I Met Ben! (In London...)
Well, it seems that I've survived a marathon 26 hour flight from Sydney to Bangkok, to Dubai, to London. I have never eaten so much plane food in my life, I was pretty over it by the end of flying. Emirates is a pretty cool airline though, it has some good inflight entertainment in the TV's. I watched Mission Impossible 3 and Inside Man, and they were pretty enjoyable films. The video games however weren't that great. Thee coolest thing was that they had these cameras on top and underneath the plane, so you could see outside the plane when were flying, landing or taking off, pretty rad....
The travelling vibe kinda all hit me when I arrived in London Gatawick airport. I got really excited when I arrived! Gatwick is about 30minutes outside London town so I managed to jump on a train to Victoria Station and stowed my backpack there. Victoria station is really big and initially confusing, and I found myself looking at the boards for OVERground trains for ages, instead of UNDERground trains. The 'underground' system is the primary system to get around London.
My first stop was Westminister, where I got to see Big Ben. I walked along the Thames River all the way down to the London Bridge, which is really close to the Tower of London. Some highlights of this walk were:
-Views of buildings and the city along the Thames
-A skate park that was amongst some really posh and up-market cafes and tourist places
-The tate museum which has Contemporary art
-View at Tower of London
-Experiencing 4 seasons of weather in one day...I couldn't understand the weather, it was drizzling, then sunny, then cloudy and cold, then dumping....what gives dude!!??
After the walk, I took the tube to Leceister Square, which had a really cool vibe. A varied mix people from young dudes hanging in the park, to foreign tourists like me. Its pretty much the entertainment quarter of London, where it has heaps of cinemas and theatres all in close proximity to each other. And smack in the middle is a park and courtyard...different huh. It was late in the arvo, and I was very jetlagged...so I decided I needed coffee. I visited the nearest Starbucks in Leceister square, and not only was it bad service, but it was horrible coffee. (Christina tells me that London has worst coffee going round...hmm)
After the experience of one of the worst foreign coffee ever drunk by man, I check out the National Portrait Gallery which was pretty cool. It had some pretty cool exhibits and the most interesting was the one of The Beatles. It had various photos from recording sessions, official press photos, and live shots.
By the end of the day, i was pretty stuffed and headed towards West Hampstead, where Christina Ericksson, a friend from Uni lives. It was really that she offered up her place for me to crash... :)
The next day, I set out towards the Tower of London, but I found myself at 'Covent Garden', which had markets, shops and street performers. There was a massive courtyard where street performers would do their stuff, and it was great to hang out. The architecture around Covent Garden was pretty cool as well, heaps old stone buildings and herritage buildings. The ground was cobble stone as well, so I found myself tripping and sliding all over the place as walked around the courtyard.
The Tower of London was a really cool place. Its where England's royalty use to stay in the 18th century (I think) and earlier. The Kings use to keep their armory and weapons in the Tower, and they use to torture and execute traitors here. It was amazing to see how old the place was and the views around the fort...very cool stuff. I spent 4 hours here, and was pretty stuffed by the end of it.
I headed back to Leciester square and towards Soho, where I walked around the streets. I manage to pick up a book about the UK grafitti artist 'Banksy'. I was heaps stoked to find some indie CD stores as well...had some really cool music playing, a varied catalogue and heaps of vinyl...very cool. I think I have to go back there soon. I also got to hang out in Trafalgar Square, which was amazing, there were so many people there and it was really busy. The vibe was pretty awesome, and the view was really pretty because it was late afternoon.
Well, today, Im headed towards the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The have some really cool exhibits which im looking forward to seeing, and Im going to see Westminister Abbey, hopefully.
Nuff said, will keep you posted on the London weather.
d
The travelling vibe kinda all hit me when I arrived in London Gatawick airport. I got really excited when I arrived! Gatwick is about 30minutes outside London town so I managed to jump on a train to Victoria Station and stowed my backpack there. Victoria station is really big and initially confusing, and I found myself looking at the boards for OVERground trains for ages, instead of UNDERground trains. The 'underground' system is the primary system to get around London.
My first stop was Westminister, where I got to see Big Ben. I walked along the Thames River all the way down to the London Bridge, which is really close to the Tower of London. Some highlights of this walk were:
-Views of buildings and the city along the Thames
-A skate park that was amongst some really posh and up-market cafes and tourist places
-The tate museum which has Contemporary art
-View at Tower of London
-Experiencing 4 seasons of weather in one day...I couldn't understand the weather, it was drizzling, then sunny, then cloudy and cold, then dumping....what gives dude!!??
After the walk, I took the tube to Leceister Square, which had a really cool vibe. A varied mix people from young dudes hanging in the park, to foreign tourists like me. Its pretty much the entertainment quarter of London, where it has heaps of cinemas and theatres all in close proximity to each other. And smack in the middle is a park and courtyard...different huh. It was late in the arvo, and I was very jetlagged...so I decided I needed coffee. I visited the nearest Starbucks in Leceister square, and not only was it bad service, but it was horrible coffee. (Christina tells me that London has worst coffee going round...hmm)
After the experience of one of the worst foreign coffee ever drunk by man, I check out the National Portrait Gallery which was pretty cool. It had some pretty cool exhibits and the most interesting was the one of The Beatles. It had various photos from recording sessions, official press photos, and live shots.
By the end of the day, i was pretty stuffed and headed towards West Hampstead, where Christina Ericksson, a friend from Uni lives. It was really that she offered up her place for me to crash... :)
The next day, I set out towards the Tower of London, but I found myself at 'Covent Garden', which had markets, shops and street performers. There was a massive courtyard where street performers would do their stuff, and it was great to hang out. The architecture around Covent Garden was pretty cool as well, heaps old stone buildings and herritage buildings. The ground was cobble stone as well, so I found myself tripping and sliding all over the place as walked around the courtyard.
The Tower of London was a really cool place. Its where England's royalty use to stay in the 18th century (I think) and earlier. The Kings use to keep their armory and weapons in the Tower, and they use to torture and execute traitors here. It was amazing to see how old the place was and the views around the fort...very cool stuff. I spent 4 hours here, and was pretty stuffed by the end of it.
I headed back to Leciester square and towards Soho, where I walked around the streets. I manage to pick up a book about the UK grafitti artist 'Banksy'. I was heaps stoked to find some indie CD stores as well...had some really cool music playing, a varied catalogue and heaps of vinyl...very cool. I think I have to go back there soon. I also got to hang out in Trafalgar Square, which was amazing, there were so many people there and it was really busy. The vibe was pretty awesome, and the view was really pretty because it was late afternoon.
Well, today, Im headed towards the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The have some really cool exhibits which im looking forward to seeing, and Im going to see Westminister Abbey, hopefully.
Nuff said, will keep you posted on the London weather.
d
posted by Dave Luis at 8:29 am
3 Comments:
Brother! Good to hear from you mate, been on your blog daily, hanging out for your first "bloody tourist" entry. You've come through with the goods. Just been praying for you too.
Good to see the photos - and very interesting that England have crap coffee! I'm surprised, being Europe and all. Save yourself for France and Italy I guess.
You know someone's a tourist when they all of a sudden become interested in history...
Looking forward to the next post, keep them coming,
peter
dude! you're overseas!!!!!!!
it all looks so awesome! i wish i could go travelling!
hehe mad foto's dang! missin ure fellowship.. ads
Post a Comment
<< Home