Cheerio Old Chap!

January 21-24, 2008

At 8:55am I boarded a plane to London and an hour and 15 mins later, I was in London. Best part, London is an hour behind Amsterdam, so I arrived at 9:10am London time. Talk about efficiency!


MEININGER CITY HOSTEL & HOTEL: this hostel was the best hostel I have ever stayed in. It was extremely clean, very well organized and a buffet breakfast that didn't only serve the usual cereal but several different cereals, breads, fruits, cold cuts and cheese!



VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM: my hostel was located in South Kensington and right beside the V&A. So after dropping off my bags, I headed right to it! I also have to note that although London was very pricey, all their museums were FREEEE and you know how I enjoy FREEEEEEE!!!!





Whenever I am wandering around a museum or art gallery, I am always amazed at how perfect everything is (which I find unnatural). So when I stumbled upon this area (obviously going through renovations)with sculptures and art pieces scattered about, I couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief.


The V&A had a fashion exhibit which I absolutely adored.







LONDON PHONE BOOTH: One of the things I love observing when in a new city are the little quirks that make that city different from others.


LONDON MAIL BOX:



KENSINGTON GARDENS: entrance to the gardens. This picture captures what I think is London: double decker, a cyclist, rod iron gates, low apartment buildings and an added bonus, it was all captured on a gloomy London day.


Albert Memorial: the sky was absolutely mesmerizing on this particular day...





Royal Albert Hall:




Kensington Palace:



I just had to capture this woman amongst the swans and ducks. I was amazed at this woman's lack of fear especially seeing that there were so many of them and they were all more than half her size!!! Truth be told, I thought I would be capturing the video, "When Swans Attack..."



I can't recall what the importance of this statue and house (in the background) is, but the statue is wearing a crown, I'm in London which is home to the royal family, therefore, I conclude it must be important...


These colourful signs were actually "We're under renovations" signs. Talk about going all out...


This picture was taken right before it started raining like crazy! At this point I had been in Amsterdam and before that living in Vancouver where it only drizzles which means an umbrella is rarely ever needed. Boy when it started raining in London, it wasn't kidding. Within minutes I was drenched like a drowning duck!



NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM: It was a lot of fun. It had everything from dinosaur exhibits to natural evolution displays.






I see a rabbit...



HARROD'S: the famous department store owned by Mohammond Al-Fayed (i.e. Princess Diana's lover/boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed's father).



This memorial freaked me out a bit. Not only was it located in the basement level but it also had the 2 wine glasses that were used at dinner right before Diana and Dodi died in the car crash. Freaky...



Memorial I passed on my way to Buckingham Palace...



When I was taking this picture, I heard horns aggressively honking....


Whoopsy, I was apparently standing directly in the pathway of these horses...





CHANGING OF THE GUARDS @ BUCKINGHAM PALACE: It was quite an elaborate event, especially seeing that they do this every other day (or everyday in the summer)!



There were marching bands, guards, men on horses, men in beef-eaters, etc., coming from all directions!!!










As I was walking to leave after the ceremony, I ran into the group of men wearing the beef-eaters. I have to say, there is something hot about men in beef-eaters ;)



PELICAN IN ST. JAME'S PARK: I have never in my life seen a pelican and then to see it and be so close and just roaming in the park was rather overwhelming.


I honestly thought he would attack me with his large beak... "Innocent Asian girl traveling in Europe attacked by Pelican"


Beautiful view of the London Eye from St. Jame's Park




Typical London Scene: Tube Station (Mancester), Red Phone Booth, and Big Ben.


BIG BEN & HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT:



WESTMINSTER ABBEY:



BIG BEN:







LONDON EYE:





WOMEN OF WWII MEMORIAL:



HORSE GUARDS:





TRAFALGAR SQUARE:




NATIONAL GALLERY:




PICCADILLY CIRCUS:


BRITISH MUSEUM:


Round Reading Room: where Karl Marx once hung out....



Rosetta Stone:

Jade:



Getting back to my roots...



One of the things I was most looking forward to while in London was seeing my friend Sue (She went across the pond on a student exchange and never came back!). I had not seen her in over 10 years! (Gosh, you know you're getting old when you can say you haven't seen someone in over a decade!). Anyhow, Sue and I were good friends in high school, then we sort of drifted as life took it's course. Good ol' FB brought us back together...

It's amazing how once we met up, it was as if not even a day had gone by nevermind a decade! Other than both of us (well at least Sue) being more mature, we were still our same kooky selves.




CHINATOWN: it's basically just a street with Chinese restaurants...



HYDE PARK:


The Serpentine River: this dog was totally harassing the ducks, it was quite the humorous sight.

Peter Pan:

Italian Garden (or at least I think thats what it is called):





ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL:



SALVATION ARMY HEADQUARTERS: talk about shabby chic!

View of the Millennium Bridge heading towards Tate Modern:



MILLENNIUM BRIDGE:




TATE MODERN MUSEUM: this was one of the special exhibits at the time. The art piece was literally a huge crack in the floor....




Andy Warhol Piece:




This sculpture made me laugh. Reminds me of my friends and I...



SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBAL THEATRE:



TOWER BRIDGE:






View to the left of Tower Bridge:

View to the right of Tower Bridge:




TOWER OF LONDON:



CAMDEN MARKET: Camden Market is basically a street filled with various stores and street vendors. I went there in search of a super fabulous costume for F.Do and myself to don for Karneval (pictures to follow in future blog entry). This was probably the first time throughout my travels that I actually felt uncomfortable with my safety. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was, but it was probably the combination of the aggressive sales people, hecklers, secluded alleys, and signs everywhere reminding you to be cautious.



ALLEY OUTSIDE AN ENGLISH PUB: I really do miss Europe and their lenient alcohol consumption laws. The following pics are of Sue, Dan and I drinking in an alley way outside of an English Pub. What you do is get your drinks from inside, come back out and relax in the alley. It's like a keg party for young professionals!




AVENUE Q @ THE NOEL COWARD THEATRE: London is known for its theatre scene, so my goal while in London was to watch a show. Seeing that I was still carrying around my now expired university student card, I was able to score great tickets to the show at a student price!!! Crazian is always thinking....



The show was absolutely hilarious!



GATWICK LONDON AIRPORT: it looked and felt more like a shopping mall than an airport!


Serving free mojitos at the airport! Oh how I miss London!!!



F.Do is probably going to kill me for putting up these pictures, but it really does end my London trip perfectly. So everyone knows that Cadbury chocolate in England is very different from any Cadbury chocolate you get anywhere else in the world. I don't know what it is, but it's just better! Therefore, I couldn't come back to Da Dam without bringing some back for F.Do. Though I didn't realize the problem it would cause.... . This picture was probably taken 15mins after F.Do arrived home from work and she started working on the chocolates. You see that pile of wrappers... well that was just the beginning...



...and here she is approx. an hour (or was it only half an hour) later... in her chocolate high craziness....