Imperial War Museum

Just returned from a full day at the Imperial War Museum. Good God.

For the boys, endless things to learn about trenches, rationing and submarines. Children being evacuated during World War II. Aircraft. Tanks. Guns.

For me, I got to see an actual Enigma machine.

But the highlight was a handwritten letter, in a glass case, from Patrick Leigh Fermor (one of the great travel writers) to the Cairo operations office. It was written when he was an SOE operative on Crete, and about to kidnap a German General.

(SOE is the Special Operations Executive, and British undercover mayhem force in WWII.)

Prominently advertised at the Museum was a new book by Jane
Fernley-Wittingstall (Hugh's sister?) called "The Ministry of Food:
Thrifty Wartime Ways to Feed Your Family Today." The first two recipes were Rabbit Pie and Nettle Soup.

We got there by taking a couple double-decker busses: the 15 west for a couple blocks, then the 63 south over Blackfriars Bridge and down to Lambeth Road. Will was thrilled. Of course we rode on top. He's going to need a fix of this each day. It is a pleasure to have a transit pass.

Galen navigated us home through the Underground quite handily. Kate holds us back by the wall as the train comes in. We're all quite safe. With my underarm wallet holster on I feel like a secret operative too.

Shopped in Marks and Spencer for dinner foods, which we ate back at the hostel. Then went for a walk. St Paul's doors were open for the evening service, so we wandered in and listened at the back of its vast space for a few minutes. Then we wandered north a few blocks and found a piece of the original (Roman) Wall of the City of London--just off a street called London Wall by chance.

Everyone's beat. We have Museum Feet.