London - The Grand Beginning

18 November, 2010:

On account of my Slovenian friend Peter having turned in the paperwork for his LDS mission and his wanting to visit some noteworthy and fascinating destination before leaving for said mission, Peter invited myself to accompany him to none other than great city of London. Though I had visited London once before many years ago, I must confess I felt no small excitement at the prospect of visiting this proud monument of civilisation once again. I accepted his invitation most readily and soon the plan was set!

I endured an uneventful flight with easyjet from Munich to London-Stansted and I arrived several hours before Peter. Lunch was a modest affair at the Burger King and I made the most of my waiting time by planning our itinerary and reading an amusing piece of children's fiction entitled Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

At last Peter had arrived and we were transported by coach to the town of Stevenage (hometown of actor Rupert Grint, speaking of Harry Potter).

In Stevenage we were picked up by Peter's friend Iain, whom Peter had met at an LDS Single-Adult Convention a several years ago and who was gracious enough to give two ruffians such as ourselves lodging during our stay.

Iain drove us to his home in the town of St. Albans, approximately 35 km north of London. We unloaded our few belongings and thereafter enjoyed a brief night stroll and tour of St. Albans.

The old cathedral...

The old city gates...

Our last stop was a small restaurant where we procured some evening victuals in the form of take-out fish and chips. It was a greasy meal to be sure, but nonetheless quite delicious.

Iain's wife Paulina returned home soon after we had finished our meal and enjoyed some amicable conversation, we all retired to bed.

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19 November, 2010

The next morning we arose early to a blanket of fog outside the window. Iain went to work for Tesco while Paulina led Peter and myself to the train station where we could find transportation into London. Below is the flat where we stayed...

I must confess a measure of disappointment at the fogginess of the weather, but it was England after all...

The English are a rather queer lot, it must be said. For example they have a man who changes the stoplight from green to red to yellow all by hand. I can only imagine the tedium for this poor fellow...

Peter and I procured our tickets and boarded the train, along with a rather large number of commuters, to London. The train ride itself, however, was quite fast and after only 20 minutes we were pulling into St. Pancras station. From there we wended our through the maze of underground tunnels to the proper underground train that would take us south to Waterloo Station.

We arrived at the enormous train station and marched out through the exit with a small gaggle of schoolgirls dressed in uniform...

It was only a short walk before some of the greatest landmarks of the city came into view...

My fears about the weather were greatly misplaced as the sun had dissolved the fog and left only a smattering of peculiar clouds hanging about...

It's London, I say!

This Scotsman and his pipe could be heard above the noise of the traffic as we crossed hither and thither along Westminster Bridge...

Peter the Slovene, and myself, of course...

Good heavens! What a view we had from along the embankment...

Mickey the Mouse was even out and about seeking pennies from the children...

A festive Christmas market consisting of a series of stalls, was erected along the riverfront...

Fudge...

A pair of bobbies on patrol. Watch out for the female Asian spies, old boys!

Now this exhibition was a puzzle to confound...

And if I do say so myself, Charlie Chaplin has seen better days indeed!

Along the embankment was a fascinating grotto of graffiti with acrobatic adolescences riding their curious machines all about...

What a stunning view it was from the Thames. St. Paul's and the Banking District (including the "Gherkin" to the right)...

The Savoy Hotel and the Egyptian Obelisk on the Victoria Embankment...

There's a right old chap...

We finally crossed the Thames under the eye of the Big Ben tower...

The clouds over Whitehall Palace were most curious...

Whitehall Road, where many government ministries are to be found...

Below is the Cenotaph, a memorial to those who died bravely in battle for Queen and country...

Perpendicular to Whitehall Road is Downing Street, where the Prime Minister has his residence and office...

This fellow was not to be trifled with...

Nor were these chaps...

Also along Whitehall Road is the Royal Calvary Museum...

The horses and the guard were real, though some may doubt it...

This Harry Potter character had his advertisements all about the city...

At last we came to the figure of Lord Horatio Nelson proudly watching over Trafalgar Square...

Yes, Trafalgar Square...

And the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields...

Even the American insurrectionist, George Washington, was memorialized with distinction upon the square...

This Harry Potter chap even had his form of currency available for exchange for real Sterling...

After some wandering of the marvelous streets of Westminster we came to Leicester Square, in the heart of the West End theatre district...

Well, I had had quite enough of this Potter fellow, except that I discovered that this cinema was the very cinema that hosted the premiere of his motion picture, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, only several weeks before. It was here the participating actors walked the red carpet...

Chinatown...

The West End!

Piccadilly Circus...

Well I say!

St. James Park...

Buckingham Palace...

Her Highness's Royal Helicopter?

On account of the recent wedding announcement of His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales to Kate Middleton, contingents of international reporters were scattered around the palace broadcasting the latest matrimonial news to audiences around the world...

The memorial to Queen Victoria...

Royal Palace Guard of African descent...

From Buckingham Palace we entered St. James Park once more and found the park to be ruled by a host of merry squirrels and assorted water fowl. The squirrels were the fattest to be seen anywhere in London, I dare say...

There was a pelican, of course, though it remains a mystery as to why...

The squirrels showed absolutely no fear towards humans. It was at once charming and unnerving...

The palace reflected most pleasantly in the ponds...

Squirrels in action...

The question here is which one is the braver, the squirrel or the little girl...

The boldness of the pigeons was quite extraordinary. All one had to do was hold out one's hand as though one had a bit of seed or biscuit and the pigeons would, with almost no hesitation, find an advantageous position to perch upon one's arm...

I confess it was a most agreeable experience...

Our braving of squirrels and pigeons was not in vain, as we were rewarded with a most enchanting view of Whitehall Palace and the London Eye reflected in St. James Lake...

According to the signage, there was only one animal that we were forbidden to feed and so we did refrain from such action...

A memorial to the brave fighting men of the Great War...

Whitehall Palace...

Clive...

We passed the statue of another American, one Abraham Lincoln...

At length we came to Westminster Abbey, where many of Britain's most influential persons are interred in stone...

We passed through the churchyard where children of the Westminster School were out most probably discussing Harry Potter I should think...

The pair of us had done quite a strenuous bit of walking that day and so we enjoyed a brief respite behind the Palace of Westminster with a fine view of its façade...

We then came around to the western side of the palace where we saw a television interview in progress. Perhaps some MP, who can say?

Americans seem to find the word 'shrubberies' amusing...

We found ourselves once again on the Thames...

The waning light bathed the iconic landmark in soft hues...

It wasn't more than a short double-decker bus journey up-river a bit, and so we decided to visit the headquarters for the Secret Intelligence Service. The rear entrance..

The famous headquarters of MI-6, and a certain beloved spy...

The gloaming light on the Thames from Vauxhall Bridge was as though one had stepped right into a painting...

As we returned to Westminster, the lights were already being lit...

We walked back up to Trafalgar Square...

...and journeyed by double-decker bus back to St. Pancras Station.

Within an hour from St. Pancras we found ourselves at the doorstep of Iain and Paulina. They kindly offered us a supper of Italian pizza and then they obligingly invited us to "drinks" at one of the local pubs, The Whitehart...

Of course, seeing as each of us is a tee-totalling Mormon, the drinks were benign, though we enjoyed a fine chat in this old establishment...

Why, there was even a suit of armour guarding the privy...

At last we were able to retire to bed and I believe I speak only the truth when I say that all of us slept most soundly (Though I do vaguely recall being awoken to the sound of the neighbors loudly singing REM's"Losing My Religion" in the early hours of the morning).

It had been a fine day with marvelous weather. Superior conditions for any sight-seeing adventure.

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