Sunday April 6 - London Day 1

Well, today was the first day of my short trip to London. I had got things packed last night and gave myself plenty of time to get checked in and even had to wait for the train. I got a short video of it arriving in the station in Lille that I hope to upload when I get back to Lille and get all my pictures uploaded. Once again, it'll just be easier for me to upload the pictures later one - will save me time now.

The train ride was like the last one, smooth and fast. It was semi-overcast in France and rained on us a little bit but this time I made sure to keep an eye out for the Euro Tunnel under the channel. However, when we got above ground in England - it was all white! There was snow everwhere and it almost seemed like it was a blizzard out! I kinda forgot to take pictures of it on the train and by the time I realized I should, they didn't turn out at all - just blurs. But I did get a few pics of the snow on the ground later on.

As I mentioned, I was staying with a Couchsurfer named Hassan, who's Muslim. I got my 3day rail pass and headed out to Victoria station on the tube from St. Pancras Int. From there, I followed the map he sent me to get me in the general area of his place and then I had called him to get the finite directions. He ended up coming out to meet me and i was really close anyways. When he met me, he had mentioned that he forgot that he told someone else she could couchsurf for the time, but he had the room for both of us. So I said it was cool with me!

Anika is German, and actually is here for acting school auditions so we had a bunch to talk about. Since Hassan had to work today, we went off on our own! Since the Olympic torch for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing was in London today, we figured that it would be worth trying to see it. We checked out the route and figured that the best spot to catch it at would be at Trafalgar Square at noon. So we headed out that way. Hassan lives kinda between Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey so on our way to Trafalgar Square we walked past some cool places. He's right near the New Scotland Yard, so of course I got a picture of that! But the best way for us to get there was to go through St. James Park - which still was covered in snow! Plus it was cold out too! After walking through St. James Park, we walked along the Mall, which is the road that leads to Buckingham Palace and being a Sunday - it was closed to traffic. We went by the Admiralty Arch at the end which was cool. Then a couple streets over was the famous Trafalgar Square where things were already set up and started when we got there around 11 am.

It really wasn't that crowded at that point so we were able to get a good position to watch the part of the relay there right at the front! Then we waited and listened to the mix of the live bands playing and the shouts and cheers of the various Chinese surrounding the area. By 11:30 the place was getting incredibly packed and the number of cops increased - as well as the live bands broke up and cleared the relay path. About 11:45, the fervor started as performers danced with huge colorful umbrellas and signs for the five different ring "countries" (Asia, Europe, Africa, Americas, Oceana). Then, I noticed one of the runners, he was the next carrier of the olympic torch, walk the path as kind of a run-thru. Then not even five minutes later, the crowds behind us starting cheering and yelling and the group of chinese blue running guards as well as policemen surrounded the current runner through the area holding the Olympic Torch and down to the platform set up. All the while, a trumpet fanfare started as the next Torch was lit by the previous runner and then started on the next leg of the relay. However, I also was witness to many demonstrators rushing out from the crowds - one right in front of us! There were so many policemen and they jumped right on people arresting them. It was definitely a sight to see! After hanging around a little after, we decided to leave and do something else.

We had thought Hassan had said he should be home around 2-3 for lunch, or something like that and we weren't sure if he was going to make lunch of if we were supposed to... so we headed back and stopped at the grocery store to buy some things for lunch just in case. However, after chilling around waiting for him (Anika had the key Hassan gave her) we decided to just walk around the Thames and see the sights around there. We also had passed the time looking up things to do in London and as I had wanted to do it and she was interested as well, we planned on going on a Jack the Ripper guided walking tour tonight. So we left a note for Hassan saying to give a call when he gets back and we'll stop by and figure dinner out and also about probably going on the tour.

So we head on out, walking through the streets over towards Westminster Abbey area. It had become a really nice day in contrast to the huge snow storm the night before! All the snow had melted, it warmed up, the sun came out... the only reminder that it had even snowed was the few snowmen here and there! I spotted some building that looked important with columns outside it, so we veered a street over and it ended up being a church. So from there, we kept walking and eventually came upon a park that had some odd "middle eastern" fountain in it. This park was right next to the Houses of Parliment so we checked out the fountain thing and then walked alongside the river bank till we got to the Houses of Parliment itself. There was a Rodin statue in the middle of the park as well which was cool. Of course, we kept walking along the Houses of Parliment as we took pictures of that as well as Westminster Abbey right across the street. Then of course, Big Ben came into view so pictures of that became necessary! We kept walking along and then walked in front of Big Ben and across the bridge there over to the south side of the Thames. It was really cool adn of course I took a ton of pictures!

