We have decided not to use the Underground or the buses and have not purchased an Oyster Card. This is a deliberate decision to get us walking and keep our fitness level up for the South West Coast Path. Today started with another walk across Hyde Park, then across Green Park, then across St James Park to Westminster and the Churchill War Rooms.

A couple of months ago we went to see the movie Darkest Hour which covers about a week of Winston Churchill’s life in 1940 when he became Prime Minister and WWII was going very badly for The United Kingdom and its allies. Many scenes in the film are set in the War Rooms. Barbara had visited the War Rooms four years ago and thought I would be interested and enjoy it. Which I did. So spent a couple of hours back in the 1940s and Barbara sat on a bench reading her book and watching the present world go by.

We were there for opening at 10.00 am and fortunately the queue was very small. Inside the space is very tight with narrow winding corridors and small rooms. For this reason they restrict access to waves of 15 at a time about every 10 minutes. Later in the day the queues get very long with waits of up to 2 hours. I was inside in just a few minutes.

The Churchill War Rooms is a museum run by The Imperial War Museum. It is an underground complex that housed a British Government command centre throughout the Second World War. In 1938, with war looming the government decided to build a temporary command centre in the basement of the then new building the New Public Offices (now HM Treasury). The basement was strengthened and communication, sound proofing, ventilation and broadcasting equipment was installed. The War Rooms were completed one week before the declaration of war in Sept. 1939. At the height of the Blitz bombing an additional 5 feet slab of concrete was added to the roof of the basement.

The Rooms include the Map Room, the Cabinet Room, the Transatlantic Telephone Room, Churchill’s office-bedroom, accommodation and facilities for military staff, telephone switchboard rooms, etc. As you can imagine it is a rabbit warren of tight corridors and small rooms squeezed into the basement of an existing building. It was used continuously until the end of WWII on VJ Day, and then abandoned.

The Rooms were opened to the public as a museum in 1984 and expanded in the 2000s to include an area which had been Churchill and his wife and close associates accommodation. This became a museum dedicated to the life of Sir Winston Churchill. This is a fascinating step back in time which I thoroughly enjoyed. You each get a hand held listening device and press a button for each room to get an excellent commentary.

The Churchill Museum has all the latest whizz bang technology to skilfully present the 90 year, distinguished life of a complex and complicated man. It has deservedly won many awards. Of course there is a lovely tea shop and a huge gift shop, the biggest space in the complex.

From the War Rooms we went around the corner to Horse Guards Parade where they were just about to change the guard. This involved lots of screeched orders and slapping of horses if they moved a muscle. It is amazing how many people think they can go up to a horse on guard duty and have a selfie patting the horses nose or hugging it around the neck.

Then to Trafalgar Square where there was a huge crowd of people. All the Morris Dancing groups in the City of Westminster had gathered to put on a show. This was great. Lots of jangling bells, crashing of sticks and hopping around on one foot. The dancers were having a wonderful time and the crowd absolutely loved it.

For the second holiday in a row I have forgotten to bring the battery charger for my camera so we made our way to the chaos and crowds of Oxford Street to find Jessops Camera Shop were I duly bought yet another (rather expensive!) charger. I now have three so if anyone wants a universal battery charger just let me know.

Unfortunately it was now raining, we didn’t have all our rain gear and were getting quite wet. We picked up a Boots Pharmacy Meal Deal (drink + sandwich/pasta + fruit/chips/bar) £3.99 and retreated to our hotel to dry out.

What do you do on a rainy Saturday afternoon? Why of course you go to the mall. Not ‘The Mall’ which goes from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square, but the shopping mall. The nearest one to us was actually at Paddington Station. This is one of seven railway stations in London and is large but by no means the largest. From here trains go to the suburbs and further afield out to the west. Somewhere down below are two underground tube stations. It has all the shops of a regular shopping mall and an extensive food hall. This station is where we arrived at midnight the other day and where we return from Plymouth in about 6 weeks.

We met two new friends, Paddington Bear and Isambard Kingdom Brunel one of the great engineering geniuses of the 19^th century, who among a vast catalogue of other achievements (designing tunnels, bridges, railways, ships etc, etc) designed this railway station.

Tomorrow we go cycling, let’s hope for no rain.