london
Yesterday I fought my laziness and went alone to central London to see all the famous land marks. I bought an all day travel ticket, which allows you to take trains, buses and underground but I walked all the time, so it was a waist of money. It's very easy to walk around in London, you don't actually need to catch a bus to go anywhere if you're just sightseeing, because in each corner there's something for you to see.
It's half an hour by train to get from Sidcup, where I'm living, to central London. But the train is so slow, it would take about 20 minutes if it went faster. On the other hand, the train is much more silent than the portuguese ones.
I arrived at Charing Cross station at 12:30 and went straight to Trafalgar Square, where you can find the National Gallery and Nelson's Column. The square was full of tourists! I went down Whitehall to the Household Cavalry Museum, where the guards ride horses, and followed to St Jame's Park to get to the Buckingham Palace. I took pictures during the whole way, but somehow I must have deleted them by mistake, because I can't find them anywhere T_T I wanted to show how full Trafalgar Square was and how beautiful St Jame's Park is, but now I can't. Well, the park had the most beautiful birds and ducks I have ever seen. And lots of squirrels, I had never seen so many squirrels so close! One passed right on my foot xD
The Queen Victoria Memorial and the Buckingham Palace.
The Queen Victoria Memorial. It's really pretty with the gold statue.
The Buckingham Palace. The gates have gold details, it looks really beautiful.
I thought there were going to be those guards that can't move, but there weren't.
Me next to the memorial xD
After the palace, I went up St Jame's Park again to look for the Houses of Parliament.
The first sight of Big Ben!
I was like OMG 8D
Westminster Abbey. This is where the Kings and Queens are crowned. Also, many famous writers are buried there, like Dickens.
Westminster Cathedral.
Big Ben yo!
I don't know if those buildings are something worth mentioning, but you can catch a glance of the London Eye behind them.
That park has statues of important people, like Churchill.
And here I am! 8D
When alone and in doubt about who should you ask to take your photo, please do ask the asian guy with the huge camera, because he will catch you and the background from the right angle LOL
This was some kind of manifest agains the Iraq war.
Oops, what a dangerous angle, but the side walk was so fool of people that this was the best I could manage xD
The London Eye on the other side of the Thames river.
The Houses of Parliament.
The Houses of Parliament along side with Thames river.
I always remember this place from movies. In american movies, they always cross this bridge LOL
After this I went back to Trafalgar Square, had lunch in a place called Union Burger. It was a nice place. I was proud of myself for choosing a place that wasn't full of tourist, haha. The guy who worked there was so cute! I felt embarrassed while trying to figure out where were the numbers in the coins to pay.
I'm not used to the money here at all. But I can do a pretty good head convertion in my head.
Chinatown!
Going to Chinatown is like entering a different world, although it isn't a very big place.
And this is the other gate on the end of that same street.
I found a korean restaurant and bakery, I so want to go there and try the food!
I bought soft morinaga sweets and a bottle of Oolong tea. God, how I love Oolong tea.
I only saw one shop where you can buy chinese cd's, dvd's, manga and magazines. I hoped to find some posters in there, but they only had anime poster :/
Anyways, I also went to a very small mall that had the most cute japanese things ever, hello kitty style, and on the second floor it had photo booths for purikura!! I want to take purikura there! But I felt so out of place, there were only chinese girls and boys there, and the very few western were with asian friends.
I need an asian friend to go take purikura there xD
Would I be crazy and brave enough to have a haircut in Chinatown?
The Queen's Theater.
And I didn't take more photos after that.
It started raining while I was in Chinatown. I went to Trafalgar Square again and decided to go see the National Gallery. OMG the place is HUGE. It was like remembering my art history classes all over again. I saw most of the painting I had studied there. It's such a different feeling to see them right in front of me than in a book. I felt great. And the entrance is free! It's great. There are some quite impressive paintings there from painters I don't remember studying. I was never a Van Gogh fan at all, I didn't find his painting anything special, but when I saw them I felt like crying, they have so many emotions. Paul Delaroche's The Execution of Lady Jane Grey was superb. I had never heard of Giovanni Battista Moroni, but his portraits were fantastic, I really liked his style. On the other hand, I was tired of so many Rubens and Rembrandt's...
In the end I was so tired of walking around National Gallery, I couldn't even pay attention to the paintings anymore, but I think I've seen everything or most of it. I just asked where the exit was and waked away.
When I walked out the gallery a guy come's up to me and says:
- Excuse me...
- Yes?
- Can you take me home with you?
- Hahaha! No.
By his accent I would say he was french. It was the second time someone hitted on me that day. I guess my poor looks are attractive to some people...
And that was my day. I spent a total of 18£, about 22 euros, all because I bought an all day ticket that cost 7£ (which I didn't need and wont buy ever again, a return ticket is just fine) and lunch was 8£. Next time I'll bring lunch from home or I'll buy something at somerfileds, haha.
