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Published: June 26th 2010
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Across the courtyard to Buckingham PalaceDay 2 started where Day 1 left off, probably because we hadn't slept yet. From dinner we made our way to the A block of the departure terminal in Singapore Airport. The plane was boarded in groups of about 10 seat rows, so we had to wait until our seats were called out. This was because we were flying on an Airbus A380, which has two decks and really really posh business and first class. Of course we couldn't afford those so we were just in the economy class which wasn't bad. I had planned to watch Avatar before I went to sleep but they weren't showing it on that flight so I tried to sleep. By trying to sleep I mean going to sleep for 45 minutes at a time and waking up again for pretty much all of the way until we were over the Caspain Sea. Then they turned the cabin lights on an started serving breakfast (Omlettes and Cornflakes) so I stayed awake and watched some movies like Slumdog Millionare. Dad and I also explored the cabin for a while, and it was weird to have a half spiral staircase at the back of the plane where
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Cant get through those gates without getting shot! you think it should be pointy but is round. The inflight entertainment was turned off with half an hour still to go of the flight so I watched out to the wing and realised how massive it was. We landed and picked up our bags and made our way into the airport. Heathrow is nothing like Singapore Airport. In Singapore it was all about the shops and the relaxation between flights. In Heathrow it was corridors among corridors of travellators, which slowly got more congested as we got closer to Immigration. There was no plants or sculptors in Heathrow as there had been in Singapore, instead there was just alot of advertising on the walls. We had no problems going through immigration, although Dad got his passport stamped twice because on the first stamp, not much came out. We made our way throught to the baggage reclaim and had to wait a while to find our bag amongst the many others. We marched through customs with no issues, because all of the officers were sitting around doing nothing.
Once outside the international terminal, we made our way down into the complex corridors of the underground system. We got confused
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Across the road to the Palace with the difference between 'Train' and 'Underground' so we got lost then found again and bought 2 tickets for 9 pounds which may have sounded expensive but the exchange rate is different here in England. The train that we found left the Underground and became above ground for our trip to Green Park Station. When the train arrived we made our way up the stairs and got our first look at London that wasn't inside or through a window, and, very typically, the first thing we saw was a red double decker London Bus. There were a list of firsts, first London Bus, first London Phonebox, first London Mailbox, first London Dog-poo bin, first Starbucks Coffee, so after taking heaps of photos we made our way through Green Park to Buckingham Palace. Green park was very quite, it was still not even 7 in the morning, with lots of pidgeons and gas street lamps. When we got to Buckingham Palace we were amazed. Our first London Landmark! We couldn't go in and the Changing of the Guard wasn't for another 4 and a half hours so we just looked at it from the outside as well as all of the
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What happens to this if Australia becomes a Republic? gardens around the palace entrance. It was outside Buckingham Palace where we met our first London Bobbys. One was a male with a Bobby hat and a Bobby Baton looking very official. The other two were women with sensible hats and machine guns. We had a photo taken with them anyway. Then we saw our first London Royal Guards, standing very still and not moving.
We waved Goodbye to Buckingham palace, noticing the archway we walked out of was branded with the name Australia and a statue of a kanagroo. We walked through St James Park which Dad enjoyed because of all of the trees, and then we got our first glimpse of Big Ben. I knew then, if I hadn't known before, that I was in London. We walked towards it, looked under it, and then along to Westminster Bridge and looked back at it. While we were there, the bells rang and that made me say to myself that, yes, this is definitely London.
Because we were on the Westminster Bridge, that meant we also got our first look at the river Thames. It was clearly not drinkable by any standards and had rubbish and gunk
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Across the gardens infront of the palace floating through it. Dad and I walked back to the western side, and, looking back at Big Ben and Westminster Abby, we walked along the river bank and cut across to see No. 10 Downing Street. For those who don't know, No. 10 Downing Street is the residance of the Prime Minister in London. Because of terrorist threats, the whole street was closed with 3 Bobbies out the front. We could peer down the street though, and we managed to see the door of the building. Excited, we walked north up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square.
