London Feb 24th-26th 06 (2 Days)

London
Impressions
I spent this weekend in London. It was somewhat overwhelming. It’s the biggest city in Europe and it just never ends. At every corner there is something new. Endless streets and heaps of people and buses. The weather was that cold I couldn’t walk sometimes. Too describe London….well it is chic, classy, elegant, exclusive, fashionable, high-class, la-di-da, opulent, rich, ritzy and just plain hectic. The city is a little bleak and there is alot of grey. The architecture is so clinical yet elegant. It is very distinctive. Regent street and Oxford street where very nice. The building facades have a consistent pattern to them and it somehow looks like a painting. Walking around seeing all the street names made me feel like I was playing a game of Monopoly without the jail. There are a lot of cream rendered buildings with black painted windows and little green manicured shrubs. Quiet posh I think.
The ‘tube’ or Underground is interesting and scary at the same time. Each station has its own stories. The announcements made me laugh because they were very boring and monotone. “Mind the gap..Mind the gap” was constantly warning us to take care when getting off the train. This was entertaining as I had to travel an hour to get into Bayswater station to meet my friend. That entertaining that I had to buy the T-shirt.
Piccadilly Circus is like the Times square of NewYork. It is a famous traffic intersection with big neon screens advertising Sanyo and Coke. It was nice to see a break in colour. Londons telephone boxes are very red and inside most there is dirty calling lines advertised quite prolifically. I went down Carnaby Street and around Soho. This area is where the entire retro craze started and continued throughout the 60s. It was first made popular by followers of the Mod style and became associated with the swinging Sixties.
Harrods was just too much. The store has its very own meat and fish market. The prices where just incredible. You can buy the latest fashion straight off the run ways and if you’re lucky bump into someone famous. The only thing most tourists buy is a Harrods bag. Those horrible little green bags that cost 30 dollars anyway. I saw Dodi and Princess Dianas memorial in the eypitian escalators foyer. On display they have the last glass of wine she used at the restaurant and the future engagement ring that Dodi would have given her. Harrods and the surrounding area of South Kensington was the epitome of fame and fortune. Fashion, Fashion, Fashion. Every car on the street is expensive. I saw 5 Ferraris in one day. Mercedes and BMW are as common as cows in India. I actually felt famous for walking around the streets. I saw Madonnas child Loudes in a Mercedes.
If you ever go to London I highly recommend Camden Markets. It is full of interesting shops and clothes. You can pick up old comic books as well as to a genuine army jacket. The food is great and the punk crowds are fantastic. It was like Acland street in St Kilda times 20. All the shop fronts have colourful sculptures coming out of the walls. Down to earth and funky people. Walked through Hyde park with a friend and saw the memorial gardens that were made in memory of Princess Diana. I spotted reflecting gold and thought I was in Spain. It was King Albert’s memorial statue next to the Royal Albert Hall. It is probably the most extrinsic sculpture in London. It just felt out of place. King Albert, by the way married Queen Elizabeth and when he died she was so heart broken she had to build this statue. He looks like a gold Buddha. Big Ben. Who is Ben anyway? It actually means the Bell inside the tower. Wow this was the monument that made me realise ‘Im in London’. It is right next to Westminster Palace and sitting on the River Thames. I had lunch in a ship called the Queen Mary which has been moored on the Thames river for years. I saw ‘The Eye’ which is a large ferris wheel on the bank of the river giving views across London. Honestly to me it was an ‘eye sore’. It seemed useless to the landscape of the river bank. We walked to the Tate Modern Museum along the river and I noticed that there was a lot of Egyptian influenced park benchs and monuments. There is an erected Egyptian obelisk on the embankment which apparently was a gift to London from a King of Egypt.
We cross the Millennium Bridge which is used only for pedestrians and saw Shakespeare Globe theatre and house. It was lovely. The structure was just so quaint and simplified in design. St Pauls Cathedral was being renovated yet the dome was still very nice to take photos of. Tate modern Museum looked like something from the Russian revolution. It was brown and had a tower similar to a chimney. In there houses the best art works in the world. I didn’t have time to go in however next time this and the British Mueseum where all the eypitan mummies are kept will be a place to go. When I saw and Tower Bridge I was excited because I couldn’t believe how pretty it was and how it should be called the London Bridge. It was so nice to stand on the bridge and see the cars drive over this experiencing its charm. Not as big as the Sydney harbour though. The design is very reflective of the refinement of Londons culture….. Posh!
Overall I had a fantastic 3 days in London. Check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/danielaineurope/sets/72057594117585122/