Wednesday, May 20: Original Tour Bus, St. James's Park, Buckingham Palace, Diana Memorial, Irish Roommate


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Published: May 26th 2009
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So on Wednesday, May 20, I woke up and took a shower…Me waking up and getting started later with my day was becoming a habit, and so was the fact that often it would only be Arsim (my little eastern European “friend”) and I left in the whole room. He would actually sleep later than me, but by the time I was about to leave, he’d wake up and be like, “Oh, you’re still here?” We talked for a few minutes…it seems like every time I talk to him in the mornings, it’s when I’m looking for something. However, it gives me something to distract myself with when he’s trying to get me to go out with him. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this yet, but I lost my watch. I took it off one night before going to sleep, and I don’t remember where I put it. I think I might have possibly set it on top of my suitcase, and if I did, someone probably took it. I wouldn’t have purposely done that, though. Who knows.

I turned right off of Bayswater and headed down whatever street that is for about 2 or 3 minutes, until I got to McDonald’s. That’s where I’ve been going to use the internet, because it’s free WiFi. The hostel has computers, but it costs money to use them. I grabbed a burger, a bag of fruit, and a bottle of water and took it with me. I had looked into The Original Tour Bus Company, which includes double-decker buses that drive around the city. You can hop on and hop off of them, and they include audio or live guides. The yellow bus is the only one that includes a live guide. So I walked down Bayswater for about 15 minutes or so, until I arrived at Marble Arch, which is this big, well-known monument in London. I knew that the buses came near there. I turned onto Park Lane, and there were 2 booths/businesses outside, one for the Original Tour Bus Co. and one for another company very similar to it. I looked at each of their pamphlets, but went with the Original one. It cost 24 pounds, which seemed like a lot of money to me! However, it was good for 24 hours, and you had the option of going on 3 free London walks (there’s this company that does guided walks throughout the city, and they have themes), as well as a free Thames River cruise. So I bought my ticket and asked the man where I could catch the yellow bus. I wanted the live commentary. Actually what I did was I walked underground, through the tube station and came back up the stairs across the street. I ate my hamburger and sat in the wrong place for about 10 minutes, until I realized I was not at the correct spot.
I had to cross the street again and stand near an ice cream vendor. What I learned a little later is that I was waiting right next to “Speaker’s Corner”, which is a very famous area of Hyde Park (it’s at a corner of Hyde Park). On Sunday mornings, some people go to Speaker’s Corner, stand on soapboxes (or crates or whatever) and preach about something. It doesn’t even have to be religious, but I learned that you cannot discuss the monarchy; that’s a topic that is off-limits. I think next Sunday I’ll go there for the experience.

So as I was about to get on the yellow bus, this man who worked for the bus company had to take the ticket I had and give me a new one. Actually, he gave me 2 receipts that were connected; one was to show I had bought the ticket for the tour bus, and one was so that I could get a free river cruise. After I sat down, I became a little concerned that I had somehow missed out on receiving those free London walks. I asked someone, and she said I would just show them my receipt. Whew, ok. It dawned on me that I definitely wanted to sit on the top of the bus, so I quickly moved up the stairs and took a seat next to an older man. Throughout the journey around London, I guess it was his grandkids who would come up next to our seat, and he would talk to them in a different language. I couldn’t figure out what language it was. Their mother was sitting up front. They were really cute, especially the little boy. He must have been about 3 or 4, and his name was Nikolai. Both kids had very blonde hair and blue eyes, and Nikolai would come sit in the seat in front of me and look at me from time to time. I waved and smiled at him; he was really cute!

