Sunday, June 30

We took the tube to Euston Underground and Train station (where we will leave from on Thursday to travel to Manchester) to catch a train to Blenchley Park, called the home of the codebreakers. During WWII, this is where the captured German Enigma machine was studied and things called Bombes were developed to decypher intercepted messages. Alan Turing was one of the main brains behind this very successful operation. Its a large area on the grounds of a former estate. The mansion was a bit different. It was built with many different architectural styles. Once the government moved in, several large ugly buildings were constructed to house all of the people (most of whom were women). Women were employed as drivers, secretaries, cryptographers - just about all positions except managers. Same old thing.

We ate a horrible tasting lunch in the cafeteria and then went on a one hour guided tour of the grounds. During the tour there was a fly-over of a WWII C-130. They had a name for it, but I don't remember what it was. Something like Wasp or Hornet. It really was used during the war. In addition, there was a classic car picnic going on - Jaguars, MGs, Triumphs, and Porsches. They even had one MGB-GT - like the one we owned in the 60's. But, someone had installed a sunroof. Very un-British.

Later, we met the boys in SOHO to go pub hopping. 5 historic, mostly British pubs. One was Dutch. I thought that many pubs  would be a chore, but it turned out to be very entertaining. At each pub, we sat in a different configuration, so you talked to others, plus after each drink you were getting up and walking to the next pub to test your drunkeness. Finally, just before 10:00, we ended up at a Chinese restaurant. Chinatown is next to SOHO. We ordered one  of those items on the menu which feeds six people and has a variety of meat and veggies. The food was great and high quality - roast duck, shrimp, diced pork, roast pork, fried rice, roast beef, and a vegetable dish. We ate almost everything and closed the restaurant.

We all took the #176 bus back and we got off at the south end of Waterloo Bridge, said goodbye to the boys, and walked along the river back to the apartment.