London (Day 1)

Tuesday, 24 June 2008

London

Today we started off day with a wonderful, large breakfast cooked by Judy. John dropped us off by the nearest train station. And off when went to Victoria Station. I though it might have a slight resemblance to the Victoria Station but with all the modern updates. But they looked nothing alike. However, it is the largest station, acting as the hub of the wheel with many platforms branching out from it. And yes, we did hear, “ Mind the gap between the train and the platform.” Our first stop we headed to Buckingham Place to see the changing of the guards. There must be certain times when it is a bigger performance than others. Tim built it up to be a huge event and it wasn’t as he remembered. There wasn’t much to see, however it did last for an hour. I stood front row on the curb across from the palace and saw the guards walk right past me on foot and horse back, which you can see by clicking on HERE. After that they went inside the gate and did a whole bunch of ceremonial stuff that you could not see or hear. I guess they “relinquished” and “assumed” guard duty. I’m not really sure. At some time during the ceremony the band members marched by and played theme music from Star Wars. Now, that was totally unexpected.

After, the ceremony we walked by a large grassy park, that seemed to be the place to picnic and nap during lunch hour. We hopped on the tube by the park and headed towards Piccadilly Circus, which is the equivalent to New York’s Time Square. They have the huge teles on the side of the buildings as well. We search the area for the famous Hard Rock Café. How can you go to a big city like this and not go to Hard Rock Café for a burger and a t-shirt? After stopping and asking several people for directions we found out that we were in the wrong area. We ended up walking back past the tube station that we got on. We were far off. We finally made it and had delicious burgers. I asked the waitress if she knew of a poster of Sting or The Police in the restaurant so I could take a picture of it. She asked her manager and there wasn’t any but she told me that Sting was playing at Hyde Park on Sunday. So after buying our Hard Rock Café London t-shirts, we went on a wild goose chase to look for tickets at Leicester Square. However, all the tickets were sold out. I always wanted to go to a Sting concert, but to go to one in London would have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. It was a nice try though.

We found a open top double-decker tour bus and rode around most of down town London. Our ticket came with headsets so you can listen to the commentary of the sites as we passed by. It was nice to see the city from up high, but not worth the money. The recorded tour guide gave us very little and vague information. We rode around town until we got tired and then it was back to the tube station. John picked us up after we arrived at our station. That evening they had get together with friends from their Bible study group. There were people from India, South Africa, Nigeria, and let not forget a Londoner with a cockney accent. It was really interesting meeting people from all over the world all at once.