Yoko is playing Ghibli ost songs on piano right now and it's just beautiful.
It's half an hour by train to get from Sidcup, where I'm living, to central London. But the train is so slow, it would take about 20 minutes if it went faster. On the other hand, the train is much more silent than the portuguese ones.
I arrived at Charing Cross station at 12:30 and went straight to Trafalgar Square, where you can find the National Gallery and Nelson's Column. The square was full of tourists! I went down Whitehall to the Household Cavalry Museum, where the guards ride horses, and followed to St Jame's Park to get to the Buckingham Palace. I took pictures during the whole way, but somehow I must have deleted them by mistake, because I can't find them anywhere T_T I wanted to show how full Trafalgar Square was and how beautiful St Jame's Park is, but now I can't. Well, the park had the most beautiful birds and ducks I have ever seen. And lots of squirrels, I had never seen so many squirrels so close! One passed right on my foot xD
The Queen Victoria Memorial and the Buckingham Palace.
The Queen Victoria Memorial. It's really pretty with the gold statue.
The Buckingham Palace. The gates have gold details, it looks really beautiful.
I thought there were going to be those guards that can't move, but there weren't.
Me next to the memorial xD
After the palace, I went up St Jame's Park again to look for the Houses of Parliament.
The first sight of Big Ben!
I was like OMG 8D
Westminster Abbey. This is where the Kings and Queens are crowned. Also, many famous writers are buried there, like Dickens.
Westminster Cathedral.
Big Ben yo!
I don't know if those buildings are something worth mentioning, but you can catch a glance of the London Eye behind them.
That park has statues of important people, like Churchill.
And here I am! 8D
When alone and in doubt about who should you ask to take your photo, please do ask the asian guy with the huge camera, because he will catch you and the background from the right angle LOL
This was some kind of manifest agains the Iraq war.
Oops, what a dangerous angle, but the side walk was so fool of people that this was the best I could manage xD
The London Eye on the other side of the Thames river.
The Houses of Parliament.
The Houses of Parliament along side with Thames river.
I always remember this place from movies. In american movies, they always cross this bridge LOL
After this I went back to Trafalgar Square, had lunch in a place called Union Burger. It was a nice place. I was proud of myself for choosing a place that wasn't full of tourist, haha. The guy who worked there was so cute! I felt embarrassed while trying to figure out where were the numbers in the coins to pay.
I'm not used to the money here at all. But I can do a pretty good head convertion in my head.
Chinatown!
Going to Chinatown is like entering a different world, although it isn't a very big place.
And this is the other gate on the end of that same street.
I found a korean restaurant and bakery, I so want to go there and try the food!
I bought soft morinaga sweets and a bottle of Oolong tea. God, how I love Oolong tea.
I only saw one shop where you can buy chinese cd's, dvd's, manga and magazines. I hoped to find some posters in there, but they only had anime poster :/
Anyways, I also went to a very small mall that had the most cute japanese things ever, hello kitty style, and on the second floor it had photo booths for purikura!! I want to take purikura there! But I felt so out of place, there were only chinese girls and boys there, and the very few western were with asian friends.
I need an asian friend to go take purikura there xD
Would I be crazy and brave enough to have a haircut in Chinatown?
The Queen's Theater.
And I didn't take more photos after that.
It started raining while I was in Chinatown. I went to Trafalgar Square again and decided to go see the National Gallery. OMG the place is HUGE. It was like remembering my art history classes all over again. I saw most of the painting I had studied there. It's such a different feeling to see them right in front of me than in a book. I felt great. And the entrance is free! It's great. There are some quite impressive paintings there from painters I don't remember studying. I was never a Van Gogh fan at all, I didn't find his painting anything special, but when I saw them I felt like crying, they have so many emotions. Paul Delaroche's The Execution of Lady Jane Grey was superb. I had never heard of Giovanni Battista Moroni, but his portraits were fantastic, I really liked his style. On the other hand, I was tired of so many Rubens and Rembrandt's...
In the end I was so tired of walking around National Gallery, I couldn't even pay attention to the paintings anymore, but I think I've seen everything or most of it. I just asked where the exit was and waked away.
When I walked out the gallery a guy come's up to me and says:
- Excuse me...
- Yes?
- Can you take me home with you?
- Hahaha! No.
By his accent I would say he was french. It was the second time someone hitted on me that day. I guess my poor looks are attractive to some people...
And that was my day. I spent a total of 18£, about 22 euros, all because I bought an all day ticket that cost 7£ (which I didn't need and wont buy ever again, a return ticket is just fine) and lunch was 8£. Next time I'll bring lunch from home or I'll buy something at somerfileds, haha.
Yoko is playing Ghibli ost songs on piano right now and it's just beautiful.