Monday, June 01, 2009
Day 2 highlights: All the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men.
It was a sight of royal fanfare on Tuesday morning as we approached the Buckingham Palace in anticipation. At 11.20am, there were already hordes of people, tourists, I reckon, of all nationalities, who had gathered outside the golden gates of the administrative headquarters of the monarchy, waiting for one of Britain's main attractions to take place: the guard changing ceremony. At the moment such as this, it seriously sucks to be short, but to have the opportunity to soak in the atmosphere of ultimate British pomp is priceless. Well, at least I could see the top of the black furry hats.
Then a slow stroll through the St James Park put our Botanic Gardens to shame. Students sat around while teachers taught; office workers spread out on the sprawling slopes to enjoy a sandwich; friends and couples came together to a rendezvous. My favourite part was being surrounded by wild flowers sprouting out in the sea of greens.
We walked past the famous Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and River Thames (which turned out to be murky like our S'pore River).
Another exciting part of the day for me was the Covent Garden Market - a network of streets and side roads which make up one of the core shopping districts in central London. From big brands to local designers, the area's charm quickly grew on me as we tried to navigate our way around.
On the way to meet Annabel for dinner, we witnessed some weird and rare sightings of the city: The world premiere of Night at the Museum 2 (think, Ben Stiller breathing the same air in the vicinity), a toilet bowl made of metal (not too wise for a place with winter season, and obviously, it had affected me enough for me to whip out my camera in there), and a very very tall man.
British pubs have a certain alluring quality about them. Annabel introduced us to the world of ciders while we chatted and chomped on fish & chips for dinner.
Completely out of spontaneity, we decided to heed Annabel's advice to watch Agatha Christine's The Mousetrap - a play about a murder mystery. This is the longest running play in the world, with over 23,000 performances since 1952. And I'm glad to say that London's West End was a great way to end off day 2.
