Tuesday | 19 June - Windsor Castle, Great Windsor Park, The Long Walk, Phantom of the Opera

The group that went to Windsor.

Windsor was great. Went to Waterloo to meet Milton at 9.45am, and Shawn and JIA LUN came along. Joel joined us later.
We got tickets cheap - a 2 for 2 offer, so we paid half price at £3.90 each for the return journey. The 50 minute trip there was passed by playing cards - Bridge, Dai Dee and Egyptian Rat Race (which I keep winning).

Today happened to be the Royal Ascot Races, held at Ascot which is a short drive from Windsor itself. The Queen was in attendance, and she was probably at Windsor Castle at her royal apartment.

Upon arriving at Windsor, I got maps and we went to Windsor Castle. £6.50 entry, and we were in to explore the place. Really big and beautiful and there were many intersting things inside - Queen Mary's Doll House collection, the Royal Art Collection (featuring works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo and more), the Royal China Collection (porcelain tableware), Armour and weapons, the St. George's Cathedral, and the castle environs.




Afterwhich, we went to grab some lunch at a cafe (I had a stuffed potato with tuna and corn, and an ice cream) and clever me went to buy two 2l of drinks for £2.60!! This shop had a one for one offer (: Pretty good deal, considering a 500ml bottle of coke at the cafe cost £1.30 (:

Then we went to the Great Windor Park. Gosh, it was so beautiful and massive - the Long Walk is so simple with the boulevard of trees gracing each side of the road path, and that was beauty in itself. The 3 mile road leads to Windsor Castle. The group of us sat under a tree and ate our lunch while we talked. After lunch, we passed the time playing cards and enjoying the lovely breeze and summer weather, while Jialun made sketches for his sweetheart. I'm kidding, but Jialun was drawing whatever he saw. Very remarkable interest and means of expression, and I really admire Jialun's drawing ability.

Then the moment we'd all been waiting for - PHOTO SHOOT! Took lots of scenic shots of the Long Walk, Windsor Castle, and also us with the lovely scenery. We took cool shots as well - I enjoyed it!




After the Great Park, we made our way back to the train station, with 30 minutes to spare so we walked around Eton for a very short while - not enough time to visit Eton College though. Well it was good enough fun, and we went back from Windsor via the train to Waterloo, grabbing dinner at McDonalds' before catching the Tube to our various locations for musicals. JIalun and Shawn went to watch the Lion King while Joel and myself went to catch Phantom of the Opera with Bird, Yanling, John and Milton.

Phantom was quite an awesome musical. The set was great - very elaborate and well designed and thought of. The thing that kinda grew stale after a while was the constant use and re-use of the same tunes, with lyrics changed accordingly with the situations and dialogue. Nonetheless, the strong melodies and themes held true - song like Music of the Night and That's All I ask of You were really well sung. The performers weren't bad, singing and dancing well. And there was much use of pyrotechnics and explosives - flames and firecrackers were used for effects, the phantom would escape using a small thunderflash and a shroud of smoke. The smoke machine was very cleverly employed for the water scenes (:

it was training on the outside when it ended. So we waited outside for the rain to simmer, while we took some photos of ourselves. Then we headed home via tube, along our own separate routes.

I found myself at Green Park at 10.45pm, with a train that would depart from Victoria at 10.52pm (though it actually departs at 10.50pm). So with great determination, and really couting every second, I hopped onto the Victoria line train, alighted as soon as it arrived, ran and cut through the crowd like a meandering stream, dashed up the escalaor, tapped out of the gantry and ran up the stairs into the Victoria station, made a quick check on the Departure boards to confirm my train's platform, dashed through the gantries and boarded the first carriage of the Orpington line train as soon as I saw it..

Ten seconds later, the doors closed and the train departed. Thank goodness - it would have been a 30 minute wait for the next train just because of that 10 seconds lapse.

I'm going to have a shower before hitting the sac. Going to update the photos asap (:

I'm meeting my friends at Westminister tmr, and then going to watch the Changing of Guards again. Then we'll see what there is to do before going for dinner at Edgware Road for dinner at night.

Tuesday | 12 June - Millenium Bridge, the Tate Modern, St. Paul's Cathedral, Oxford Street, Fame the Musical with Grace and folks.

Woke up a little later today.. 9.30am. Had a shower and fixed myself some breakfast, and talked to cousin Andrew for a bit before setting off just before 1pm.

Had originally planned to go to South Kensington today to see the three museums (Science and Technology, Natural History, Victoria & Albert Museum), but figured I'd go someplace nearer Tottenham Court Road where the musical was. So I went to Tate Modern. Quite an interesting place - big, spacious, and filled with paintings, scultpures, installatiion art, and other displays in various galleries and exhibitions.

Though modern art often is beyond me, the grapic designs are just so appealling - the colours, the patterns, bold statements.. I guess there's some with 'meaning' and 'symbolism' or 'philosophy'.. But I believe all the same, they can be taken intuitively, or at face value, and still be as pleasurable and, if I may, artistic.

Spent the afternoon at the Tate. Covered all the free exhibits (they have a very good layout) and thereafter proceeded to visit the Millenium bridge. This footbridge conveniently connects me to the St. Paul's Cathedral which is on the opposite bank. Saw the Salvation Army international headquarters there as well.

The Cathedral is currently under renovation, so some parts were covered by canvas and scaffolding. The facade was fine, and i had some photographs taken. I was just in time for the St. Paul's Cathedral Evensong Service. They welcome people to join them in worship, so I went in to observe. They had an all-male choir, which was very good. Their voices angelic and full bodied as it resounded in the catheral dome, throughout the grand arches of the church. This was the same for the pipe organ, which itself was quite a sight to behold. I was truly quite amazed at the architecture.

Left at about 6pm, and made my way back to London Bridge, to catch the Northern line to Bank, where I could take the Central line to Tottenham Court Road. Along the way, I got myself a £1.99 seven-inch pizza. Doggy bagged it, and made off for the Underground. Reached Tottenham court road just 10 minutes to 7pm! So i sank my teeth into the pizza and took a walk down Oxford Street to find Andrew's book. Which I couldn't ): Grace called me and told me how to get to the theatre, so I started making my way down. Turned out to be quite a distant walk. But Grace was nice enough to wait for me outside the theatre with my ticket.

And so at last I got to Shaftesbury Theatre in time, with 5 minutes to spare. FAME The Musical proceeded with gusto and youthful vibe, with a very talented and energetic cast. The music was tight and well arranged, and the whole performance was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

Ending close to 10pm, we took a walk back to Tottenham Court Road to take the Tube back to Victora to get our train back home. Along the way to Tottenham Court Road, I noticed a drag show inside a pub. And a policeman speaking to a street beggar. Alot of interesting things I've seen and done in London..