Day 4

Day four of my journey around London began slowly. The majority of the group left and got an early start on the day, but I had to meet my friend Jake and his girlfriend Jen, who were studying abroad in Wales, at the hotel. To pass the extra time I slept a few extra hours and looked through London guide books for attractions to check out later that day.

Jake and Jen arrived at about noon, and there was much rejoicing. We were all hungry for a day full of English culture. However, we were also hungry for lunch so we took advantage of the number of English restaurants in the area by eating at Pizza Hut. We all ordered the lunch pizza buffet for four pounds, but apparently the pasta sitting three inches from the pizza was not included in the pizza buffet so a charge of two pounds was added to my bill, bloody English people.

Once our stomachs were full to the brim, we walked to the Churchill Museum/ Cabinet War Rooms. I was skeptical about the quality of the museum because from outside it looked extremely small. It was only an illusion, the majority of the museum was underground, and it was huge. The Churchill section was incredibly high tech and very interactive. The exhibits utilized touch screen computer technology, motion sensors that cued videos to start, and excerpts of speeches that started playing when you stepped on a certain section of floor. You would think that with such a setup the style of the exhibits would overshadow the substance, but in this instance that was not true. The place was absolutely loaded with information about Churchill’s life, his relationship with other world leaders (most notably Stalin and Roosevelt), his actions during WWII, and all sorts of random fun facts that helped visitors to delve into the mind of one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever seen.

The second section of the museum was the actual Cabinet War Rooms. These rooms were the secret hideout for Churchill and his military advisors during WWII. It was there that they developed their wartime strategies and hid from bombing raids. It is difficult to imagine the living conditions that these people had to deal with. The ceilings of the shelters were extremely short and required me to duck nearly the entire time, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this museum.

We had planned on spending around 30 minutes inside of the Churchill Museum/ Cabinet War Rooms, but 30 minutes quickly turned into 3 hours and we were forced to meet up with our group at the hotel immediately afterwards so we could go on the Jack the Ripper Walking Tour. This so called walking tour ironically began with a scenic boat ride down the Thames River. On the boat I bought a Carling and enjoyed the view of downtown London. It was during this boat ride that Chantel and I sang the “London Bridge Is Falling Down” nursery rhyme as we were actually passing under London Bridge.

Once we started the walking tour, which included bus rides to several locations, I realized that this was no ordinary tour. The first words our tour guide uttered were, “My goal is to make this night as unpleasant as possible for you.” It was immediately apparent that he had every intention of keeping his promise. We visited several of the Jack the Ripper murder sights which, when they did not have office buildings built over them, were simply vacant parking lots. However, our guide brought the locations to life with all the disgustingly gory details how each murder happened, how he got away, and who the major suspects of this still unsolved case were. On the tour we came across several other sites of interest including: the William Wallace Memorial, the outer walls of the Tower of London, the 10 Bells Pub, Tower Bridge, and White Chapel. Our guide showed the dark side of many of these spots by telling stories of death and destruction at each site.

After the tour, Jake, Jen, and I had worked up an appetite, so we once again took advantage of the English cultural experience, and ate at Subway. After eating, we went to Piccadilly Circus, which is basically the Times Square of London, and met up with Tiffany P., Chantel, Amy, Kristen, and Kristen’s friend Amanda at the statue of Eros, and began searching for a drinking establishment. We were handed free passes to a bar called the Sports Café by some lady on the street and we took full advantage of those passes. The bar itself was similar to an American sports bar such as Hooters in most respects, except this bar had a dance floor. Once inside I ordered a Guiness, a Fosters, and a shot of Jack Daniels.

Once I had partaken in a few spirits I was ready hit the dance floor and show everyone what a horrible dancer I am (hopefully they thought I was having a seizure). It was especially funny to watch some brave Englishmen hit on Chantel only to be shut down when he asked to buy her a drink. At 11:45 P.M. we decided it was time to leave, so I bought a Becks, and attempted to walk out the door. Unfortunately, the bouncer would not let me take it out of the building, and I was forced to chug the entire beer on the spot. Once we finally got out of the bar we took the tube back to the hotel and went to sleep. It was definitely a successful night.