All good things must come to a (traumatic) end (II)

London

6-11 Feb 2008

The next day was Friday. We planned to wake up early to explore the city a bit because daylight was limited. But, being so utterly exhausted and knocked out, by the time we stepped out into the cool London air and into the unusual burst of sunshine, it was close to noon. We went wherever our feet would take us. Strolled down to the northern bank of the Thames and continued walking along it. All the attractions were more or less concentrated in the same area. The pictures tell the story of our walk.

tower bridge in the background (we were obviously talking while taking the pic!)

london bridge - nothing spectacular leh.

on the ground floor of tate modern - the art museum. there's this giant crack across the entire floor. carol tries to jump over while david inspects it closely...

Street performer. these things/people move only when you give them money.

the invisible man who terrified some kids...

it was way too glaring for us to see anything on the london eye

view over the thames

staring forlornly at the v-day decor near the eye

Finally, we crossed back to the north bank to the houses of parliament and the big ben. David loves correcting anyone who refers to the clock tower as big ben, because apparently only the bell in there is called ben. *shrug*.

houses of parliament and the big ben across the westminster bridge

Then we headed to the famed Westminster Abbey, a massive gothic cathedral which was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We paid 7 quid each to get in, and david didn’t like it very much, because it is basically a huge burial ground for monarchs, royalty and other famous people in Britain’s history. It was quite an experience I must say, and an eye-opener for me, to see how the Anglican practices of death and burial are. The usually create a statue of the person lying face up to the sky, with hands clasped in prayer towards heaven or folded. It was really dark and kinda eerie. But this same site is also the place for coronations and funerals, as well as for a few services a day. We stayed for the evensong service, and the singing by the lay vicars was good…

in front of westminster abbey
We were supposed to meet hanyan and her friends for CNY dinner, though it turned out to be at an Indian restaurant. Her coursemates were nice and friendly, and dinner was generally fun and pleasant. Everything was fine until we had to pay, and it came up to 23 quid a person, which was really exorbitant for nan and curry and stuff like that. That meal totally blew our budgets, as I had only withdrawn 150 pounds for the both of us. But anyway, it was a nice experience, and really good to see hanyan again.


Saturday, we planned to take a day trip out of London with Juline. And so we picked Windsor castle to go to, about 1 hour west of London. But once again, we were late meeting juline, and we only arrived in windsor at about midday. But the sprawling grounds on which the majestic castle stood on was a true sight to behold. And once again, we were blessed with sunlight aplenty. As we were buying our tickets to get in, we realized to our horror that we had no more money left! Anyhow, we managed to get in and joined one of the free tours. The queen wasn’t in, so the union jack flew proudly from the Round Tower instead of the royal standard. This castle was built in 1066 by William the Conqueror and expanded over the centuries by each incoming monarch.
“Windsor Castle, in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, is the largest inhabited castle in the world and, dating back to the time of William the Conqueror, is the oldest in continuous occupation. The castle's floor area is approximately 484,000 square feet (about 45,000 square metres).
Together with Buckingham Palace in London and Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, it is one of the principal official residences of the British monarch. Queen Elizabeth II spends many weekends of the year at the castle, using it for both state and private entertaining.”
(source: Wikipedia)

We took a long long tour of the castle and it was really worth it. Photography wasn’t allowed inside the castle so I’ve got some pictures from some websites. David’s favourite room was St George’s Hall, where there are more than 900 plaques bearing the coats of arms of the order of the Knights of the Garter, the highest order of chivalry bestowed by the British monarch today. The story behind the order is an interesting one, and is intricately intertwined with the history of Great Britain as a whole. But I shall not go on.

st geroge's hall (http://www.victorianstation.com/windsor.html)

One of my favourite rooms was Queen Mary’s dollhouse. It is basically a miniature castle built on a scale of 1:12 where everything is authentic, i.e. the cars in the garage have real working engines in them, there is real wine in the wine bottles, the works of art on the walls are real masterpieces painted by famous artists of that time, books in the library with real words on every page, real water and electrical systems, you get the gist. It was really awesome. It is reputed to be the most famous doll house in the world.

