2nd last day in London

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It's the second last day of my Europe trip. When I got down this morning, I saw the South African boys I met in Manchester. Wow, what a small small world.

My simple breakfast was followed by a Greenwich half-day tour, where my first stop was Royal Observatory. I got out from light rail station, passed the Greenwich Park with the help of road signs, climbed up a hill and came to the Royal Observatory. Maybe because it was morning or there was a huge lawn nearby, I felt so refreshed when I looked down from the Observatory. First I visited the museum in the Observatory where history of time and observatory instrument and answered my time-related queries. After that, it came to one of the highlights of my London trip--Prime Meridian of the World. The red line on the ground separated East longtitude and West longtitude clearly with names of worldwide city as well as their latitude. Yea~~Hong Kong was on the line as well. You can also adjust your clock to the correct time, of course, as I believe there's nowhere else more suitable than here.

Next I walked to Queen's House at another direction of the Greenwich Park. Honestly, the golden carvings on the ceilings were really beautiful and grand, but besides these, the house has become a small arts museum displaying paintings. In my view, this two-storey house doesn't really worth much for visiting, so I only stayed for a while.

The last stop of the morning tour was National Museum, which is next to Queen's House. Besides sailboat, it also featured marine knowledge and history, including helm and "black box". What's out of expectation was an exhibition hall showing apparel designed on the theme of sailor, even Comme des Garcon participated in this exhibition as well. My favourite was the sim helming game. Man it's really difficult to control a sailboat.

I took a short break, then headed to Emirate Stadium of Arsenal. Undoubtedly, Emirate Stadium looked much larger than High Calbury Stadium, its design was much better, too. Because of limited time, I chose to visit its souvenir shop only. Comparing with that of Manutd, Arsenal's was smaller, but types of souvenir were still in a wide range. And I must say souvenirs are cheaper and more comprehensive on average than Manutd's, at least you can find a cheap fluffy dolls and candies here (both usually welcomed by kids and girls), even as a Manutd fan I was a bit lured to them.

Next stop was Bank of England(BOE) Museum near Trafalgar Square to know more about the development of British Pound (GBP). England is the founder of financial industry and thus GBP history. The museum enshrined so much coins and notes, some of them even existed in the 19th century. Of course, the museum also provides money related knowledge such as history of BOE, British monetary policy and global monetary system. Honestly speaking, I've already finished all these stuff except monetary policy. Well, how did I got my licence in 2006? I really wonder. It seems that I am a genius of last-minute revision. lol

Following BOE Museum, I came to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is one of the must-see in London. Its history could date back to AD604, but the cathedral was destroyed by fire, so the one exist nowadays was built by an architect of 300 years ago. No matter the dome shape ceiling or the colourful stainted glass and carvings, all enough to stun its visitors. This grand cathedral was also the venue where Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married. Neighboring to London Stock Exchange, one of the busiest stock market in the world, this solemn cathedral provides a balance to the hustle and bustle of the city.

At about six, I went back to my hostel to take a rest, and prepared for my crazy night in London. After dressing up, I went to Piccadilly Circus again to watch broadway show with Helen. She bought tickets of "Spam a lot ". Since she was still a student, it only costed us 35 pounds to watch the musical to get nice seats. "Spam a lot" was not a famous musical and it's a comedy (some gags were local, of course). Songs were lovely and lively, so it's not difficult to get into the atmostphere even I didn't understand some gags. Power of music, I guess.

We came out from the opera house two hours later, and Helen said she needed to go home. Gonna miss her. While I was finding a place for my dinner, I smelled the food suddenly, so I hurried to see what it was. Wahahaha~~~hot dogs!! 10-inch bread, juicy sausage, plus stir-fried onion and yummy sauces, omg, what a blast in cold evening! How much ? Only around 1 pound. Then I went to Covent Garden (soho in London), walked around and picked a club randomly to feel the crazy night life in London.

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