Day 3
We went to River Thames, well, it was only part of the river that flow through central London. The 1st thing that caught my eyes when I reached there was the red phone booth. I realized every phone booth here is red in color. We don't see this elsewhere, right? One of London's signature, I supposed.
Walking along the river bank and we saw London Eye, opposite the river bank.
Taxi.. taxi. Yup, this is how London's taxi looked like. Old school. It looked so different from the rest of the cars around it. Hehe.. I found it cute, looks mini but I heard it is quite spacious inside. Didn't get a chance to get a ride. We planned to take it when we wanted to go to the airport to leave London but there were 5 of us and our luggage, couldn't fit in. Too bad. May be next time? =)
Further down the river bank and opposite the road, we saw these. I'm not too sure what the red building is but the black one is Portcullis House. It is the offices for the Members of Parliaments and their staffs. I find the design is kind of interesting. The gold one is the Big Ben.
A closer view of Big Ben and Palace Westminster/ Houses of Parliament. Big Ben is referring to the clock tower and the rest of the building is Palace Westminster/ Houses of Parliament (I always thought Big Ben is referring to both buildings =p). The Palace Westminster/ Houses of Parliament is so long that we couldn't manage to capture the whole building in this picture. Such a unique color for a building. I wonder what kind of material they had used to build it.
Across the road is Westminster Abbey. This is where Prince William and Kate Middleton married. =)
A closer view at the building. Yet another fine art.
Right behind me was St. Margaret's Church which share the same compound with Westminster Abbey. Didn't snap a photo of the whole building but we managed to have some photos inside. (Yes, I was wearing 2 jackets. =p. It was so cold and I was just wearing a normal t-shirt that I wore from Paris. Didn't expect the weather in London was so cold and I didn't get a chance to change cause check-in time for the hostel was after lunch. I just grabbed anything that I could take out from my luggage. Look at my nose, started to turn red.)
Inside St. Margaret's Church. It's kind of small size as compared to the rest but at least we could have a closer look at the stain glasses and alters.
Wanted to show you this. The brass tubes are the pipes of the Pipe Organ, built so long that reached the church ceiling. We had actually seen Pipe Organs in Paris but we were not allow to go near it and it was difficult to snap a photo. Finally, this was close enough. Most of the cathedrals, basilicas, and churches in Europe have Pipe Organ. How the Pipe Organ works? Well, by air. When the organist presses the keyboards, air will flow through the tubes and produce the sound. The sound is loud enough to fill the whole church. Wonder how does it sound like? Remember the music of those old Frankenstein movies? Well, that's the sound of Pipe Organ, of course, it won't sound scary with the correct melody.
We went to the Tower Bridge at night.
I had wear my shawl, the thickest knit wear and thickest jacket that I brought but I still felt soooo cooolllld! Couldn't stand the wind. My God! It was freezing. Never felt this cold before.
A panoramic view of Tower Bridge. Pretty isn't it?
See the white castle on the very left? It's the Tower of London. We didn't manage to visit that cause it was already closed when we reached. It's full of history so it would be difficult for me to summarize here. Gotta Google by yourself. =p
Day 4
How could we miss out the Royal Palace. Of course, no. Visited Buckingham Palace early in the morning.
Side view.
Look at the gold details at the gates.
Guard on duty.
When you visit Buckingham Palace, you will want to watch the ceremony of Changing The Guards. Some information on Changing The Guards.
Here came the guards, marching into Buckingham Palace.
The Ceremony of Changing The Guards.
Ceremony completed. Changing of Guard.
We went to St. James's Park after the ceremony of Changing The Guards. It is so near, like walking across the street. I particularly like this park. It's like a mini bird park itself.
Standing on the Blue Bridge in St. James's Park lake. London Eye is visible from here.
Near by we had the Green Park. Like its name, this park is full of greenery. Trees, grasses, so soothing.
Then, headed to Hyde Park as we wanted to visit Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
Look at this tree that we saw in Hyde Park. Don't you feel it look kind of interesting? Like a hut?
Under the tree. The leaves were like shelter. No one could see us from outside unless they "come in".
Hi, little one. So cute.
Ar, we saw this German Shepard while strolling around.
"Come back doggie. I wanna snap a photo with you"
Another photo of this German Shepard. I just couldn't get over this dog =p. Look how big size it was. It was taller than the coffee table when it sat, even reaching the shoulder of its owner. =O I bet it would be taller than me if it stands with its 2 back legs.
Finally, we reached Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
Visited Trafalgar Square during late evening after taking a good rest at the hostel. Strolling at so many parks was fun and tiring at the same time.
Roar!!!! =p
So we were 67 days to go for the Olympics back then.
We saw Tourism Malaysia Office right opposite the road. Lol. Never expect that.
Across the road to have a better view of the whole Trafalgar Square.
Had a photo of the Oyster Cards before we returned them to the counter. It was our last night in London. These Oyster Cards were limited edition that prepared to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Should have keep one, right?
We went back to the hostel earlier that night as we had an early flight to catch the next morning. Next destination was awaiting for us. Hehe...
So, if you ask me to describe London with 1 word, most probably it would be COOOOOLLLD!!!! It was freeeezzziinggg. I never felt so cold before and my hands were in my pocket most the time. Imagine that. I thought it was going to summer? Well, we later got to know from one of the hostel staff that London's summer is kind of short. Not more than a week perhaps. I was like... =O. Other than the coldness, I was pretty happy to experience London. The red phone booth, the taxi, the parks that were like a mini bird park themselves (swans, ducks, birds... they just swim at the lake or walk around like nobody's business) that make you forget that you were right in the middle of a city, and etc, London has her own uniqueness.
Well, which destination next? Stay tune to find out. =)
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