london strolling

Today’s weather was kinda dreary – drizzled for most part till evening when it finally stopped and a little sunshine peeked through the thick clouds. I bought myself an Oyster (travel card) for the week, and hopped onto bus 266 with Cheryl early in the morning. Her stop was only a few minutes from home, and I had a longer way to go to Hammersmith to take the tube. Another 40 minutes of bus & train rides, I reached the London Bridge station, only to realise that my walk should have started back at Pimlico instead. Underground I went again till I reached Pimlico, and headed towards Tate Britain.

I’ll have to confess up front that I’m not a great Art fan, modern or otherwise. Having said that, the collection in Tate Britain was still interesting enough to keep me there for an hour, going from room to room and looking at all the different styles and periods of British Art history. I know I’m not supposed to take photos in the gallery, but I couldn’t help sneaking 3 shots, one of which was this sculpture called “The Kiss”. Enchanting.


My walk continued towards Westminster in the wet weather. Reaching St. Margaret’s church, I only took a couple of quick shots from the outside, an decided not to join the very, very long queue going inside. Another day perhaps. Turning towards Big Ben, I headed in the London Eye direction. I had intended to go up the Eye and have a good view as far as I could see, but postponed it till weather was a little better.

Continued along the Thames and passed South Bank Centre. By that time I was hungry, tired, and enjoying the sights despite the constant drizzle. My ears were constantly entertained with sounds of Coldplay which kept the mood upbeat enough as I went to my next destination. Bought a sandwich from Eat and went to a spot somewhere (shows that I really didn’t know where I was!) to munch. Funnily enough as I observed the name carved at the bridge next to where I was… A-ha. Found the original “London Bridge”.


My feet were aching after that long trek, so a quick stop at HMS Belfast and a shot of the Tower Bridge in the distance, I decided to head back to Acton and rest before dinner. Ooh, did some grocery shopping at Tesco too, to stock up on grub for the next few days. (By the way, there’s this brand of yoghurt called Müller, and it has this absolutely divine flavour called Lemon Cheesecake which tastes exactly like lemon cheesecake! Yummmm! Why don’t we ever have these in KL?)

The day hasn’t ended yet though – Cheryl and I met up with another friend of ours, Kim-Mi who brought us to this Spanish restaurant that served really good tapas. Forgot the name of the place, but it’s around Soho. Had lovely ice-cream and coffee too, at Amalfi’s after dinner.


First day out, and I’m already pooped by the time we reached home. I guess I’m still a wee bit jet lagged, but with all the walking I’m doing, I think I’ll be sleeping well tonight…