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.

London - Day1

Flair for travel is one bit. But, then I was dreaming of traveling alone for ages now. It was almost next to impossible if the destination was in this part of the world. To make it true, my initial idea was to do Oxford and Cambridge and experience the University towns. But, the travel goddess choose London.

Initially I dreaded. I weren't mentally prepared. ‘Three days London. All alone!’. But, all it takes for preparation is a night of peaceful sleep.

All the previous London plans had to be quickly dissociated and new ones made. First thing was to update home about my plan - ‘3 days London before departure. No CP, no calling card, no Internet; Just I-me-myself’.

It was 5 continuous hours of google with London Tube Map, Bus Map, Wiki travel and London Hotel Guide. I badly wanted to spend 3 days in central London, and didn't wanted Holiday Inn again. Holiday Inn is 1km from Heathrow Airport and was the obvious option given, but, I opted out. Why not 1km from Buckingham Palace? At the end of five hours I had 2 options. Huttons – a refurbished splendid Victorian building or Hotel Westminster. Since I took a while to decide, I only had Quality Hotel Westminster, Victoria.

Eastleigh to Greenford to Victoria was a laborious journey. I surely had to learn what traveling light means. :o)

If you land in Gatwick, you are gifted with a London Pocket Guide, which has detailed maps too. But, I had equipped with enough of wiki prints and self-guided walking tours. The hotel did equip me with a London Map from Yellow Pages, the best of all maps.

And here it goes….

London Day 1

I started exploring the place around.

London Victoria Station was just 5mins away from my Hotel.

The Queen’s Gallery

Buckingham palace – The official royal residence of the Queen.

All these days no one had ever stopped me, requesting for a snap. But, I was ganged at the number. I had at least 30+ asking me, if I could click a snap of theirs. Oops, the Nikon around my neck was the culprit. People with tripods and much sophisticated SLRs than mine. But, dunno why I never asked anyone for a click in return.

Green Park

St Jame’s Park

St James Park had flushed me into a Fairy Land. I could see the London Eye and Big Ben from the end of St James Park, an indication that I were near Thames. On exiting St James Park, we enter the Horse Guards.

Horse Guards - This building was a HQ to British Army. And the Cabinet War Rooms, where Churchill planned the end of Nazism. Run by the Imperial Was Museum, these have been left exactly as they were in 1945, with Churchill's chamber pot still visible.

I however couldn’t spot the Pelicans of St James' park. They are said to be descendants of a pair presented by Russia in 1650.

Frederick Duke of York - I walk up the Fedrick Duke of York Pillar. It was Falconry time there. But, I had already had witnessed a good show at Hursley. I exit at the ‘Gentleman’s Club’.

Gentlemen’s Club - Although not allowed without membership, its said to be a safe place of refuge.

I walked down towards Piccadilly Circus....

Continued .............. here