I hopped on a subway (called a "tube" here) and emerged facing Big Ben and Parliament. Of course, everyone has seen these buildings a million times, so I didn't take that many pics, but I figured I'd be remiss to not be in one of 'em. So, for your viewing pleasure, I'm posting a couple.
On the other side of this bridge is the gaudy London Eye, the ferris wheel that overlooks the city.
With nothing better to do, I decided, "What the hell?" and bought my ticket to ride the wheel. The views from the wheel are outstanding. Basically, the "capsule" contained about 12 other people and we slowly rode to the top; with the wheel moving slow enough to allow for tons of pics.
In our particular capsule, as we started the loading process, two girls, about 20 or so, got in. Right as the doors were closing (the capsule doesn't stop for the passengers to get on; instead, each passenger jumps on as the capsule moves towards the platform), one of the two girls figured that her life was about to end, so she ran screaming and jumped out of the capsule. That was entertaining...
As touristy cheesy as riding the London Eye was, I would recommend it -- it was good times. Of course, since I'm touring 10+ cities and countries, I have done virtually no research on any of 'em, so I really have no idea what I captured with my camera other than, "Oooh! Pretty building..."
I didn't really feel like heading over to Downing Street (which was located pretty close), as I just wasn't in the mood to take pictures of a door. Instead, I hit another pub where they were doing Cider Fest! After throwing down several pints of cider, I figured I might as well check out different parts of the city. I had already bought a subway day pass, so it was on...
First stop, Soho. I had read a couple of articles that compared this place to Times Square meets gays meets a former Red Light District.
I found a ton of pubs and narrow, stone streets.
I also found the area (Piccadilly Circus) with the Times Square reference, and I could see it...
In Piccadilly, I snapped a pic of this place -- there is a similarly named place in Philly (The Trocadero) where I saw Delierium and later Peaches -- somone following this blog should remember those shows ;p
Of course, walking through a large city wouldn't be complete without a Texas reference. Yes, this place was actually called the Texas Embassy Cantina; had a Texas flag displayed out front, and was one of the more crowded places I found that evening...
Obviously, it was getting darker outside, so some of these may not be all that clear. Anyway, about a block away from this cantina (which promised "London's best margaritas and tacos" -- is that really a stretch? I mean, Britain isn't exactly known for good food, ya know, and outside of Texas, every place screws up tacos...I'm just saying...) was Trafalger Square. I think this place might be famous for pigeons shitting on people, or something?? I dunno. I saw an interesting Olympics countdown clock (yes, I forgot, too, that they're hosting the next summer Olympics). There were probably 50-100 people milling around this park.
I continued walking around and realized that I was pretty close to Buckinham Palace. Now, before the pics, you'll have to bear through my diatribe. I really, really, don't like the idea of royals. Something about taxpayer money going to support a bunch of inbredded douchebags just doesn't sit really well with me. Maybe that's the American or the leftist in me, but I find it extremely un-democratic and counter to the ideals of freedom. That being said, at least in Thailand, the king exerts power -- having figureheaded royals is even more baffling to me. I dunno why supposedly intelligent people in a "republic" tolerate it. Of course, I've never been a star-f$cker either, so I don't get people's fascination with celebrity; particularly the wedding of beauty and the horse-face.
Ok, with that off my chest, I realized that some of my loyal followers would want to see pics of the palace (though I'm sure that you've seen them a gazillion times before), so I meandered my way there. I crossed this really huge park, which, I realized, had been made more huge because foot traffic was detoured due to the construction of the wedding site.
Finally I came to the palace -- gotta say; it's definitely a nice place, though not quite as sequestered as I thought it would be. It's in the middle of fairly large traffic circle.
When I took this picture, my back was to a fence that had a fairly opulent looking gate. I was tempted to climb the fence because it was obstructing the path back to the tube, but then I saw a sign and realized (aren't you excited, ladies??) it was the wedding's location. I tried as best as I could to take a decent pic, but because it was nestled in a park, there were virtually no lights. Also, one of the security guards gave me serious stink eye. This is the best of the bunch...
I kinda liked the way the camera's flash lit up the horizontal bar on the fence; I imagined that it was electrified and that only Tron and / or Daft Punk would be able to pass...
By this point, it was around 11pm, so I made my way back to the nearest tube station and headed back. I had an early check-out and a train to Brussels to catch...
I gotta say, I was really impressed with Soho and the surrounding areas. There was definitely a "classy" sorta feel to the city -- for a city of its size, it's amazingly clean and well maintained (two things I didn't feel about NYC). I didn't take a ton of pics of the architecture, but the buildings in this area gave me my first taste that I really was a continent away from the States. Again, I'm glad that I went there; I had some initial trepidataions -- I just wasn't that excited about London, but in the end, it really grew on me. I would definitely go back. Good times!
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