Friday, January 05, 2007
Today, I finally spent my first day in London. First though, on my flight from Barcelona to Amsterdam yesterday, I discussed a couple of issues with a Canadian couple. A couple of negative aspects about Barcelona have to be mentioned. First of all, it seems like everyone is smoking all the time. It is almost impossible to walk around outside without being bothered by smoke. Second, there is graffiti basically everywhere. Even in the Sagrada Família, there was lots of graffiti. The police should make more of an effort to prosecute and jail the individuals responsible for the damage done to Barcelona's old buildings and monuments. Perhaps shooting a few of the responsible idiots would do the trick.
When arriving yesterday at Heathrow, I joined the line of confused visitors trying to buy subway tickets. The Oyster card seems to be the cheapest way to go around, and I soon got a hold of it. The subway in London appears to be fairly efficient, though of course it is vintage compared with the system in Tokyo. No one can beat Tokyo when it comes to convenience (or food, fashion, and other things), so I guess even trying to compare is useless.
The first thing I did this morning was to visit the London Dungeon. It was recommended by my silly guidebook "TimeOut" as one of the best sights in London, though it is really just a rather mediocre amusement park (with only one attraction, that being the Dungeon). Don't expect to learn anything there, though I enjoyed the Labyrinth Maze of Mirrors, which apparently is the the largest Labyrinth made of mirrors in the world.
A memorable memory from the London Dungeon, however, was "meeting" a Japanese celebrity. Standing just behind me in line was a Japanese guy with two elderly folks. Since he had most of his face all covered up, I did not figure out who it was before he started talking. I decided to confirm my suspicion by asking, and the elderly woman confirmed that this was indeed "Gekidan Hitori". From reading the Japanese Wikipedia, it seems like both his parents work for an airline (the father being a pilot, meeting the stewardess working mother on the plane). I guess the elderly couple he was with were his parents, and they all could speak a little English. Anyway, just to prove this, check out the below pictures. I had to fork out £10 for these, so please enjoy.
After visiting the London Dungeon, I strolled over to the Tower of London. On the way, I visited the Monument, which a 61-metre (202-foot) tall stone Roman doric column. Designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, it was built to commemorate the Great Fire of London that occurred in 1666.
Following that, I went to the Tower of London. I had almost imagined this as being a gigantic tower in the middle of London, but this obviously could not be further from the truth. Instead, it is a complex of several buildings set within the outer defensive walls and moat. I was able to catch a guided tour, and that is probably the best way to experience the place. Following that, I stopped briefly by St Paul's Cathedral, though I did not pay the entrance fee due to being fairly tired of seeing things. Perhaps I will try going tomorrow instead.
This evening, I did quite a bit of shopping on Oxford street. After seeing all the well dressed people in the City of London today, I really feel a need to renew part of my wardrobe. The biggest surprise of my visit so far has been seeing quite a few attractive girls - basically I have not encountered any on my previous visits to England. I guess the simple explanation is that London has more immigrants that the Northern cities that I have visited in the past (e.g. Liverpool and Manchester), and I have not really seen many attractive natives. London should be happy for its immigrants, but not primarily because they provide good looking people. A more important reason is the food, though I will not try many ethnic restaurants here. Eating out is way more expensive than in Tokyo, so I will try to patient for another week.
When arriving yesterday at Heathrow, I joined the line of confused visitors trying to buy subway tickets. The Oyster card seems to be the cheapest way to go around, and I soon got a hold of it. The subway in London appears to be fairly efficient, though of course it is vintage compared with the system in Tokyo. No one can beat Tokyo when it comes to convenience (or food, fashion, and other things), so I guess even trying to compare is useless.
The first thing I did this morning was to visit the London Dungeon. It was recommended by my silly guidebook "TimeOut" as one of the best sights in London, though it is really just a rather mediocre amusement park (with only one attraction, that being the Dungeon). Don't expect to learn anything there, though I enjoyed the Labyrinth Maze of Mirrors, which apparently is the the largest Labyrinth made of mirrors in the world.
A memorable memory from the London Dungeon, however, was "meeting" a Japanese celebrity. Standing just behind me in line was a Japanese guy with two elderly folks. Since he had most of his face all covered up, I did not figure out who it was before he started talking. I decided to confirm my suspicion by asking, and the elderly woman confirmed that this was indeed "Gekidan Hitori". From reading the Japanese Wikipedia, it seems like both his parents work for an airline (the father being a pilot, meeting the stewardess working mother on the plane). I guess the elderly couple he was with were his parents, and they all could speak a little English. Anyway, just to prove this, check out the below pictures. I had to fork out £10 for these, so please enjoy.
After visiting the London Dungeon, I strolled over to the Tower of London. On the way, I visited the Monument, which a 61-metre (202-foot) tall stone Roman doric column. Designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke, it was built to commemorate the Great Fire of London that occurred in 1666.
Following that, I went to the Tower of London. I had almost imagined this as being a gigantic tower in the middle of London, but this obviously could not be further from the truth. Instead, it is a complex of several buildings set within the outer defensive walls and moat. I was able to catch a guided tour, and that is probably the best way to experience the place. Following that, I stopped briefly by St Paul's Cathedral, though I did not pay the entrance fee due to being fairly tired of seeing things. Perhaps I will try going tomorrow instead.
This evening, I did quite a bit of shopping on Oxford street. After seeing all the well dressed people in the City of London today, I really feel a need to renew part of my wardrobe. The biggest surprise of my visit so far has been seeing quite a few attractive girls - basically I have not encountered any on my previous visits to England. I guess the simple explanation is that London has more immigrants that the Northern cities that I have visited in the past (e.g. Liverpool and Manchester), and I have not really seen many attractive natives. London should be happy for its immigrants, but not primarily because they provide good looking people. A more important reason is the food, though I will not try many ethnic restaurants here. Eating out is way more expensive than in Tokyo, so I will try to patient for another week.
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