Trafalgar Square and the Cabinet War Rooms

As I had mentioned in my previous post, yesterday I used the bus to get on and off at a variety of locations. The first place I got off at was Trafalgar Square, where the city workers were busily getting the Christmas Tree ready for the lighting on Thursday night. I have to say, the huge monument to Nelson is cool, but it's so high, you can't actually see him. The lions at the four corners of his statue are cool, and really huge. And I learned from one of the tour guides that the man who designed the lions didn't know what their back was supposed to look like, so he modeled it after what his pet Labrador looked like lying down. Stuff like that cracks me up. The fountains in the square are also very nice. So, I wandered around there taking pictures for 15 minutes or so, and then went back to get the next bus.
The next time I got off was near 10 Downing St. I had to take a picture of the gates and the street that Tony Blair lives down. Before I took the photo, not wanting to get arrested, I asked one of the guards if it was even okay, and he teased me a bit, but then told me it was fine. This country loves it's memorials, and there is another one in the middle of the street across from 10 Downing St called the Women of WWII, and it's quite nice, it's all of the different uniforms worn by women during the war.
And then I spent the bulk of my afternoon at the Cabinet War Rooms and Churchill Museum. The rooms were either left exactly as they were when the war ended, or they were restored using photos from that time. They even have all the original furniture. Imagine, the chair where Churchill sat, and the rooms in which they all lived for ages. I guess Churchill only slept down there a few times, because it is attached by passageways to 10 Downing St. It's certainly not a place for anybody claustrophobic. There was a movie playing at one point which was of what Christmas was like in 1940 London. It was heartbreaking, but again, I was amazed by the human spirit. Since they were spending so much time in shelters and basements, instead of having huge Christmas trees, they had small ones, not more than 3 feet tall. Apparently the popular gifts for children were model airplanes, and the children were all proud of the fact that they could identify a Spitfire by the sound. The Churchill museum was entirely interactive, with many clips from the speeches he gave especially during the beginning of the war, when Britain faced Germany alone. I am continually amazed at what an amazing orator he is, and many of the speeches he wrote himself. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but there are still buildings in London with damage from the Blitz. There's a church in the center of London with pock marks all over one side.
So, today it's off to the British Museum, and tickets to see Mary Poppins tonight!!