GREAT BRITAIN - Best of Europe 2014 - page 776

En route to Parliament Square, you'll pass a statue of Boadicea , the Celtic queen

defeated by Roman invaders in A.D. 60.
For fun, call home from near Big Ben at about three minutes before the hour to let your
loved one hear the bell ring. You'll find four red phone booths lining the north side of
Parliament Square along Great George Street—also great for a phone-box-and-Big-Ben
photo op.
Wave hello to Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square. To
Churchill's right is Westminster Abbey , with its two stubby, elegant towers. The white
building (flying the Union Jack) at the far end of the square houses Britain's new Supreme
Court.
Head north up Parliament Street, which turns into Whitehall, and walk toward
Trafalgar Square. You'll see the thought-provoking Cenotaph in the middle of the
boulevard, reminding passersby of the many Brits who died in the last century's world wars.
To visit the Churchill War Rooms , take a left before the Cenotaph, on King Charles Street.
Continuing on Whitehall, stop at the barricaded and guarded # 10 Downing Street to
see the British “White House,” home of the prime minister. Break the bobby's boredom and
ask him a question. The huge building across Whitehall from Downing Street is the Min-
istry of Defence (MOD), the “British Pentagon.”
Nearing Trafalgar Square, look for the 17th-century Banqueting House across the

street and the Horse Guards behind the gated fence.
The column topped by Lord Nelson marks Trafalgar Square . The stately domed
building on the far side of the square is the National Gallery , which has a classy café in the
Sainsbury wing. To the right of the National Gallery is St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church
and its Café in the Crypt.
To get to Piccadilly from Trafalgar Square, walk up Cockspur Street to Haymarket, then
take a short left on Coventry Street to colorful Piccadilly Circus (see map on here ).
Near Piccadilly, you'll find a number of theaters. Leicester Square (with its half-price
“tkts” booth for plays—see here ) thrives just a few blocks away. Walk through seedy Soho
(north of Shaftesbury Avenue) for its fun pubs. From Piccadilly or Oxford Circus, you can
take a taxi, bus, or the Tube home.