After we had enough of feeling like royalty, treading on a place so rich with history, we gave in to our growling stomachs. Nando’s was our lunch/dinner destination, think Kenny Rogers. We also bought fudge from some famous fudge shop for sarah and james, then it was back into the city we go. Didn’t have time to go take a look at Eton College, England’s most famous boarding school. Stayed with Juline that night, and we spent the night watching a movie and talking in her room, which was nice.

a random picture of colourful shadows outside the royal festival house

Sunday is the Lord’s day, so off to church we went. I’ve always wanted to visit Metropolitan Tabernacle, the place where the prince of preachers, CH Spurgeon spoke with much conviction and power. Today, it’s pastored by Dr Peter Masters, whom Dr Tow and people in the Calvary circle have spoken much about. Juline and I walked to Elephant & Castle from her dorm in Waterloo, finding upon arrival that we were utterly underdressed for church in our blouses and jeans. The service was really really good though, something I felt at home right away, though they sang directly from the Psalms to tunes using the metric system and some other hymns. The preaching of the word was solid as well, Dr Masters spoke from Colossians 4, a passage I never thought an entire sermon could be preached. He expounded on the different characters mentioned in the closing verses of the book, and drew parallels to our Christian lives. I really look forward to going back there, though I also feel quite bad for not visiting new life bp church, which was a greater distance away.

Went for lunch in Chinatown, in a shop which sells Singaporean and Malaysian food. I had char kuay teow, but it still wasn’t as good as any random coffee shop you’ll find in Singapore. But the prices were decent. Walked around covent garden a bit, but it was ridiculously crowded, being the weekend of CNY. Leicester (pronounced ‘Lester’ don’t ask me why) Square featured fireworks every hour.

another street performer

We split off from sarah and james and proceeded to meet serena, nancy and Sophia. We walked around forever trying to find a place to sit down, and had to finally settle on Macdonald’s. how pathetic is that! It was nice to see them again, just to chat up a bit and for the knowledge that there are friends and brethren in the area, albeit only for the day since nancy and serena had come down from Newcastle and Warwick for Chinese new year.

the 4 pandanites: david, nancy, sophia, serena. flanked by carol and juline. at trafalgar square with a sea of chinese people in the background (besides the national portriat gallery)

We split off and took a walk to regent street, and back to Chinatown to get Chinese takeaway, and then for a long (i.e. 1 hour) slow walk back to james’ and sarah’s place, along the river. I was barely there for 10 mins though, we because we took so long to walk there, and I had to meet juline to walk back to her place. It was crazy far, all that walking. Anyway, so I thanked them for their hospitality, kindness and generosity, far warmer than I had expected or deserved, and told david that I’d see him back in Copenhagen.

some night shots:

shaky shot of big ben and the houses of parliament, and oart of the london eye in the background.

tower bridge lit up at night

london bridge and the moon.

Juline and I headed to puisan’s place just to meet up with her. I’m not exactly that close to pui, but we talked like old friends would, over the most amazing chocolate cake ever, and time fleeted by. Before we knew it, it was close to 1am, and it was a really chilly walk back to juline’s place. Packed my luggage and prepared to leave, and went to sleep.

juline, i, puisan - looking rather uniform

Woke up rather early to leave for London city airport. I was in a mini-rush, though I was pretty confident of catching the plane since the airport was not far away. But alas! It was the peak hour crowd (on top of the endless flights of stairs which made the walk more torturous with the luggage again), as well as the notorious tube failings. As I headed eastwards nearing the airport, I got more and more fed up with the DLR (docklands Light Rail – similar to LRT in SG). The driver was going at 5km/hour, I promise. And with all these delays, my watch reminded me that the check-in counter was closing soon. When we finally pulled into London city airport, the driver announced over the system “…we apologise for the delay this morning, but if it’s of any consolation, all the planes are delayed as well”. But that time, I was so fuming mad with the whole situation that I just dismissed his comment as a tasteless joke, and ran into the terminal.

