I couldn’t put it off any longer. It was way past time to do laundry. I put all my clothes in my backpack š, put on my rain pants š and my rain jacket š§„, it was raining so this didn’t look too strange, and walked four blocks to the neighborhood launderette.
The neighborhood ladies who had gathered at the launderette helped me with the washer and dryer. We had tea and crumpets while we waited for our respective washes to dry. They say that clothes make the man, and in my case clean clothes make this battered old Pilgrim feel like a new man.
When I got back to the hotel with my clean clothes it had stopped raining so I decided a long walk to the British War Museum was in order. Along the way I walked past the Cenotaph that I mentioned in yesterday’s blog post.
As I continued my amble I went by the Household Cavalry Parade Ground in time to see the full changing of the guard.
The guys in the black uniforms are going off duty and the guys in the red uniforms are going on duty.
After the changing of the guard was completed I continued my walk to the Imperial War Museum and ran smack dab into Winston Churchill himself.
This statue is in Parliament Square, across the street from the Houses of Parliament.
In the middle of Parliament Square there is a half acre flower bed. They are preparing it for fall/winter planting.
Apparently nothing runs like a Deere in Spain, and now in London.
I finally got to the Imperial War Museum.
Those are 16 inch battleship guns at the entrance to the museum. Pretty impressive.
I started out my day at the museum with a 90 minute guided tour of the World War I wing of the museum. The young man who was our tour guide spoke very knowledgeably for the whole ninety minute tour, without notes. This young man’s knowledge of the museum’s World War I wing was encyclopedic. I thought the museum’s exhibit on the battle of the Somme was especially poignant. On the first day of this battle the British sustained 60,000 casualties, 20,000 dead and 40,000 wounded. By the time this multi day battle was over 130,000 British soldiers were dead. That is a horrific loss of life.
This is a Spitfire fighter plane from World War II.
This is the Rolls Royce Merlin engine that powered the Spitfire and made it one of the best fighter planes of the Second World War.
They had the original staff car that General Montgomery, Monty, used in North Africa. Do you know where “Full Monty” came from?
Now you know.
I have no idea what this means or what John Higgins had in mind when he asked his mother to sew this for him.
That is it for today.
I hope everyone had a great Monday.
Good evening from London.
AbeAndMarkontheCamino 