For my last 1/2 day of solo sightseeing, I headed to the Charles Dickens house. It was a bit off the beaten path, but it was nice to get away from the center city congestion. CD only lived in the house for about 2 years, but the house society collected furnishings from many of his other residences to fully furnish the house. Essentially all the rooms in the house are on the tour -- which is self guided. A booklet is provided and there are quite a few notecards in each room with more info. Here is a picture of the drawing room and the desk at which CD wrote many of his books. Quite a nice little place.
Farley met up with me and we had a quiet lunch on a bench by a park. Our next stop was the Churchill War Rooms, the secret underground location from which the English government & military leaders ran World War II. The facility was shut up after the war, all furnishings, signs and most equipment left in place and only reopened to the pubic in the late 70s/ early 80s. Attached pics show the map room and Churchill's room, tho he only spent 3 nights there. Funny that we toured the secret bunker at The Greenbriar this year (ready for the US Govt to move into during the Cold War in case of Russian attack), and now this secret fortification.
We headed out to Pimlico for dinner, to a restaurant Farley read about on Yelp. We had a yummy dinner al fresco - again, in a location far from the hustle & bustle of the Westminster area. We ended up taking a stroll in the Chelsea area, which we both agreed was very nice and if we were looking for accommodations in a suburb, that would be our choice.
One last evening drink (Pimm's for me, yum) and now back at our hotel. We change to another hotel tomorrow (now that the conference is over) so it will be a busy day!
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