London - Day One

It's been 2 weeks since coming back from London/Paris and it's given me enough time to reflect on the trip. It definitely was amazing visiting all the sites that I've only seen in pictures or read about in books. Of course, there's always regrets of not being able to visit all of the sites or not taking enough pictures or not getting as much souvenirs as my luggage will fit. But this time no regrets. I've decided to simply enjoy the memories of the spectacular & beautiful sites, the crazy unexpected hot weather, the crowds & queques, my sore feet, the French Open (esp. the male tennis players), and the hope, someday, that I will get a chance to come back again.
So the trip started on Thursday, May 13th...Josette & I arrived at SFO and was excited for the trip to start. Unfortunately, the arrival of the Virgin airplane was late so we were delayed in departing...ugh! But when we finally got seated, the excitement returned especially it being my first Virgin flight. It was so much fun to be able to choose your entertainment in your very own monitor...whether it be a movie, tv, music or games. I started a bunch of movies and only finished one movie, The Blind Side. I also tried to sleep but it wasn't easy. Also, the neighbor on my left, from Wales, was not very nice to the passenger in front of him. Being a big guy, he was a bit cramped and did not like the lady putting her seat back. I guess, I'm glad I wasn't sitting in front of him.

We finally arrived at LHR at noon, May 14th...we were about an hour late and headed off to Heathrow Express to go directly to Paddington Station.
We were greeted by Joy at the station and headed off to her place (10 minute walk) with a slight detour at a bank to get GBPs. Oh, which reminds me, I still can't believe I had such a hard time figuring out the difference between the pound & pences coins. And it was funny how many time I got corrected when I'll say dollars & cents. So sad...
As for the weather, it was actually a bit warm...much warmer than I expected for London. It was even hotter in Joy's place...I was sweating a storm carrying my luggage up two flights of stairs to one of her spare bedrooms.
As we got situated in Joy's place, we decided to get a late lunch. We walked through Kensington Park...which houses the Princess Diana children playground,
a beautiful garden with lovely purple tulips, and Kensington Palace, the former residence of Princess Diana.


We had lunch at the Orangery (built in 1705 by Queen Anne) but by the time we got seated, they only offered afternoon high tea...tea sandwiches, scone, little dessert sampling and orange tea. Still all very yummy.

After tea, we decided to go to the Borrough Market but since it was late Friday afternoon during commute hours, the metro trains were full and busy. It took us about an hour to get to the Market...unfortunately, they were busy closing up by the time we got there. It was too bad we never made it back to visit...I would love to check out some of the local foods.

From the market, we walked along the Thames River on the south side. We visited the Tate Modern Museum and viewed the many floors of modern and a few classic art pieces.

From the museum, you get a great view of St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millenium bridge...the same bridge that was destroyed in the beginning scenes of Harry Potter & the Half Blood Prince. Very cool!

Along the way, we came upon all these decorated elephants that will be going up for auction to save the habitats of endangered Asian elephants. They were definitely very creative. We had dinner at
Wagarama restaurant. I got fried rice...probably should have stuck with their specialty, ramen noodles. By this time, jetlag was catching up with us...as you can see...




But we continued marching along the Thames...and then the 3 big sites came upon us: the London Eye, Big Ben & Parliament building. Despite the construction all around Big Ben, it was still magnificient to look at it.
Now I really felt like I'm in London. It was spectacular seeing all there in front of me. And luckily, we were there at 9pm and heard the ringing of Big Ben. I tried taping it but a police car just came by at that exact moment. Just my luck.
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