Day: December 25, 2023

Sharon and Emma were off to see “Six” the musical in the West End, So I thought I’d do something I’ve been meaning to do every time I’ve been in London but have never quite had the time to do it, so I Did a tour of the HMS Belfast this afternoon. This is pretty amazing, WW2 Cruiser, now permanently docked near Tower bridge and part of the Imperial War Museum. Lots of interesting stuff inside to see. The boiler/engine room, the mess, the kitchen, the hospital, the deck etc are all open for viewing.

This is not of the feint of heart though, lots of ladders to climb going between the decks, some of them quite steep and very narrow. The ship saw service from the 1930s through to the 1960s. It was refurbished in the 1950s, so you need to remember from a technology point of view you are looking through a 1950s ship not necessarily as it was in WW2.

This is absolutely worth doing if you are interested in ships or WW2 history.

When we were planning this trip, Emma mentioned one of the things she really wanted to do was the “Theatre Cafe” in London, which is an American style diner food cafe where the wait staff sing songs between serving tables. I honestly thought this would be completely naff and terribly expensive, but thought we would give it ago anyway. I was pleasantly surprised as the cafe is really well set out, customers can write their requests on a chalk board and the staff did a great job with the singing. The food is OK, nothing spectacular, just standard American style burgers, hot dogs and ribs. I was right about one thing though, it’s not cheap. Burgers were 20 pounds each. The food items on the menu have themed names which is quite funny too.