Ed had made a brunch reservation today at Darwin Brasserie, one of the restaurants at the Sky Garden, a 37-floor glass building with an observation deck and a conservatory at the top.
We got the ultimate breakfast which was the Continental breakfast (buffet) plus a hot dish. I had the wild mushrooms on toast (with fried egg). It was too much food, but good.
After eating we spent some time on the observation deck picking out landmarks. We could see the Tower of London virtually next door, Parliament, the Tate Modern, Wemberley Stadium, City Hall (a glass egg), The Shard – a newer skyscraper, etc.
We walked a bit after breakfast, considering going in St. Paul’s Cathedral where there are Grinling Gibbons carvings, but Ed felt churched-out and it was £17 to boot. He really did want to see the Churchill War Rooms so we hopped on the tube, getting off at St. James Park.
Since we were so close to Buckingham Palace, we walked over so Ed could at least see it. He was not interested in waiting around for a changing of the guard, and it was crowded enough there so we just looked, took a few photos and then walked along the lake in St. James Park on the Birdcage walk. It is a pretty lake with pelicans and unusual (to us) ducks and geese.
We had tried to prebook tickets to the War Rooms online but they did not allow same day booking. The line for non-reserved tickets grew long as they allowed all of the reserved ticket holders in. We were almost ready to give up. We talked to a couple in front of us who had lived in Kenya a few years in the seventies and eighties who were nice. Finally, the line began to move and we were in!
We spent more than two hours in the museum. It includes the bunkers where Churchill and his military men lived and worked during the Blitz. There was a BBC broadcasting room, a map room with multiple phones and large maps on the walls with pins showing where convoys and boats were. Also a kitchen, conference room, typing pool room and multiple bedrooms.
The bunker was actually not that well fortified, although a thick layer of concrete was eventually laid in on top of it. Churchill only slept three nights there; he would go upstairs to what was called the 10 Downing Annex where there was real plumbing. Apparently he took two baths a day.
The rooms were well-preserved. In the map room the audio tour guide said that on the day after V-Day, they turned off the lights and walked away, leaving everything behind.
In addition to the war rooms, there was a museum dedicated to Churchill. It was very thorough, on the level of a presidential library in the US. It concentrated on the war years when he first became Prime Minister, but also included his childhood and retirement, even displaying a few of his oil paintings. They also had the old wooden door from 10 Downing Street, which was replaced by a blast-proof door in 1991 when the IRA attempted to blow it up. On the one hand, seeing this museum makes me want to see The Darkest Hour, the movie with Churchill played by Gary Oldham. On the other hand, that was a boatload of Winston and it was overwhelming.
We had to head back then to the boat to get ready for the evening. We had reservations for an Israeli restaurant called Bala Baya in the Bankside neighborhood. It is in a building constructed of the arches of an old railway bridge called Old Union Street Arches where each arch contains a different restaurant or business. The trains still run over it; we could feel them rumbling and I could see the reflection in the windows of the building across the way.
The restaurant was small plates. Here is what we ordered!
Green Tel – Summer greens, Galia melon, macadamia, blossom honey, aromatic seeds, rosary goats cheese. This was good, included mint, basil & cilantro.
Chickpea hummus – Mixed spices, pine nuts, pickled chiles, tomato pulp, pits
Cauliflower & Roe – Cauliflower florets, fermented harissa, sweetcorn, black pepper, cured fish roe.
Prawn baklava – King prawns, kadaifi, bitter lime syrup, lime cream, Persian lime & Nori dust, pistachios. This was cool – not layered but whole prawns in kadaifi with a dipping sauce.
Crispy, Sticky, Crunchy – chicken thighs, bitter orange, harissa, kimchi, butternut squash puree, hazelnuts, sumac. This was more for Ed.
Dak Dak – West country reared venison loin, grape lemon thyme, green chili, Parmesan. This seemed to be a carpaccio. Yummy. This was more for me.
I believe we had an Israeli Chardonnay as well.
After dinner we walked to the Globe Theater to see A Midsummer Nights Dream.
The Globe is basically open air but the seats are covered with a roof. Airplanes flew over frequently but the players plowed through. It was a very nice evening for the venue.
They made a weird play even weirder, but it made for a fun night. There was a New Orleans style jazz band and costumes and floats that looked like something from Mardi Gras. The actors were all good, and Puck was played by all of them; they used a t-shirt to indicate who was currently Puck. We did think it went a little long though. We were tired by the end.
We walked afterward from the Globe to the London Bridge tube station. A lot of people were out walking. We passed the Golden Hynde (Hinde), a full-size reconstruction of Sir Francis Drake’s ship The Golden Hind, which was built in 1973 in Devon. The original sailed from Plymouth in 1580. It was pretty cool to come across it suddenly in the dark.