A couple of things are notable about alot of the British Streets that we walked through in London today. One is that not many of them have 2 or more lanes in one direction. Most are only one lane each way. The other thing is that all of the buildings are 5 stories high or more and packed closely together and made of old fashioned brick and have an old architectual style. The streets themselves are largely ruled by London Busses and London taxis, and the pedestrian access crossings never show the little green man at the right time so alot of people just
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Our first Bobbies! walk straight across the road.
As we approached Trafalgar Square, we saw Nelsons Collumn. Dad commented that the square itself is alot smaller than he had expected, so, sitting down by a fountain, we had some cereal that Dad had stolen from the Singapore Airlines flight. It was a weird feeling, sitting down at a fountain in Trafalgar Square eating cornflakes. Up untill about then, the streets had been relatively quiet and deserted. Then everybody came out, mostly tourists but alot of locals as well.
We tried to got to the National Gallery, which was opposite to Trafalgar Square, but it was closed because it was a weekend, so we decided to go and pick up our London Passes from Regent Street. It was on this walk that I had an urge to find street signs that related to properties from the board game, Monopoly. I got Pall Mall, and Regent Street in that walk, and later on, I picked up Fleet Street (we went to Whitehall and Trafalgar Square but I didn't get a photo. It was kinda like if I got a photo I bought it but if I didn't, somebody else owned it and I
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Anybody got a better job? had to pay rent.
We got to the British Travel office and picked up our London passes. These passes give us free access to many attractions across London, including most of the ones that we want to see and alot of the ones that we don't. From the office, we took the Piccadilly Line Underground to Kings Cross and then a bus from Kings Cross Station to our hostel at Clink78. Because we couldn't check in untill 2 o'clock, and it was only 10, we dropped our bags off in the luggage room and went off to St Pauls Cathedral. I managed to find internet access at the hostel though, Unlimited Downloads for the next three days for 9 pounds.
St Pauls Cathedral was another bus ride away. That bus ride nearly killed our trip though. Dad left something behind for the second time (he left his sunglasses behind and someone picked it up and gave it to him in Singapore Airport) but this time it was the camera that he left on the top seat on the bus. Once I was off the bus, and he was getting off, I asked him where the camera was because
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An old police Station I was still taking photos of Monopoly streets and I saw Fleet Street and he couldn't find it so he ran back upstaris to pick it up. It was a very very close call. Since then hes also lost a book and a box of Kit kats, which I found again at the bottom of the backpack that he left there and they melted and went everywhere.
St Pauls Cathedral is another one of those things that is synonymous with London, so we got excited when we could see the top of the dome in the distance. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos inside, so we took several from the outside. Because we had our London Pass, we were allowed to skip the entry fee of 9 pounds and walk straight into the Cathedral.
If I was asked to say one word to describe St. Pauls, I would say massive. The ceiling of the main chamber was very very high, with the four main wings leading out from the centre area underneath the dome being very long and decorated with churchy things. Not being increadibly religious, I was more amazed by the size of the place
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Dad posting a letter the 'British way' and how it all stays together. We walked downstairs where all of the coffins are of famous people who died hundreds of years ago. Some were more decorated and important than others, but to be in there in the first place meant you had to have done something very VERY special.
After exploring the main chamber a little more, we decided to go upstairs. The first flight was a simple spiral staircase that went up about 5 floors, then we were lead into a complex system of corridors and staircases until we came out at the bottom of the dome, which meant where the dome starts curving all the way above the main floor. We stayed there for a while, looking down and up equally, thinking that we were hardly even halfway up. The cathedral had been set up so that people walking through the upper levels had to go through every bit in one direction. So we made our way up some more staircases, these ones seemed more like service shafts. It didn't matter though becaue we reached the top of the dome and were able to peer straight down into the cript below. But there was still
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Nothing like this in Adelaide more to climb. The spire. This lead us outside the Cathedral which meant we were allowed to take photos again. We walked around a balcony at the top which looked in all of the different directions around London, taking lots of photos and taking in the view. Then we were ushered down a new set of staircases right down to the bottom again. As we left St Pauls Cathedral we stepped back and now, after we had been inside it, fully appreciated it for what it was.
