Right: the quite large memorial of Queen Victoria
Below: Lovely St. James' Park
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| London | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ... the last and not so busy day... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Days in the park, the way they ought to be... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| For as much as I loved the rain that day, I was very glad that the following day was mostly dry. Wet weather is fun, but only when you have a nice, warm, dry place to retreat to after you�ve played about in the puddles and do not face the prospect of spening six hours on a bus wearing wet blue jeans. This was the last day on our trip, and it was very, very long. The bus was to meet us at 6 p.m. which meant that from checking out at 10, we had to find something to do to pass the time until that exact time, and sitting around a hotel lobby wasn�t an option, as our hotel did not have one. Wendy and I decided that when in London, we ought to see Buckingham Palace, though I was I think more anxious to see the royal guards marching here and there in their very cute bearskin hats. We arrived at the Victoria monument just as the crowds (the same 50 million from the day before� funny how tourists begin to look familiar) were beginning to show up, mind you, it was still a good two hours before the guards were supposed to show up and, er� change. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Above: Buckingham Palace as seen from St. James' Park Right: the quite large memorial of Queen Victoria |
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| So we strolled about the monument a while, then retreated to Green Park right next door, a very nice thing to spend a sunny autumn morning doing, in my opinion. And we just strolled, hoping the rain would stay away until at least 11 or so when the guards were supposed to start walking from St. James�s Palace gate, which is where we decided we would watch them pass from. This was great, it meant we got a close up view and elbow room all at once! And so they passed us, the band struck up stirring renditions of Dancing Queen and the Austin Powers theme song � favourites of the Queen, I�m sure. We headed back to St. James Park, an equally nice park on the other side of the palace, and had a little picnic, much to the delight of the pigeons and ducks. I would have fed the pelicans, seeing as how they were pelicans, but a sign had posted telling me that if I did, I�d have my head whopped off or something. You know, these parks are absolutely wonderful, just a whole lot of tree-lined and leaf-stricken paths that crisscross here and there, plenty of benches and every so often a lamppost that looks like every other lamppost in London and makes you smile and think fondly of Mr. Tumnus and | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turkish delight. So beautifully kept that you thank the Victorians for this cozy little slice of London that seems like a whole other world, except the familiar clock tower and Millennium Eye peeking over the oak trees to remind you where you are. And you appreciate it very much. But when the wind begins to blow and the rain begins spitting at you, you would appreciate somewhere dry to be, but the park offers nothing and you are forced to head toward Victoria Street and into little bookshops where you spend an hour looking at travelguides to Luxembourg. The weather turned fair again and we had found ourselves in the vicinity of Westminster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cathedral � God Bless the Tourist Info Centres and their pointy signs � and decided to have a gander. I�m glad we did, it�s quite interesting. A hodjpodj conglomeration of church with mis-matched domes and a belltower attached haphazardly to the side that makes you wonder if it was either someone�s idea of a joke or if they accidentally confused their building plans with those of the Washington Monument. Still, it�s a very interesting place, in it�s own special sort of way and I would have loved to have gone in, but the entrance was surrounded with what looked like a clan of Bavarian bar maids, minus the litres of beer, so we decided against going in and instead walked back to the parks to kill a few more hours, taking photos or journaling or just relaxing. By the early evening it was beginning to get dark and quite cold, so we headed back towards Victoria street, hoping to find a bit of shelter at the station. We perused a few souvenier shops and got out of the wind for awhile before heading back to the hotel where we would wait outside awkwardly for a long while before the bus and our fellow travlers would show up. And that was our not so climactic ending to the brief excursion to London. In the end it was quite fun, and the relaxing day was a nice pause from reality, very welcome indeed. It was a very long ride home, and when I strolled back into Quim House and threw my rucksack onto my chair, and flopped face down onto my bed I sort of swelled with a familiar worldly-travel sort of pride that I often get when returning from trips � that I now had a new experience under my belt and knew without a shadow of a doubt that there really was nowhere like it. And that was London. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Above: the old guard on their way to change (wonder if they leave their hats on...) Below: Lovely St. James' Park |
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