Day 1: continued....

Continued from Day 1

Accompanied by the sweet evening drizzle, I walked down towards Piccadilly Circus. When English Showers wouldn’t require an Umbrella, a Drizzle definitely would not. My Nikki too was accustomed by now.

Piccadilly Circus

Theatre Royal HayMarket

Kneehigh Theatre

Her Majesty’s Theatre

The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square – The Gallery was closed. Spent a few hours at the Trafalgar Square, as I had fallen in luv with the evening glory and the sweet sprinkle here.

Trafalgar Square - Atop the column sits (stands to be precise) Lord Nelson. Nelson has been coated with a special paint to protect him from the Pigeons droppings. This was in my wishlist from DDLJ days. But, now since the pigeon-food vendors are banned, it looked so unlike.

To the Northeast corner of the square is St Martins-in-the-Fields. It used to out in the country. It’s the official exact centre of London, and is marked by a plaque too.

Admiralty Arch – Candidates for Secret Service were interviewed here. Although its closed for public, one can see Buckhingham Palace through the arch.

Walk down towards Whitehall.

Trafalgar Studios

In the middle of the road is the Cenotaph, where the dead of the wars are remembered. This one in particular is for, The Women of World War II. The red lines are from a moving bus.

The end of the road is the Westminster Station.

St Steven’s Tower, The Big Ben - Big Ben is the nickname for the great bell of the clock in the clock tower of the Palace of Westminister. The clock is the world's largest four-faced, chiming clock. The tower was raised as a part of Charles Barry’s design for a new palace, after the old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire on the night of 22 Oct 1834.

Something I learnt from my Colleagues : The idiom of putting a penny on - slowing down, sprang from the method of fine-tuning the clock's pendulum. On top of the pendulum is a small stack of old pennies, to adjust the time of the clock. Adding or removing a penny would change the clock's speed by 0.4 second per day.

At the base of each clock face in gilt letters is the Latin inscription DOMINE SALVAM FAC REGINAM NOSTRAM VICTORIAM PRIMAM, which means 'O Lord, keep safe our Queen Victoria the First'.

WestMinster Abbey - The Abbey was founded by Edward the Confessor in 1065. Every king and queen of England since William the Conqueror has been crowned here and many are buried here too. The abbey holds the Coronation throne, monuments and plaques.

Victoria Palace

A little contented now, and I observe around. I see roads dotted with Police. And I look at my watch, it said 9:30PM! I had promised folks that I’ll get home by 10, and not roam around for long. Well English Summers are misleading.

In the next 5mins, I were at the Victoria Station. This time I plan to opt a shorter route back to Hotel, passing through the Station. The air smelt different. Full of Smoke and activity. Hundreds of Black and Brown skinned, hardly any natives. It was nearing 10 and I were nervous for once. I had taken a wrong lane which led me to a Pub lane - Hooligans, light, smoke and booze. After walking for more than 10mins, I decided to trace route back. And for once was on my feet running all the way till Victoria, and a brisk walk back to Hotel. It was 10:15!

Polished a packet of MTR and retire, planning my next day.