Different buses have different routes (naturally), but I’m glad I was on the one I was. We drove by many different places that I would like to visit or that I had already gone to. It gave me a feel of what the places looked like and what I could expect to find when I went searching down the streets. It was challenging to snap a picture sometimes, and I think some of mine came out lopsided. 😊 We drove by the London Dungeon, the Tower of London, and Tower Bridge. I still get confused with all the London tower/bridge names, although I shouldn’t. It’s just…the name “London Bridge” is so popular and well-known, but the thing we picture when we think of that name is actually inaccurate. So it’s a bit confusing. What people think of when they hear “London Bridge” is actually Tower Bridge. London Bridge is just some regular, plain old bridge that crosses the Thames. Actually, here’s how I understand it: There was a London Bridge that was used for like 600 years (there were others before it, though), and then it was deteriorating, so they took it down in the 1700’s. (By the way, there was a fire that occurred in the 1200’s where a crowd of people on the bridge were trapped between 2 fires.) Then, they put up a wooden one temporarily to replace the one they took down in the 1700’s, and it was destroyed by a fire. Then in 1825 or so, they built a new one. In the 1960’s, though, it was slowly sinking into the Thames River because of the heavy traffic, and so they sold it at auction for about $2.5 million to a wealthy man in Arizona. It cost a fortune to move to Arizona - another $7 million, and it took 3 years. They built yet another bridge, and it opened in the early 1970’s. That is the London Bridge standing today. Like I said, though, that’s just an ordinary bridge.

Back to the bus tour…when it ended, I got off the bus and ended up at Covent Garden, which is a popular area of London. I was wandering around, looking at my map booklet, and I saw that St. Paul’s church was nearby. I don’t know what I was thinking, but at that time I was expecting St. Paul’s Cathedral: 2 very different things. I knew that St. Paul’s Cathedral was way east. It was dawning on me that, duh, this is just a church, when I came upon this street performer and a large audience in Covent Garden. I decided to sit down and watch, as I didn’t really have anything better to do. He called himself Mario, Queen of the Circus. I’m pretty certain he said queen. Anyway, he was from Italy I guess, and he performed acts with music by Queen playing in the background. He had a unicycle, and he was making costume changes…He even picked out this poor, unsuspecting lady out of the audience to be his assistant. Poor girl. He also picked out this one guy to help as well. At one point, he had the lady hold up this cloth tunnel sort of object, as he stood in there and changed his costume. While she was holding the tunnel up and shaking it, the other assistant held some sort of musical instrument and made some racket. He looked really happy to be involved. *sarcasm* :D I took some pictures of it. One of the pictures is where Mario and the male volunteer were pretending to sing opera. There was music playing, and they were acting as if they were singing it. At the end, Mario climbed up onto the shoulders of the male volunteer, and it seriously looked like he could fall at any second. You could see the volunteer struggling to stay balanced and hold onto Mario, and both of them were shaking like crazy. Plus, Mario had 3 swords in his hands. Then this lady walks up (I think it was a helper of Mario’s), and she took the swords from him and set them down. Good idea. That could have been a disaster, and it wouldn’t have been a comfortable fall onto those stones/pavement.

For dinner I stopped by this eatery called Pret A Manger, which serves healthy food. I had heard about it, so I tried it out. I bought a “dolphin-friendly” tuna sandwich (no dolphins were harmed during the tuna-catching process I guess), and a bag of sweet potato w/ chili powder crisps (aka chips). I asked a girl working there if they were spicy, and she shook her head
the strike near Westminster Abbey and parliamentthe strike near Westminster Abbey and parliamentthe strike near Westminster Abbey and parliament

you can tell I took these on the tour bus!
and almost looked at me like I was crazy…like no, they’re no spicy at all. Well, they actually did have a small amount of spice to them; I’ll know not to buy them again. I walked down that road a little ways and come upon Somerset House, which is very well-known, and which Prince Charles apparently loves. It used to house “important” and/or royal people, and now it seems to be multi-purposeful. It sometimes has art exhibitions and concerts, and during the winter, you can ice skate there. Anyway, I recognized the name and took pictures of it.

I then walked on over to Trafalgar Square, one of the most - if not the most- well-known square in London. I wanted to eat while sitting on the steps there in the middle of the square, but I also wanted to find a bathroom and wash my hands as well! It can be pretty challenging finding a bathroom…or should I say toilet… let me tell you. I think that was the day when I attempted to find a toilet inside some other businesses, but failed. I went into a bookstore and tried to follow the signs. There were multiple floors, and I tried to go to the correct one. I asked someone where the loo was, and she didn’t understand what I said. I guess I felt a little self-conscious using the word loo, so I asked instead where the “toilets” were. I don’t ever hear anyone saying loo, and whenever I see a sign for a bathroom, it always said “toilets”. She told me it was on the next floor, and so I went and looked. Couldn’t seem to locate it, and I didn’t want to keep asking people. Oh well. I also tried a McDonald’s, and again, could not find it. I tried to follow the signs, to no avail. I wasn’t going to walk around like a nut, looking lost and confused. I never enjoy that…in fact I hate it, so I gave up. Another thing worth mentioning is that I have yet to see a bathroom inside a tube station. Somehow I think there are some, because one time a girl told me that one of the nearest public toilets was at “the station.” So I’m guessing that they do exist, and it would be nice to know where they actually are.