Once on the south side of the bank, we crossed under the bridge and started following the Queen's Walk which goes all the way along the South Bank of the Thames. Right there at the start is the County Hall which also houses a huge game complex, a huge McDonald's, a horror exhibit, the Aquarium, and a Movieum! And of course this is also right where the famous London Eye is as well! The line for the Eye was actually short so I had wanted to get tickets if they were cheap enough but even though the weather was gorgeous and the line was short we figured we could do it tomorrow... and hope it was still good weather and short lines! From there, we kept walking along the south bank, and we ended up deciding to walk all the way down to the Millennium Bridge which is nicknamed the "wobbly bridge" because when it was first built in 2000 for the Millennium it wobbled in the wind - this has been fixed now though but the name still stuck!

So we casually walked down along the river bank taking in the sights and the many other Londoners and tourists doing the same thing. It ended up being a longer walk than expected thought! But we finally came to the Millennium Bridge in front of the Tate Modern art museum. We then, crossed over the Millennium Bridge, which was rather cool because it looks so tiny! And right in front of us when we got off the other side is St. Paul's. We had talked about walking the few streets up to see Fleet Street (as we are both theater lovers - Sweeny Todd is the demon barber of Fleet Street!) but it was getting late and we had to get back in time for food and get ready for the tour which started at 7:30. So we had a rather quick walk along the North shore of the Thames which mostly has the docks for the various ships that travel along the river for cruises and transport. However, the one interesting thing along this side of the river is Cleopatra's Needle. One of only three such Needles, it was given to London years ago by the Egyptians and had an interesting time getting to London! But it was impressive to see it along with the two Sphinx beside it.

We kept on walking, and we passed other monuments and memorials - I took pictures of one of them close to Big Ben which was a monument for the Battle of Britain. Then, I realized it was along this way that we could get great pictures of us in with Big Ben behind us - so we did! Then we hurried our way back to Hassans - getting a little lost on the way! We finally figured out where we were and stopped at the grocery store to grab a sandwich to go and drinks before stopping at Hassan's to see if he wanted to join us. Well, he had brought home chicken and fries, and had them ready for us to eat - he had just gotten home as well. So we sat down and ate the food ... as time sped by! We apologized for being in a hurry, but since Hassan didn't want to join us on the tour, we quickly headed out for the nearest metro. We took the District line from St. James Place over to Tower Hill which is where the tour was to start off. We got there just in time and only missed some of the first part of the speech!

The Jack the Ripper tour was amazing! The guide was the one and only Donald Rumbellow! He is internationally known as the foremost expert on Jack the Ripper, and as if that isn't enough - he is a former City of London Police Sergent, as well as the former Curator of the Police Crime Museum - ergo it was an up-to-date, fully knowledgeable tour filled with tons of little facts here and there. We went along many interesting places including all of the places of the five murders (a little out of order though!) and some other key places in the entire story. With the way it was presented, and the way some things are still standing - it's amazing that it has never been solved! But he even goes and incorporates reasons for that - mainly the rivalry between the City Police and the Metropolitan Police as the murders took place along the border between them! I honestly don't' remember half of what he told us well enough to talk about it, but it was still amazing!

After the two and half hour walking tour was over, it was dark out and a bit chilly again. Since it was getting late, we weren't sure what to do. We didn't know any decent pubs to go to, plus it being a Sunday evening, we finally decided we might as well knock off one random little thing we wanted to do tommorrow... go get our picture taken at King's Cross Station platform 9 3/4 just like Harry Potter! :-p So we hopped on the tube and headed up there. It's actually not between the two platforms like in the movie as that part of the station needs a train ticket to even access but the station have made the "platform" permanently right beside the entrance to that section. It was still funny and cool!

From there, we figured on doing something I wanted to do and as Anika is a theater major as well she was also interested. That's attempting to take pictures of all the theater marquees in London! So we got back on the tube and headed to Covent Garden which is the area I had already taken pictures of the last time I was in London - but the ones that I lost... From there we walked all along Strand Avenue to Charing Cross tube station. From there we were right at Trafalgar Square which was interesting at night and most things were already gone from earlier! At this point it was kind of a theater spotting trip which then took us up around Leicester Square which is in the heart of the West End. From there, I had noticed on a side street what I had thought to be Chinatown in London - and I was right! We saw the Chinese entrance to the street along with all the tons of Chinese restaurants. What was interesting was that the red paper lanterns that had been strung all across the street were being taken down by the Chinese and people were taking them as souvenirs. So of course, I had to join in on the fun and I got one for me and one for Anika who had opted to stay outside of the fun!

From there, it was theater central - which I later discoverd we were in Soho. And I finally saw the Queen's Theater where Les Miserables plays! I got pictures of all the theaters I could see and as it was getting late, and we were getting tired, we headed over to Piccadilly Circus to get some more pictures. From there, we took the tube back to St. James Park station and walked back.

When we got back it was about midnight and Hassan had already been asleep. So after briefly talking about what to do tomorrow, and my attempt to write this account... I crashed as I was deadly tired!