July 12 second day in London

Our second day in London was fantastic!  We started by seeking out the famous "full breakfast" and it was great!  Ok, only Tuck ate it but we all found yummy stuff. Tuck Including bacon roll for me and "jacket potato" for Katie. (Baked potato w ham and cheese) off to Wesminster on the underground where we popped out at the foot of Big Ben. I was properly awed! We wondered around Parliment Squre, Trafalger Sqaure and Charing Cross. Crossed over and back on the Footbridge ove the Themes. Of course it wouldn't be a trip here without getting rained on! We did what the locals do and ducked into a cafe for sweets and cappachino. Twice. It was a soggy day!  We went through two great museums, Churchill's Bunker and Horse Gurads Museum. 

The Bunker was where Churchill and his war cabinet holed up for a few years during the blitz. Tiny rooms, chamber pots, lots of top secret phone lines. The most secret phone (to the USA) was in a room labeled PM's lavatory!  The best souvenir was Katie's pen in the form of a big, fat cigar. I can imagine her pulling it out in middle school!

The Horse Guards have many names, Life Guards, Blue and Royals and I'm not sure which is correct. But they are the Queens personal regimen for some protection but mostly ceremony. They do a fancy ending at 4 every day and the crowds were very small. We has great views of the 20 minute ceremony. Then we visited the museum for  a bit. Caleb and Katie loved dressing like soldiers!  There was a plexiglass divider to watch the workings of the actual stable and see the horses that just worked all day get a rub down.   

We missed the chance to get into Westminster Abby for a religious service. After a thorough look at St Pauls, we skipped the tour here.  Also, the kids were a little thrown by the fact that those old churches use their floor for burial grounds! But we checked out the outside marveling at the gargoyles and stained glass. We did spend a bit of time in St Margarets right next to it. It was a small chapel( still bigger than our church!) that was built around the same time. 

Cab back to Chinatown for dumplings (for Katie and Caleb) and a fantastic local pub for fish and chips, scotch egg and cheese plate plus the best ale I've ever had, London Pale Ale. Sweets from a Chinese bakery (?) and walked back to the hostel. 

I'll add pics later.