Ok, might as well go into a full-on discussion of UK bathrooms. The bathrooms here are a bit different than ours. The sinks are sometimes different, and I have seen dryers that are somewhat unusual. One of the first public bathrooms I went into was at Marks and Spencer, and they had this contraption where you placed your hands INSIDE the dryer itself…in between 2 pieces of the dryer. Your hands barely had enough space to not touch either side of it, and yet it said it was the most sanitary type of dryer. Ha. I think not. One surprising fact is that I have not, to this very day, seen any type of paper towels in any kind of bathroom here in the UK. I love paper products, I must say, and whenever there are dryers instead of paper towels, it bugs me a little bit. I understand it’s better for the environment, but still, couldn’t you at least give me that option? What if I needed a paper towel to wipe off the chocolate from around my mouth (hehe) or to wipe off something from my shirt or shoes? There could be a ton of reasons why I would need a paper towel, but I would be out of luck. Also, most of the faucet knobs have the push-in feature, where you have to push the top of the faucet to get it to turn on. We have those in America, but not everywhere. In order to flush the toilet, most of the time you have to press a button rather than pull a lever. Sometimes there are even 2 buttons, which are attached to one another. I don’t understand what each of them is for, but I do know that by pushing one of them, I have been unsuccessful sometimes. There have been times when water just shoots out, and that’s it; it won’t flush. The bathrooms at my hostel have a lever, but you have to pull down the lever just right; otherwise, only water will come out, and it won’t actually flush. You have to pull down the lever all the way, and quickly. Otherwise, try again.

Finding the bathroom light switch in my hostel was a whole other story. I’m not as stupid as I sound…promise. 😊 When I first arrived, I could not figure out where in the world the light switch was in the 2 bathrooms inside my room. There was a cord hanging from the ceiling in each one, but I tried them…they didn’t work. I searched and looked around inside and outside the bathroom for some sign of a light switch, to no avail. I was the only one in the whole room, so I kept the door open a little while I went in the bathroom, so it wouldn’t be pitch black. Then, this girl arrives, and I asked her if she happened to know how to turn on the light in the bathrooms. She said she didn’t know, she just got there. Next thing I know, she uses the bathroom and the light is still on when she opens the door! I asked her how she turned the light on, and sure enough, those little cords hanging from the ceiling were the answer. Turns out, you really have to pull hard on those strings in order for the light to come on. I was afraid I would break something if I did that…but now I know!

Back to the original story…So because I wanted to find a bathroom somewhere, I bypassed Trafalgar Square and headed for St. James’s Park. What do you know, I went down a trail, and there were these bathrooms almost hidden inside the trees in the park. Yippee! It was about time. I went to a little food stand down a different path, and I bought a small orange Fanta. At first I asked for a small Fanta (pronouncing it with a short “a”), and he didn’t seem to understand me. I don’t know where he was from…maybe Italy. Then I was like, “Oh, or Fanta (pronouncing it like I assumed the English would)” Aha…he understood. So I sat down on the grass, like many other people, as I ate my sandwich, chips, and some foreign chocolate bars I had bought from an Australian food shop - The Anglo-Australian Trading Co. The store had food from Australia (no, really?), South Africa, and other places. Turns out, one of the bars I purchased was from Australia and one was from South Africa.

I sat there, eating away, and this older man walked by. I looked up at him right as he passed, and, looking at my sandwich, he said, “That looks good.” A couple seconds later, he took a few steps back toward me and
George InnGeorge InnGeorge Inn

Shakespeare lived around here and supposedly frequented it...but this was actually rebuilt
asked, “What is it?” I told him, and I believe he said he thought it looked like caviar. Yeah, I have super-expensive taste in sandwiches! I like to purchase only the finest fish eggs in which to put in my sandwich. Eww. Then would have been the perfect opportunity to ask someone to take my picture, but I didn’t think of it.

