London: Day 4
This morning I slept late. This caused my whole plan for the day top require adjustment...
I started off by going and finding th Bevedere house another hostel that I had planned to check out. This hostel is clean and has a great staff but lacks a kitchen and the BH is £6 a night cheaper, but it turns out they are full for at least a week since most of their guests are long term.
Next I went to a place called The Dana Center, which I had noticed last night. They looked like a science musuem, but it turns out they are a functional lab/ office that hold science forums and demonstrations for the public most week nights. They also advertise a free internet cafe, so I went online to get devons attachment (my pda can't do attachments or download) and look up some directions, and take care of a few other things.
Then I went back to the library for a bit. The library has an awesome old tower that should offer a great view of kensington, hyde park, and maybe even buckingham palace, but alas this is another tower closed to the public. I ate chinese food for lunch in the cafeteria, and other than the poor excuse for chopsticks they offered, it was good.
Onto Hyde park, where they do not have canoes or kayaks only row boats and paddle boats, how lame! Also there was no action at speakers corner, but both of these dissapointments were just time killers while I waited to meet the walking tour of royal London.
On the tour we started at the Duke of Wellington momument and went down constitution lane, to Buckingham palace. Where our guilde told us about different break ins and how to tell if the queen is home. We then went to some of the adjacent royal residences and got pictures with the royal guard (though the famous Welsh guard weren't on duty today). Next we then went to Trafalger Square by way of Pall Mall, this is where the royal art gallery is, to which I must squeeze in a visit. Then we went to the royal parade ground and 10 downey street. I was amazed at how close people and cars can still get to all these sites, especially considering the bombing od No. 10 back in the 80s. Then we went past Churchill Museum and onto parliament and Westminster Abbey. It was a good walking tour, even if I already new a lot of the history the guild was able to cover in the brief time we had. Our guide was an Aussie named Craig who seemed completely un able to hold still but is a very good story teller.
I then took the tube to piccadilli and wandered around there for two more hours. I saw a number of custom shirt maker and habidashers, that I wanted to go into, but all were closed at that time of day. I checked out london china town and was disapointed to discover, it is realy just a street with chinese restaurants on both sides and a few little markets, the chinese markets at florin and 65th back home are better. Though, you can get good nunchucs there.
Since I was not going to catch a show or visit a bar picadilly/ soho doesn't have much to offer me in the evening. I left there and came back to the hostel, to get to bed at a decent hour. It still seems that London shuts down early if you're not a drinker.
I started off by going and finding th Bevedere house another hostel that I had planned to check out. This hostel is clean and has a great staff but lacks a kitchen and the BH is £6 a night cheaper, but it turns out they are full for at least a week since most of their guests are long term.
Next I went to a place called The Dana Center, which I had noticed last night. They looked like a science musuem, but it turns out they are a functional lab/ office that hold science forums and demonstrations for the public most week nights. They also advertise a free internet cafe, so I went online to get devons attachment (my pda can't do attachments or download) and look up some directions, and take care of a few other things.
Then I went back to the library for a bit. The library has an awesome old tower that should offer a great view of kensington, hyde park, and maybe even buckingham palace, but alas this is another tower closed to the public. I ate chinese food for lunch in the cafeteria, and other than the poor excuse for chopsticks they offered, it was good.
Onto Hyde park, where they do not have canoes or kayaks only row boats and paddle boats, how lame! Also there was no action at speakers corner, but both of these dissapointments were just time killers while I waited to meet the walking tour of royal London.
On the tour we started at the Duke of Wellington momument and went down constitution lane, to Buckingham palace. Where our guilde told us about different break ins and how to tell if the queen is home. We then went to some of the adjacent royal residences and got pictures with the royal guard (though the famous Welsh guard weren't on duty today). Next we then went to Trafalger Square by way of Pall Mall, this is where the royal art gallery is, to which I must squeeze in a visit. Then we went to the royal parade ground and 10 downey street. I was amazed at how close people and cars can still get to all these sites, especially considering the bombing od No. 10 back in the 80s. Then we went past Churchill Museum and onto parliament and Westminster Abbey. It was a good walking tour, even if I already new a lot of the history the guild was able to cover in the brief time we had. Our guide was an Aussie named Craig who seemed completely un able to hold still but is a very good story teller.
I then took the tube to piccadilli and wandered around there for two more hours. I saw a number of custom shirt maker and habidashers, that I wanted to go into, but all were closed at that time of day. I checked out london china town and was disapointed to discover, it is realy just a street with chinese restaurants on both sides and a few little markets, the chinese markets at florin and 65th back home are better. Though, you can get good nunchucs there.
Since I was not going to catch a show or visit a bar picadilly/ soho doesn't have much to offer me in the evening. I left there and came back to the hostel, to get to bed at a decent hour. It still seems that London shuts down early if you're not a drinker.
posted by a.lost.boy | 7:08 PM
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