London

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A right lovely stay, it was.

I waved bye-bye to Ireland from the ferry to Holyhead at around 9am, and took a couple of trains to London. It was dark when I arrived, but it wasn't hard to find the Palmers Lodge hostel. It used to be a factory making the (apparently) famous Huntley and Palmers biscuits. It was a cool little place, with a nice crowd and it's own bar and restaurant (5 pound for every meal).

The city of London was great too; everything is in walking distance. It was a little overcast, but fairly warm, so I headed out on foot on the morning of the first. I walked down to Trafalgar square, and checked out Nelson's column and the big ship in a bottle they have there, then walked through Admiralty Arch towards Buckingham palace. FIrst thing I stumbled on was the changing of the guards - completely by luck. When they had marched as far as the palace, I thought I must have seen something else, because Buck Palace is deeply unimpressive (from the front, anyway). I walked back through the arch, and did a little walking around Westminster, Whitehall and Downing St. Number 10 and the whole street are like a fortress, manned by police armed with MP5's. Paranoia is a bit of a motif here, with 1984 style posters and signs basically telling you to watch everyone and report to the thought police if they look shifty. After this, I went through the Churchill War Rooms museum, which was pricey but really good. I had lunch in Blackfriars, and finished my walking tour by going up the embankment and on past HMS Belfast and over Tower bridge. London tower was the far side, and it isn't a tower. Shocker. It was way too expensive to go into it, but it made for good photos. All the attractions in london are pricey actually; Madame Tussauds is 29 pounds, for example.

THe next day, I took the tube over to Gloucester Road, to the science and natural history museums. They opened at 10, so I killed some time before this by going to see 221b Baker St. (Sherlock Holmes' pad) and Abbey Road. Abbey road is surprisingly unmarked, except for the rather rude graffiti. The pedestrian crossing is still there though. When the science museum opened, I got in as quickly as possible - but I was still surrounded by loads of school kids. None the less, it was an incredibly impressive place. You could spend a full day there if it was your thing - and it's mine. I took a 4min ride in the 360° flight simulator - hanging by my shoulders from the harness while flying upside down. The natural history museum was also excellent, and not at all what you'd expect; normally these places are filled with row after row of preserved carcasses on creaking parquet floors. This one was very modern however. The highlight had to be a preserved slice of giant redwood, with the rings noted that correspond to significant dates in history.

You could undoubtedly spend much more time in London; the only thing I really regret missing is the view from Hempstead Heath, supposed to be spectacular. Next time maybe...

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Photos

Goodbye, Eire!
So long, Ireland

Fenchurch Station
Birthplace of Arthur Dents' one true love...