Jonk at the London Eye, 4pm on 6 June.I finally got the thing to timestamp in London date and time.
I'm currently 7 hours behind you guys, ie it's 11am there but 4am here.
I had slept at 9pm and woken up because i had a runny nose. Gona go back to sleep soon.
Well anyway, this morning, Uncle Peter (whom I'm staying with) briefed me about his home - his wireless internet (which finally woked at night, because of some line problem), his VoIP phone, the SIM card he issued me, how to get around by bus and tube, the attractions I could visit, etc.
Went on to explore the neighbourhood. It's beautiful - will post more photos soon.
We had a simple lunch of toast, char siew bao, and cake. And Uncle Peter suggested I make full use of my travel card and go explore London. So I ran out of the house to catch the 2.02pm train (they come every 30 minutes).
At Victoria, I walked out of the station - without a proper street map, and only the tube map and bus-attractions map.
I ditched the map for two reason - it was bulky and it made me look like a tourist. So I literally wandered London, keeping in mind the turns I made, so later on I could cross the street and back track, taking on a different view (:
As it turned out, I walked very very far (about 3-4km, making numerous turns..
From Victoria, I went down Buckingham Palace Road, down to Buckingham Palace, along the way taking at look at the shops and Buckingham Palace Mews (museum) and alot of interesting stuff. I saw the Girl Guides Association of UK!
Finally, down a long road.. Buckingham Palace. Taking photos was hard because the sun was shining from behind the building and statues, causing terrible backlighting, and underexposure of the critical subjects, and overexposures of the nice blue skies. Have to come at different times of the day. Or at night. gah! Also, I was alone and felt very afraid of exposing my gear too much, or being confronted for taking blatant photos (alot of my people photos were shot from my belt level).
The Queen Victoria Memoral from the front, with TERRIBLE backlighting.
Further down, the road, the streets were adorned by Union Jacks.
As I came to learn, today they commemorate D-day with an event called "Beating the Retreat" (in reference to the drums played when forces march in retreat from the war). That night, there would be a commemoration at the Horse Guards Parade just outside St James Park.
Admiralty Arch is next to the Horse Guards Parade. I walked through it and ended up at Trafalgar Square - National Gallery, Nelson's Column, and busy people..
Along the way to the Admiralty Arch, I witnessed road rage! Two police cars came in promptly (they drove on the pavement!).
From Trafalgar Square, I noticed - BIG BEN! A long way down Whitehall to Parliament Street. So I walked.. Along the way, I saw a protest outside a government building. Police were on standby..
Then at last, I was at Westminister - where Parliament House, Big Ben, Westminister Abbey, and the London eye are.
Next to the London Eye is an open area for Buskers. As it seems, all these buskers do (and do VERY VERY WELL) is pose as statues. Fancy that! There are enough statues in London already! Tomorrow, I'm going to put a hat in front of one such (REAL) statue and by lunch time, I'll have cash to eat fish and chips and buy souvinirs for all at home.
As I mentioned earlier - things in London are big and vast, even the monuments and statues. And there are SO MANY STATUES - will take more photos when I explore London tomorrow.
It's 5.30am now, and it's as bright as Singapore 7.30am, even 8am actually.
It was still as bright as Singapore 7pm at 9pm last night. (:
Daylight savings. haha.
Today is a new day. And I'm out to get it. I think I'll go take a shower and BRUSH MY TEETH. then nap about 20 minutes before having breakfast with Uncle Peter and Aunty Amy at 7am. Aunty Amy will leave the house before 8am to get to work on time. I might just follow her.
Tonight, I'll be staying at London Bridge, until Saturday when I'll be moving to Kent with Aunty Cynthia.
Carpe diem baby!
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