London Adventures: Thurday, June 20th

Today we set out to see the Imperial War Museum which is a little ways outside of main London. It has lots of war memorabilia from World War I and II. There were several different sections and displays and the one Janie and I were most interested in was called "The Children's War". It was an exhibit chronically what it was like for the children of Britain during World War II. The pictures of mothers sending their children out to the countryside or to other countries for safe keeping were heart wrenching. I don't know if I could have done it. Some of them didn't see their children for five years by the time the war was over. We had a unique and special opportunity of visiting with a guide, a distinguished older gentleman, in the exhibit who was 9 at the time his entire school was sent on a ship to Canada to get out of the bombing. His parents chose not to send him and this was a miracle as the ship his friends were on was bombed and sank and only a few children survived. After this incident, the children were no longer sent abroad but housed in the English countryside. He told us what it was like to have the American soldiers there and how they loved to party. As we finished our chat with him, he told us "thank you" to America---we were so touched! After, we had lunch at "Nandos", a favorite rotisserie chicken place and then went to Burough Market where all kinds of food is sold in two big warehouses and on the street. We bought a special treat--chocolate almonds dusted with cinnamon---a favorite find of Janie's. The late afternoon found us shopping and then going home for a breakfast dinner of eggs and crepes.