Gigantic ancient stones
Today was our final full day in Europe, and we made sure to go out with a bang. Started off the day with a very ambitious plan – we’d stop by the Churchill War Rooms, take a half-day trip to Stonehenge, and end the day with Spamalot, a musical at London’s West End.
The Churchill War Rooms is part of the Imperial War Museum in London, and it’s actually onsite of the original Cabinet War Rooms used by Churchill and other statesmen and military officers during the Second World War. It felt pretty surreal to be walking through the same corridor that these men and women walked through during their 15-hour work days, catching a glimpse of the map rooms and sleeping quarters of the officers, and exploring Churchill’s life at a comprehensive museum section.
Reconstruction of what the map room would’ve looked like
The crazy thing was that the war rooms weren’t completely bomb proof – it probably wouldn’t have survived a direct bomb strike, but Churchill still worked through that risk and even went outside to the roof to watch German planes as they were bombing the city. You don’t go down in history without being a bit crazy…
After a nice fish & chips lunch at a local pub, we caught our early afternoon bus to Stonehenge. The ride there was one of the most uncomfortable rides I’ve experienced on a bus, ranking even above the bus ride to Rome with the crazy man. The reason? The AC broke down about 15 minutes in, and there were no windows and probably over 70 people. It was actually much, much cooler in the afternoon sun once we got off the bus at Stonehenge.
Thankfully, the visit to Stonehenge was pretty memorable. Sure, people may say it’s just a bunch of stones, but so are the Great Pyramid, the Great Wall, and a bunch of other historically-significant structures. We walked around the entire site, listening to our audio guides and realizing just how crazy it was to set all these stones up. They didn’t look that big compared to the high rises of today, but these were put up around 2,400 B.C.
There are many theories surrounding Stonehenge, since no one knows for certain what they were used for. From more plausible ones such as a ceremonial area to crazier ones like aliens, these theories show the popularity of Stonehenge in modern-day culture, and I definitely felt lucky to be in its presence, just taking in the ancient structure and enjoying the day out.
We managed to make it back to London without melting and rushed through a quick dinner before making it to the Playhouse at London’s West End to catch our musical Spamalot. It’s an adaption of the famous movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and it didn’t disappoint. With a stellar cast, hilarious musical numbers, and that classic British humor and wit, the musical was fun, engrossing, and received thunderous applause and cheers from the audience at the end.
Spamalot, an amazingly hilarious musical
What a perfect way to end our trip – it’s been quite a ride, and I’ll have more posts up after I’m back in the States. In the meantime, we’ll be packing up, grabbing some food, and catching our flight back home tomorrow. Cheers!
Stay tuned and read about my other adventures in London, Paris, Berlin, Italy, and Spain!
Steps taken: 13,366 | Miles walked: 4.40
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