher's Pie, combining the wonderful ingredients of fish, veggies (or veg, as they say here), mashed potatoes, and cheese.  Yum!

Then it was off to the Apollo Victoria Theatre for Wicked!  I loved the show in a completely different way than Billy Elliot.  It was much more spectacular and Elphaba's voice was so powerful!  It was fun to see a book I've read come to life on stage.

Now we're back at the hotel.  Christine is already asleep for the night.  I'm headed there shortly.  Two more days here in London (though one will be in Bath).  Hard to believe.  I know, I keep saying that.