Woke up at 5am. Not bad considering that I conked out at 9.30am london time, and slept quite well. I even got the luxury to nua a bit and then got my lazy ass out to go running at 6am. A bit chilly at first, but once the rhythm kicked in..it's bliss running in cool weather like this. Too bad there isn't a running path along the embarkment of Thames, if not it would be great to run with the magnificent view of the river and the Tower bridge in the foreground.
So went back home, and a lil accident involving
(a) a window lever
(b) my left thumb
which left my left thumb bleeding, and with the racing heartbeat recent from the run, it took the whole morning (after breakfast, after I board the bus, until I got to Picadilly Circus) before I stopped pinching the piece of tissue onto my left thumb. =.="
The Jubilee Line where I was supposed to get onto is out of service, and I had to take a rail replacement bus to London Bridge station (huh? Why wasn't there any announcement posters or anything when I took the tube yesterday? *sigh*)
It could have been the adrenalin pumping too, as I was rushing to the Visitor Centre to grab my London Pass by the opening time of 10am (stated in the confirmation email) and go Buckingham Palace by 11. By the time I was there at 10.10am, the queue was super long. And then I saw the sign beside the counter, that the collection actually start by 9.30am on Monday, and 9am from Tues-Fri. (But why wasn't this in the email? So much for efficiency *double sigh*)
By the time I grabbed the pass by 10.40am, it was dash all the way to Buckingham Palace. Luckily for me, I reached the Palace on time and met up with Celes & Francis. So we were hanging around the monument (cos of vantage for Francis' powerful zoom camera). By 11.25am, I decided that my limited-zoom camera need a shorter range for shots, so I hopped down to squeeze a spot in front of the fence. When I saw this:
Huh?? There are like at least 1000 people waiting around the area and they dont even bother to send someone to announce that there isn't a ceremony?? In SG sure kena complain one. Waste time *triple sigh*.
So after this, I embarked on my tourist trail.
Hmm..compared to what I saw at Tate later..Tate's better.
Cheapo me almost didn't want buy the tickets, which cost 15 GPB (that's about 36SGD) to go in, cos this was one of the places that was not covered by the Visitor Pass. But I was glad I did. The richness of the history was definitely worth it. Guided by the voice of Jeremy Irons from the audio guide, it was befitting the sombreness of the abbey.
Jewel Tower
I'm glad I didn't have to pay for the entry ticket, since it was already covered under the London pass. 'Nuff said.
This wasn't in my plan, cos I was only interested to visit Tate Modern, until one of the friend said, "Yeah, but the paintings are really, really, really, really nice!"
And I agree. It helped that I had free audio guide, that explained certain paintings, on the story behind the paining, some of the things about the painters, and some other trivias (like most of the women subjects were mistresses of someone-someone..). The audio guide (a Dell PDA) was interactive enough to highlight some of the features of the painting ( "Now look at the picture on your scree (a picture of the painting loaded up onto the PDA screen). Choose one of the 4 areas highlighted (poked at one of the highlights). Look at the area above the subject's arm, where the inscription says..")
It's weird how some paintings stir feelings within you. And this was my favourite painting. Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose by John Singer Sargent
It gave me the sense of whimsical calmness just by looking at it. Bought a reprint :) But the reprint is quite lousy. The actual painting was so much nicer.
By the time I was done at Tate, it was already about 5.30pm, and most other attractions would have closed by 6. So decided to swing back to Covent HMV and checked out the fish & chips place.
Bought a DVD requested by a friend, got the fish & chips, got home (in a roundabout way no less, with the Jubilee Line still out of service). With aching legs (from run & walk).
But what a rewarding day :)
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