I rushed to the self-check-in machine, fished out my dying handphone for the confirmation number and checked-in, heaving a huge sigh of relief. Then, things started to turn. The screen said that my flight was delayed till 12.55pm. I was due to fly at 10.05am, and I had intended to reach back in Copenhagen in time for Danish class at 3.20pm. anyway, I headed to the counter to do my bag-drop. That was when I started to sense that something was wrong. The airport was bustling with activity, full of working professionals on their handphones and blackberries, and there was some sort of excitement in the air. I looked up onto the departure screen, on to see this:

my flight wasn't even on the screen yet cos all the earlier flights were still on the ground.

Most flights were delayed, from as early as 6.50am, and some were cancelled. I only managed to tag my luggage, and was told to keep checking back on the screen for further instructions. There was heavy fog outside (I should have guessed cos I did see that the DLR was moving so slowly cos we could hardly see ahead of the train), and flights were grounded. I could deal with the delay, I was all prepared to miss Danish. So I found a seat and read my storybook. At about 11+am, I decided that I should go check the screen. My heart sank immediately, when the letters c-a-n-c-e-l-l-e-d flashed beside my flight number. I was honestly dismayed and lost, never in my life had I experienced such a situation, and I was all alone this time. by which time my handphone had also officially died. So I joined the snaking line at the luftansa/SAS ticketing counter, so that I could book myself on the next flight out. While standing in the line, I witnessed many pieces of luggage being pushed out in trolleys, coming off the planes onto which they were loaded; and heard people on the phone cancelling meetings and arranging for people to come pick them from the airport to go to office instead. There was a lot of commotion as airport stuff had to shout out destinations to get people to claim their luggage. It was a busy day at the tiny airport. After what felt like forever, it was my turn. I was booked for the 1755h flight back to Copenhagen and issued a measly 5pound meal coupon. I had another 5 hours to burn, and considered my options really quickly. I borrowed the phone from the counter and called david, and arranged to meet him.

David was on the way to town to oxford circus to meet juline to return her her map which we had left in his pocket the day before. But once again, we were really late to meet her, but this time it was of no fault of ours. The stupid tube got delayed at some station again, and the driver came onto the PA system only to announce that ‘the people at the control station refuse to tell me what’s wrong, so I just wanted to say that I’m in the dark just like everyone else’. That was hilarious, and I wasn’t the only one who thought so. The whole train erupted in laughter, and I guess that cooled the boiling lava of frustrations momentarily. I ran to niketown to give juline a big fat surprise. The look on her face when she saw me was really classic. I related my story and hopefully she forgave us for being so late. All 3 of us headed to Hamley’s, this super huge toy shop to jalan jalan since we all had nothing much to do. And so we spent the next hour plus hanging out in the 6 storey toy shop, bigger than toys ‘r’ us and more diversified. From Paddington bears to peter rabbits to tamiya toy cars and Barbie dolls, to chess sets and board games for kids and adults, to magic tricks and lego, there was everything a kid could every dream of and want. It was an amazing store which kept us busy for quite a while.

Soon, it was time to head to the airport again. David and I had a milkshake at macdonald’s before catching the train- he to stansted airport and for me, back to city airport. Our flights turned out to be about the same time, and we landed back in Copenhagen at about the same time as well… which all worked out well and good cos there was someone to help me carry my luggage all the way back home (:

one last picture with the king, i mean, bear tut @ Hamley's

But yes, it was a traumatic last day, with all kinds of emotions running high. Anxiety in to morning, to shock, hope, then dismay, frustration, and joy. Too many for a single day, I reckon.

So much for my first trip to London.