Later, I asked this young guy who was with his friends if he’d take a picture of me. As you’ll see in the pictures, there are green lawn/deck chairs that they have sitting out in the parks. I had heard that you have to pay to sit in them, but I wasn’t sure who you paid. I had also heard that people will come up to you, asking you to pay for the seat, if you’re already sitting in one. Luckily, I was just sitting on the ground, but I took a few pictures of this man locking up some green chairs for the night. I assumed he was probably the one you paid to sit in them.

After that, I walked around through St. James’s Park and hit Buckingham Palace. I had driven past there on the tour bus earlier that day, but it was really something to actually see it up close. The pictures of me in front of the Buckingham Palace gate were taken by a couple from Arizona, and I took their picture as well. We had a hard time getting this Asian woman to move so we could get my picture, though. Anyway, I stood at the fence and peered inside, watching the guards. They would march from time to time, and I took a video of it. Sorry in advance, because the video quality on my digital camera is absolutely horrid. (Sounds like something the English would say…) There were 4 of the typical, dressed-in-red guards in front of the palace, 2 on each side. There was also a man with a big rifle (well, who knows what type of gun it is), who was standing on one side of the palace, right behind the gate. The guards, on the other hand, were standing right in front of the palace itself. The Queen Victoria monument is right next to Buckingham Palace, so I walked up there and took pictures (and video) of it. I had this Indian man take my picture in front of it. He said that he took a good picture, that I could show all my friends. 😊 There was this really plump little pigeon there at the monument, so I took 2 pictures of it.

Once I started walking around the palace and away from it, I considered going back to ask the man with the gun if the queen was in the palace that day. I was really interested to know, but I didn’t go back. I had already spent quite a bit of time around there and was somewhat embarrassed to go back. Plus, I didn’t know if the man would become suspicious of why I was asking him if the queen was in. Update: I have since learned that the queen was indeed there that day! How exciting. Know how I know? Well, I thought it might have something to do with a flag being flown or something, but the guide on the tour bus the next day said that if 2 guards (instead of 1) are present, then she’s there. In reality, there were 4 guards, but whatever. He said that she had been home, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and that on Monday, she was attending the Chelsea Flower Show, which is a very big and famous annual flower show in London. I already knew she would be there, as I had read up on it when I was considering getting tickets to it. I ultimately decided that it wasn’t worth the money, and besides, I don’t believe I could have gone on the day that she went. Either it’s not possible or the tickets were sold out…don’t remember. It seems to me that before everyone else sees it, the royal family gets a preview of it. Also, you might have heard about the Buckingham Palace controversy in the news as of Sunday, May 24. Apparently, there's this person who works at the palace, and he is being accused of letting reporters inside. He's suspended right now.

I also learned that the queen doesn’t even like Buckingham Palace…that she calls it “the office.” She much prefers Windsor Castle, and spends a lot of time there as well. I will be going there in June. They’ll be having their annual garter service going on, and the royal family is supposed to be there! Yay.

So I walked around the border of Buckingham Palace; we had driven by that area earlier. I took pictures of the entrance where people actually enter the palace when they come visit. It looked so normal….cars parked around it. Pretty soon I started seeing this barbwire at the top of the walls around surrounding Buckingham Palace Gardens. See, when we drove by there, I learned that first of all, Buckingham Palace has this big private garden behind the house, and that the queen throws parties there sometimes. They drink beer and party all night. Just kidding. When the guide mentioned the number of people that she invites sometimes, I remember it was like at least a few thousand. That’s crazy. When we drove by, since I was on the top of the bus, I was able to see their tennis court in the gardens and a bulldozer. There were trees surrounding garden, but when there were spaces in between trees, you could see into it. That was pretty neat. So anyway, I took pictures of the barbwire, and it looks like it’d be pretty difficult to sneak your way onto the palace grounds. Shucks. (Just kidding). I also went by the queen’s “royal mews”, where apparently
Tower BridgeTower BridgeTower Bridge

what everyone thinks of when they hear "London Bridge"
her horses go or stay or get cleaned or something.

