Well, although I said today was a gray day in London, I turned out to be proven wrong! The sun popped through the clouds around 1pm, and Charlie was gracious enough to invite me to join a group on an excursion to the Imperial War Museum. As skeptical as I was initially (a museum about war?...really, guys?!), it turned out to be a great idea, a great adventure, and a great day.
We left K-M about 2pm and headed toward the Thames in blinding, brilliant sunlight...so pretty, although it was very windy! From our crossing point of the Thames, the view was STUNNING! We could see all the way down to Whitehall/Parliament and the London Eye looking one way, and way up toward Tower Bridge from the other. I was so excited that I just kept exclaiming "Oh my gosh, it's so PRETTY!" like a crazy tourist. The walk to the War Museum was a bit far, but through a very picturesque part of London, a bit more removed from the hustle and bustle of our zone.
The War Museum itself was really cool, although the main section of it was not totally up my alley. It was housed in a beautiful facility that I mistook for a church at first sight (oops), and upon entry the first thing I noticed was the ceiling, hung with real airplanes from World War II...I got very excited, it was...you guessed it...SO PRETTY! :) The ground floor was absolutely littered with tanks, bombs, boats, submarines, etc. I was interested at first, but after a while all tanks are really just tanks, so I went to play in the submarine interactive exhibit that was intended for 12 and unders. Don't judge. I had waaaaaay too much fun in there for an almost-21-year-old!
After the boys had exhausted the ground floor tanks and stuff, we spent a long time in an exhibit I really enjoyed, about "The Children's War," World War II from the perspective of British kids and teens. They talked a lot about the evacuated children who were moved into foster homes to get out of London, and even had a real-size example of a typical country English home of the time...I really enjoyed it. The anecdotes and stories of the children looking back, however, were my favorite...there was such a range of opinion, so many different perspectives and attitudes and stories to be told...I love that. I absolutely love learning about what people thought and did and felt, especially at such a turbulent and difficult time as World War II. What an era to come of age in!
We left the War Museum around 4pm to walk home, and quickly got distracted by the absolutely BEAUTIFUL sunset over the Thames. I'm not kidding, it was radiant. Colin and I stopped and took about 20 pictures each over the Thames with Whitehall, the Eye, and the bank of the river in the background, silhouetted against an absolutely flaming-ly gorgeous sky. So amazing...I will probably never get over the beauty of this place!
Then it was time for the second of (hopefully) many Minerva Flat 3/4 dinners. Tom was our chef this time and, after a complicated miscommunication where nobody actually bought stuff to cook, made the most. delicious. ever. spaghetti carbonara...noodles with eggy, buttery delicious sauce, covered in fresh-grated Parmesan cheese with bacon, peppers, salt and pepper and all manner of deliciousness. I shamelessly chowed down and had seconds too. Sticky toffee pudding with ice cream, and two three-liters of Strongbow Cider completed the meal, and much great conversation was had along the way. What a great night with great people! It's our turn to cook next time and I think Nicole's going to whip out a recipe for shrimp gumbo...my taste buds anxiously await :)
After dinner we headed down to our favorite local pub, The City Pride, for karaoke night. It was a huge Domer-Bomb, as at least 50 of us took over the establishment to sing ND classics like Taylor Swift's "Love Story," Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer," Journey's "Don't Stop Believing," and most importantly Billy Joel's "Piano Man." Anne's 21st was at the stroke of midnight and Isaac decided to request that the DJ play Happy Birthday...but we instead got this super weird version of a birthday song for Martin Luther King Jr. all about world peace and harmony...it was absolutely hilarious, and none of us could stop laughing!
Tomorrow is a really big day though...our group is off to Stonehenge and Bath for a day trip! I'm sure I will have much to blog about and a lot to say after the fact but for now, goodnight dear world. Sweet dreams all!
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