We walked away from St Pauls, and after picking up a sausage roll and a packet of chips from a local shop, we went down to the Thames to eat. Unfortunately there was a construcion site nearby and that made a lot of noise which was annoying. The food was good though. After lunch we went to the Millenium Bridge, a new footbridge that goes across the Thames. It was getting quite crouded so we headed off to our next stop, Shakespeares Globe Theatre. This is a recreation of the original Globe Theatre where Shakespeare performed alot of his plays. Unfortunately, the theatre was closed for the afternoon because of rehersals for
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All of the little kids rode on their parents suitcases Macbeth which was being played tonight, but was sold out. So we decided to walk along the Thames to London Bridge.
Underneath the London Bridge was a series of rooms called the London Bridge Experience. Once again, this was on the London Pass, so we got free entry. The first half of the tour was through different rooms with people dressed up and acting and talking to us as if we were back when the London Bridge was first built (whichever version of the bridge you are talking about). This was interesting because it was not just workmen and ordinary people who were talking to you, but anything that existed in peoples minds back in that time. Then, the way back was called the London Tomb, which was basically a horror show, with special effects and people dressed up and surprises. Yes, people got scared, but it was the bits done by living people that was the worst. It was definitely something a little different.
From there, we made our way to the Tower Bridge. You are allowed to walk across it normally as a pedestrian, but you can go up the tower that is on either side
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Finding our first Tube train of the bridge and walk across the two joining walkways, for a cost, which was nothing to us. The lift that we took was very crouded, but from the top walkways, we had an amazing view of the river. We could see a long way in both directions, and there was a gallery showing all of the famous bridges in the world, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the bridge in france that goes for 2 and a half kilometres across a valley. It was all very interesting and when we made our way of the bridge, we could go to a museum which showed how the bridge is raised and a motorbike which was used to jump it.
By now, both of us were tired and jetlagged, so we made our way slowly back to the hostel, picking up some hotdogs to fill us up. We arrived at the hostel by bus, not leaving our camera behind this time. We checked into our hostel and made our way upstairs, and dropped our stuff off before heading downstairs for dinner. Then Dad got the idea that it would be cool to see the London
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The first of many trains on the London Underground Bridge open and close. So we went upstairs again and surprised the asian girl who is sleeping in the same dorm as us (we each have 4 bedroom doors, so in our dorm there is an asian girl and a greek guy). We ran to the Kings Cross Train Station, thinking that it would take too long for a bus, so we just ran, and when we got there we found the train line that we needed was under maintanence, so we took a different train that would take longer. When we got there, we found the bridge just closing. It was good, so we just looked at the closed bridge in the night, and the orange moon. Then we walked back to Tower Hill station, where we waited for our train for 10 minutes then decided it was taking too long so went across the platform and boarded a different train before that one didn't move anywhere so we went back across to the first platform where the train we originally were waiting for had arrived. It took much longer than it needed to. It didn't matter too much though, we got back to the hostel and into bed
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Exploring the Streets of London before too late to end a very very very busy day that felt like 3 days.
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Jenny
non-member comment
32 hour day
Again, a fantastic blog, Ben. So good that you can think and type fast. Its obvious Andrew isn't typing any of your blogs because that many words would take him 5 hours to type. And how did you fit so much in one day - must have been a 24 hour day plus the 8 hour time difference - not sure I could keep up. Are you warm / cold? I see from the photos you've got your shorts on. Looks hot at Wimbledon on the TV. Was getting money easy with the Gold Card? I told you to watch out for Andrew misplacing things - you have to anticipate that he's going to do it. Is he coming around to your predilication for internet ports? I think this blog and connectedness is fantastic. We're going to take Shadow for a bushwalk this morning on the Yuribella Trail towards Black Hill. The mysterious beagle visited agin this morning - we think its Varnes'. Judy Crowe was on TV yesterday doing a segment for a kids science show on how honey is made, Tim did a cameo in a white hygenic headcloth. I am printing your blogs for a hardfile and will probably take it for my dad to read when we visit or post sooner.