The Brighton Jotter

"Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it." – Mary Oliver

London Day 8: Churchill War Rooms

Monday 28th April

This morning we woke up, had breakfast then packed and checked out of the hotel. We left our bags at the hotel and walked to the Churchill War Rooms. These are the basement rooms where the British leaders ran the war effort during World War II. At the end of the war, they left the complex as it was and you can now go and have a look. It was pretty interesting, especially seeing some of the living quarters and the map room. Some photos:

They had a recreation of one of the meetings playing in this room. They were discussing whether to bomb civilian areas!

On our way back to the hotel we stopped at Humble Crumble in Soho and picked up two crumbles. I’d been wanting to take G to try them since I had them on the East End Food Tour. We had the apple crumble with custard and meringue and rhubarb crumble with custard and cream. Still yummy! G enjoyed it. This was the end of our stay in London. We picked up our bags and caught the train to Oxford where I would be spending the next three days while G travelled around visiting clients.

Comments

13 responses to “London Day 8: Churchill War Rooms”

  1. Nicole MacPherson Avatar
    Nicole MacPherson

    So fascinating! It’s incredible to me what people in London went through during the war.

    Reply
    1. Melissa Avatar
      Melissa

      I know, I can’t imagine living like that

      Reply
  2. Elisabeth Avatar
    Elisabeth

    It’s like a time capsule.

    It really does feel like a horrible nightmare in some ways – like I cannot believe people lived through the horrors of war like this. And then I stop and remember that millions of people are still living through the same hell-on-earth. It’s incredible how the Allies came together, and so sad that wars keep tearing people apart 🙁

    Reply
    1. Melissa Avatar
      Melissa

      I know the whole thing is so sad. Most people just want to live their life, look after their family and had enough to live on, and then you have awful people who just wreck everything.

      Reply
  3. J Avatar
    J

    Wow, fascinating, cool that they kept it like it was. As Elisabeth said, it’s horrible that we are still doing this to each other.

    Reply
    1. Melissa Avatar
      Melissa

      Yes, I know.

      Reply
  4. Alexandra Avatar
    Alexandra

    This is one of the more fascinating places to visit, I loved it’s sense of history when we went way back when. My parents were of that generation that lied their way into the military. Which is just as well, as maybe they would never have met, and I might not be here right now.

    Reply
    1. Melissa Avatar
      Melissa

      It was such a different time. I guess you do what you have to do in the circumstances you find yourself in, but I can’t imagine what I would have done in those times.

      Reply
      1. Alexandra Avatar
        Alexandra

        I have some small insight into those days because those are the very same days my parents lived through. They never really talked too much about what they went through other than some of the better, or fun times. We now really don’t appreciate how it was for them back then.

        Reply
        1. Melissa Avatar
          Melissa

          I can imagine most people wanted to put the war years firmly behind them.

          Reply
  5. ernie Avatar
    ernie

    At first I read that you were checking out of your hotel and then saw the pics of the room and thought ‘This was your room?’ No, no it was not. Amazing to see the British war rooms. Untouched- so crazy.

    Reply
    1. Melissa Avatar
      Melissa

      Haha! I would have been extremely disappointed if this was our room – no windows.

      Reply
  6. Tobia | craftaliciousme Avatar
    Tobia | craftaliciousme

    That cooking range. I was not expecting that but of course how else would it look like.
    So interesting.

    Thank for sharing yet another interesting museum.

    Reply

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