In London Town

I loved my visit to Durham Cathedral (April 8). It's been very well preserved, and the presence of St. Cuthbert's grave apparently kept down the number of extra graves and shrines added on the inside, so the inside is not nearly as cluttered as many cathedrals are. All the stained glass is unfortunately from the 1870s and later, since the original windows were broken out by the Roundheads during the 1600s (Proddy swine!). One of the restored windows has a lot of Masonic symbolism in it, which I wouldn't expect in a Catholic church, but I guess the C of E made its peace with the Illuminati some time ago.
Durham Castle was unfortunately closed for a private function, something that happens a lot on weekends (as a rootless vagabond without employment or a fixed address, I have been paying little attention to such mundane details as the day of the week). It's not really a surprise, I guess, that castle owners try to make money from them. They used to extract tolls from passing merchants; now they host wedding receptions and corporate events. Definitely progress.
The castle also serves as undergraduate housing for students at Durham University. One of them was kind enough to escort me just a little way inside after telling me the castle was closed.
After Durham I got on a train to London, and was in my hostel by 11:30 p.m, even after a hike from the Underground and after looking around for 20 minutes or so. I had forgotten that in London there are often a bunch of streets with almost the same name clustered together (Craven court, Craven gardens, and so forth in this case), and that it is therefore vitally important to note the exact name of any street.
The next day (April 9), I went to the tourist sites I was too cheap to visit last time, the Tower of London and the Churchill museum and cabinet war rooms. Both were well worth the price of admission. The Crown Jewels are thoroughly awe-inspiring, even to as knee-jerk an anti-monarchist as myself. But I thought the most impressive item on display was an old crown from the 1820s, which had had all the jewels removed. The king who ordered it for his coronation (George IV) had only rented the diamonds for it, and had been unable to convince Parliament to pay for them afterwards. So the diamonds were all removed and returned to their owners. This is real constitutional monarchy. In most parts of the world, nobody can count on getting back anything "lent" to the king.
The cabinet war rooms next to Whitehall have been restored to their condition during WWII, and the audio guide (included with admission) is very helpful. I was glad to have brought along my binoculars, since the rooms are sometimes large, and it's nice to get a closer look at things in the back. There are a lot of different-colored telephones, including red telephones like in old movies. There are also ashtrays everywhere, even though this was an underground bunker.
At the gift shop I bought a Churchill painting on a postcard, entitled "Bottlescape." It shows a small part of Churchill's alcohol collection. The only bottle I definitely recognized was Johnny Walker black label, but a more experienced drinker would probably do better.
For dinner I had steak and kidney pie at a pub in North London. Not something you'd want to eat every day, but still good.
Today (April 10) I will be meeting some friends and planning my cross-Channel journey.