Olympic fever

My mate

Yuri

30 days to go

Arthur Phillip

Watling St, oldest street in London

Touching roman wall

Today I start at the Churchill War Rooms and check out a whole lot of memorabilia about the great British bulldog, Winston. Its kinda weird walking the same corridors as him and all the other people that worked so hard in WW2. They put a lot of emphasis on how the decision making process worked for defense and civil matters, I think today’s companies could learn a lot from how this encouraged quick, informed decisions.

Next stop is my mate, Captain Cook. But Olympic fever has really struck today and my short cut up horse guards parade is cut off. So I take the long way around and, oh, no, Cooks statue is surrounded by barriers. After talking to three security guards they finally escort me in for my photo. Another statue is placed across the way from Cook for Yuri Gagarin. It is placed in such a way that Cook’s gaze passes the mantle of exploration over to Yuri. I like it. Also met some Russians that are pretty excited about Yuri statute so we take some pictures together.

Next stop is dodge the tourists under Olympic count down sign and check out the mosaic floor in National Gallery. Then onto National Portrait Gallery where I say hello to Cook, Phillip and Banks all in one room. Also see Harry and Wills and stacks of other exceptionally good portraits. It’s a good time to see at the end of the trip as it puts face to some of the names of people in history.

Time to tackle the city. The city is just over one square mile and is policed and managed separately by the City of London. Sounds a bit political to me but it has been working that way for about 1,000 years so I don’t see it changing anytime soon. I meet up with a guided tour of the city and again learn so much my head is spinning. We started on the oldest street in London which was originally a Celtic pathway and learn lots about how London evolved. One of the more interesting stories to me was about Arthur Phillip, we saw his statute and learnt that his remains had been intended to come to Australia however they have gone missing.

It starts to spit with rain and I move onto the find of the day, Roman ruins. Aptly found on a street named London Wall. That sort of gives it away. Conveniently they are located right next to the Museum of London, so time to check this out as well. After three weeks of traipsing around I feel like a bit of an expert on the museum experience now and this one is great. Sections are in a logical time line and I learn heaps. Should have come to this museum earlier in the trip as it puts the three main events of renewal in London, Boudica, Great Fire and Blitz into perspective.

Then it’s out on the train to visit Suzie and Harry for dinner. Harry makes an amazing desert full of cream, meringue, strawberries and raspberries it called Eton Mess. Sort of like a mashed up pavlova.