I then went on to Hyde Park...and don’t think all this is easy. Although they are close by, that doesn’t mean I don’t get lost. I have to ask people, look at signs, and stop and look up street names in my map booklet. It seems like half the time I stop and ask people for directions, they are foreign as well and don’t know. I walked through Green Park, and realized that all of the parks have a different feel to them. Who knew that the parks would have enough differences where you could actually tell them apart? Green Park is more open and grassy (well, they’re all fairly grassy), and there were less people there, for the most part. I think that was where there was a soccor (aka British football) game going on. When I stopped and ask this lady what road was behind us, she was foreign and said, “I have a map.” Well, I had a map, too!

Eventually, I figured it out (arrived at Hyde Park), and I realized there was a lot more to Hyde Park than I had realized. Initially,
The London DungeonThe London DungeonThe London Dungeon

a scary attraction in London
I had not been all that impressed, but it’s REALLY big. The part I had been in was simply Kensington Gardens, which is this large area west of Hyde Park. Anyway, I think in all or most of the major parks (I’m counting 4 of them as being major), there is a Princess Diana memorial walk. In at least one of them, the walk is like 7 miles long. I walked through part of it, and entered a rose garden with a statue/fountain. I walked partially around the Serepentine a little while later, and took 2 videos of some ducks. One was dipping its head in the water to look for fish, and then popping back up again. By the way, the Serepentine is this large, oddly-shaped lake inside Hyde Park. I believe one of the kings had it made in honor of his wife after she died. As I was walking…and walking…I happened across the Peter Pan statue, which I knew existed somewhere in London. There was a man taking pictures there, and it was getting dark, so I decided I would check it out another day. By this time, it was after 9:00 pm, and it was starting to get dark. As I left the park, I saw…would you believe it…toilets! 😊

I stopped at a nearby little store and bought a Krispy Kreme donut (we don’t have them in B/CS anymore!), a Snapple (can’t find more than 2 flavors anywhere in B/CS either!), and some fruit. I went back to the hostel and opened the door to my room…dark. It was hardly after 10 pm, and people were asleep! What was wrong with these crazy people? There went my plans of using my computer and eating...I attempted to find the t.v. room in the hostel, which I figured might also be known as the breakfast room, but it was closed. Now I know that I have to go down stairs into the basement to get to the large t.v. room and kitchen. So I went back upstairs and saw that there was an outlet right outside my bedroom door! So I plopped myself down there and began uploading pictures and writing a blog entry. Of course, there’s no WiFi there, so I was typing on Word.

Next thing I know, a roommate of mine walks up, and he opens the door and sees that it’s
the Gherkinthe Gherkinthe Gherkin

a newly-built (2004 or so) building
dark as well. He also thinks it’s a little bit crazy, and he’s not ready to go to sleep. So we talked for about 1 ½ hours. He was from Ireland (Belfast, I believe), and he was probably late 30’s, which was somewhat different considering most of the hostel occupants are young. (Ha…no offense to anyone reading this!) We talked about his job (he works for some food organization and travels all the time), hostels, London, the Titanic, Belfast, plane tickets, etc. He was actually going to Libya next. I believe he said he works for 6 days a week for 2 months and then gets 3 weeks off, or something like that. So when he gets time off like that, he travels around. And also, some days he doesn’t even have to work long hours, so he sight sees. When the company pays for his lodging, he stays in nice hotels, but when he pays, he stays in hostels, which is kind of the opposite of what you’d think. I never even learned his name actually. Within a couple of days or sooner, he was gone. Ok, well that’s all for Wednesday, May 20! Now you see why I’m behind with my blogs!! I simply don’t have enough time or opportunities to write them!


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really, really old
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here's where I went to see "the 39 Steps"
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This is where the premiere took place, the night before
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Mario, Queen of the Circus is changing, with the help of his assistant
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There's Mario and his other assistant, pretending to sing opera.
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where the Lion King plays...at Lyceum Theatre


29th May 2009

I MISS YOU!!!!
I love all the pictures and will plan on reading your blogs when I get off work! Wow.....sounds like you're seeing so much! Please be careful! I love you girl! Love your best sister in the world! Renee

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