London (Sam)

Yesterday was a day I had been waiting for a long time now, the day we went to London.

We woke up at 6:00 AM to join the million other people who commute to London every day (I thought it was more, but that was the only stat I could find).

When we finally got to our parking lot at North Ealing tube station (The last km took 20 minutes!) we hopped on the tube to Piccadilly Circus in Central London. The ride took forever, but when we walked up from underground it was worth it.

We walked down Regent Street and then down The Mall; we saw the horse guards as we made our way to Buckingham Palace.  The flag was flying; the Royals were there.  We spent some time looking around outside of the palace, but then we decided to leave because not only were there guards in red coats and bear-fur hats, but modern policemen with machine guns.

We walked to the Houses of Parliament.  We looked around a bit, but didn't really spend long there.  Since we had public transport cards, we took the double decker bus to Trafalgar Square.  The square was really beautiful, full of German, Canadian, Spanish and Japanese tourists.  It was amazing how many languages we heard, and we managed to keep the pigeons away while we ate our lunch.  Because the National Gallery was right there, and completely free, we did a quick tour, and now I can say I have seen a Picasso, several Monet's and some Van Gough. When we eventually found our way out, we walked around the West End for awhile. We stopped in McDonald's for some tea and a snack, and we found that the European McD's look more modern and designer, although the grumpy woman at the counter didn’t seem to know that water came from the tap.  She refused to give us a cup of tap water.

In the afternoon, as it started to rain, we headed indoors to Kensington, to the Natural History Museum. The Museum was amazing; one of the most interesting things was the building itself. Since the building was purpose-built to house the museum there were all sorts of animal and plant sculptures on the arches and corners, and dinosaur gargoyles on the exterior. When we walked into the museum there were security guards there to check our bags, although they weren’t very thorough. Before he opened my bag he asked

“What did you bring for dinosaur today?!” (There is a big dinosaur skeleton in the main hall) and then he opened my bag, took out my apple and cried:

“Oh! Apple!” and then closed my bag and gave it back. The rest of the museum was very interesting and well set-up.

When our legs could stand no more meandering, we left and walked to Harrods.  Harrods was the most expensive store I have ever been to. We saw a desk chair for a mere 15 000 pounds, and the lamp on the table was a bargain for 5 000 pounds. The washroom had expensive colognes beside the sink and a plate for tips. The chocolate truffles were six pound fifty per 100 grams and it was the first time I had ever been in an Egyptian themed escalator. Harrods felt very odd because you knew that you couldn’t afford anything and they knew you couldn’t afford anything so after a bit we decided to leave and go get supper.

For supper we went to Wong Kei, a Chinese restaurant in the West End famous for it’s cheap food, quick service and rude waiters. When you walk in a stern looking man tells you where to sit and will seat you with others if there is room. You get a pot of tea as soon as you sit down and if you don’t order in 10 minutes then they kick you out. Once you have ordered the food comes in about 5 minutes and you need to know how to use chopsticks because you can’t even think about asking for a fork unless you wish to provide entertainment to the other diners.

When we finished our delicious food, we took the tube to Paddington station and then to Embankment on the River Thames. We walked onto the Golden Jubilee Bridge and got amazing views of the city at night. We then hopped on the tube and returned to North Ealing and started the long drive home.


sorry, no photos yet