Day 12 Kelvedon Hatch

Day 12

Oct 26/09

Today would end up being very calm. Our only destination for the day would be the Secret Nuclear Bunker Kelvedon Hatch. We decided to take our time in the morning and didn't check out of our room until we had to at noon. Apparently this bunker had been ready to go at a moments notice only a few years back. They had built sometime after WWII in case of a nuclear attack. It could hold up to 600 people! It was really weird. The whole thing had an audio tour and the only contact with people that you would have on the tour is with other tourists. Otherwise, you paid at the end of the tour and they just kept telling you that you are on camera and you are not allowed to take pictures (on signs). The whole thing stunk, as if the air flow wasn't very good. They had mannequins set up everywhere to look "realistic" though people clearly played with them because their wigs were falling off. It was a 3 story bunker with only 200 beds so they way it worked was that you would sleep for 8 hours and then someone would take your bed. They had films all over talking about how to be safe in your own home in case of a nuclear attack. Every once in a while on the audio guide they would say "you'd die, but this was to help pass the time" or "you'd die, but this was to keep you busy until then" or messages like that. It was absolutely ridiculous! At the same time, it was a very interesting concept. Trevor is now all gung ho about creating our own bunker. We'll see… After our very interesting (and slightly creepy) tour, we made ourselves pasta as the sunset and watched Star Trek on the computer and then headed out to find our last parking spot for the rest of the trip. We had supper again at McDonald's ( I know I shouldn't but I couldn't help it. I have to try it in each country. Unfortunately we missed Scotland, but even for me, 3 X in 2 weeks is a little much). We ended up having to park in an actual parking spot. Luckily it didn't charge us until 8:30a so we set an alarm so we could leave before then. That was the end of that day.