London: Day Four

Ever since I stayed in my first Airbnb, it has tended to be my preferred place to stay on trips. It's usually much less expensive than a hotel room, and you usually have a wide array of choices for places to stay. So far there's only been one not-so-great experience (knock on wood), and we really enjoyed where we stayed in London. Especially because we didn't have to buy breakfast! They provided croissants and cereal, however we decided for our last full day in London, we wanted to go out for breakfast. Our day began with a bus ride to South Kensington, where we at a Le Pain Quotidien, a cafe we first discovered in NYC and thought it would be fun to eat at one in Europe. 

After that, we went back to the Churchill War Rooms where the line was just as long as the day before,  yet we were committed. And it only was about half an hour waiting before we were in the museum. I have visited before, and though Phil would enjoy it, and he did. It is the underground bunker where Churchill met with his cabinet, and even spent the night there a few times. In one room, everything was left exactly as it was when the war ended and they just locked the doors. 

As we were making our way over to our next stop, at Trafalgar Square we ran into what can only be described as a alt-right rally with the English Defense League meeting up with pro-45 supporters. We stood next to a police intelligence officer who was relaying names of the men in attendance. It was more ridiculous than anything (especially since many were flying the UK flag...and there was a Swedish flag present as well, which was also confusing). It is interesting though to see the contrast between the 250,000 who came out yesterday and the 200 or so who were there today. It was all very orderly and the police moved them along, though we couldn't tell if it was a planned march or the police just moving them out. 

Then, we went to another museum, Sir John Soane's Museum. It is where Soane lived and the house has a stipulation to be kept exactly as it was when he died. He was a collector of antiquities and an architect and the house is absolutely jam packed with art and sculpture - along with a library! It reminds me of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, though the Gardner to me is more enjoyable because it is easier to move around in and look at the art! 

We keep reminding ourselves that this trip is a little over three weeks long, and we want to be sure to pace ourselves and not just constantly be running around from one place to the next. To that end, in the afternoon we saw Jurassic World! I've been wanting to see it, though now that I saw it, I don't know why because so many dinosaurs die! 

After dinner, we made our way over to one of the best bus routes in London, the 11, which goes past so many famous sights. It was a bit of a journey to get to the starting point, since the first bus we took went on a diversion and left us nowhere near where we had wanted to be. We got to Liverpool St Station in the end and were able to grab the seats at the top of the bus. Even though it was after 8pm, the sky was still bright and this bus route did not disappoint. From St. Paul's Cathedral, to the Royal Courts, to Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament, plus a view of the Eye and the South Bank. It was a lovely way to end our London visit. 

As I write this, we are on the Eurostar train to Paris and we will be there in about 2.5 hours.