HOMER SIMPSON DOUGHNUTS MORN and War Room

Day 4 

We were up early and on our way via the Jubilee Line to Bermondsey Station. From there we made the 15 minute hike to the St. John Bakery, located on Druid Street. Our research has indicated   we will find the best custard filled doughnuts in all of London. We arrived as retail orders were being prepared and the outside tables were not really ready for customers.  Yet the nice person preparing for the day, and shooing away the pidgins looking for crumbs, welcomed us and sold us some doughnuts.  While the bakery is located on Druid Street the doughnuts can also be had at the Maltby Street Market after 0900.

With our bag of doughnuts, we made our way across Tower Bridge to a coffee stand where we had coffee and enjoyed our doughnuts. I will simply say Homer Simpson would greatly approve of  these most delicious doughnuts. 

We then went to the Tower Hill Underground Station and made our way to Westminster Station. We had made plans to meet friends at the Churchill War Rooms, yes we were early and so were they, which worked out perfect. Being a Saturday the queue was getting rather long, but our tickets had been purchased online  giving us a priority entry. 

Here History was made in Churchill War Rooms - an underground bunker that allowed Britain's leaders to plot the allied route to victory during the Second World War. Walk the among the rooms and corridors that stretch below Westminster which sheltered Winston Churchill and his war cabinet from the German bombing raids. Here one also gets to explore the Churchill museum to learn the story of his life and legacy. 

This sign was posted to advise personnel in the War Rooms as to the weather topside.  

Interestingly Churchill’s food supply was also rationed and his cook had to make do to make tasty meals.

War Council meeting room.

Churchill’s Dining Area

The Private Radio and Telephone room used to call allies . 

A constant hub of activity 24 hours a day not ending till the end of the war. 

If you perchance have seen the movie “Darkest Hour”, many of the movies scenes we filmed on sets depicting the War Rooms. On a note, the movie was not filmed in the actual War Room, but the sets were spot on. 

For me to simply stand in such a place filled with such history is simply amazing. I believe this is a not to miss museum. One point of interest struck me while listening to the audio guide for the Map Room.  An officer was recounting the last day in the room on the final day of WWII. He recalled leaving the room and turning out the lights, which had never been turned out during the whole war. 

After our visit to the War Rooms, we decided to walk to Convent Garden Market for lunch. This nice walk took us past Trafalgar Square, and along The Strand, making a few stops along the way.  We found a nice restaurant where we enjoyed a Ham and Cheese  Tart, that I considered our pie for the day, while not traditional, it was very good. 

Jubile Market across from Covenant Garden Market sell hand made crafts. 

From here we walked to Waterloo Station. This route took us by the Southbank Centre Market, where there were many stands selling many many different offerings of various foods. I noticed everything from noodles to sausage, to burgers, to curries, to Asian foods. All smelled great, sadly we were full from lunch. 

Our friends boarded a train and we took the Underground back to our hotel. Here we dropped our bags and did a walk about of our neighborhood. This area is very residential, passing several food stores, barbershops, dry goods and a few stands selling vegetables and fruit. We stopped in one of the local grocery stores for more “real” Cadbury  chocolate to take home.

Now we are back in the room with 17,000 steps for the day and a small sandwich to eat for dinner.  

Thank you for reading our exploits and do share with whomever.