European Exercise III: Five Hundred Steps of History and Art
P.S.: Watch out for the deluge of photos!
Heathrow T4 was nothing to shout about. Quite bare really. The immigration officer asked a whole lot of questions about our itinerary and who we were staying with. so you really know the person. Have you ever met the person? Just a friend of a friend? What is the address? Yadda, yadda, yadda... At least customs did not hassle us like what happened to me in Melbourne~ all blue gloves and ransacking your luggage. We waited a while before Matt and Jess, our host and hostess arrived. They were so nice to actually come pick us up before going to work! And it was a fifty minute Tube ride from town. :D. The first thing I learned about the Tube is that people in London stand on the right of the escalator. Was also shocked at how tiny the train was. Small even for 'petite' Asians and it services an ang moh Metropolis. Tak sangka. Oh yeah, it doesn't have air-conditioning too. Just open the air vents in the case its packed like sardines and you're taking in the heady and musky scent of a guy's arm pits. From Heathrow, we travelled to Swiss Cottage. It was just a short walk from the Tube station to the flat that Matt was house-sitting. Located on the third floor, the place was quite cosy and well-insulated. After we had settled down, Matt left for work and we unpacked some stuff before starting the first day of sightseeing. Earlier on, Matt had helped us get some Oyster cards for use on the Tube and we had the TubeMap app for the iPhone. Really makes navigating the train network a lot easier. Criss-crossing coloured lines can be such a pain for colour blind people like me. Was delighted to find that each station was unique with different tiles and colours.
Our first stop was St. Paul's Cathedral. A big and imposing structure with a clock tower and giant dome. Well-worth the GBP14.00 we paid to get in. Inside, it was very ornate with beautiful sculptures and mosaics. The high altar was heavily-decorated and one can't help but be awed by the grandeur. Too bad photography's not allowed inside! :(. Not feeling the effects of the long flight, we braved the 259 steps up to the Whispering Gallery, a corrider that runs on the lip of the dome. Whispers on one side can be heard on the other side. I wanted to do a Parseltongue whisper, but the kids were obviously better than me. Feeling adventurous, we took the other 200+ steps up to the Golden Gallery to take in the London cityscape. Was quite winded by the arduous climb up the circular stairs. And the journey back down had me feeling my shaking knees. :S. Next was the crypt, then we made our way out. Taking the Milennium Bridge, we crossed the Thames and arrived at Tate Modern, a modern art gallery housed in the former Bankside Power Station. The bridge is not very interesting by itself but it seems that it suffered some bad publicity when it first opened and was even nicknamed the "Wobble Bridge" due to a design flaw. I couldn't really appreciate the art in the Tate as it was just too.... modern. Haha. A splash of paint. A line on the canvas. A mirror on the wall. A spurt of cum. Haha.
Lunch was had at the restaurant on the 7th floor of the Tate, a recommendation from my Lau, a Flickr buddy. The view from up there was quite beautiful. I ordered the mezze plate, while KH took the lamb. Delicious. Finished up the rest of the exhibits and went to see Ai Wei Wei's "Sunflower Seeds" at the basement. A giant field of hand-painted procelain sunflower seeds. Shockingly saw a mainland China tourist savagely kick a little girl repeatedly. And the rest of the relatives just smiled like she was being patted on the head. And over here, we punish kids with 14-day suspensions. Hardly a slap on the wrist. Next up was the British Museum. The highlight of the place was not only its large collection of artifacts, but also the Great Court, a fantastic glass ceiling radiating from the Round Reading Room~ bathing the whole place in sunlight. From the Greek Revival facade outside, one can hardly expect to see such a thing inside! A surprising contrast. Among the highlights in the collection was the Rosetta Stone, Lamassu, Caryatid, the Egyptian collection and pieces from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. All the walking had really drained us, so we sat down at Pret A Manger near the Angel Tube station for a croissant and cup of mocha.
Matt met us there and we subsequently made our way to Canada Water for some Vietnamese food with Jess at CafEast! I had some rice noodles with spring rolls while KH ordered the beef pho. The food was quite good, but Matt wasn't happy that they scrimped on the sweet basil. Not easy to source for such things in Europe I guess. I don't know if it was the cold weather or the long flight, but KH wasn't feeling well. And the walk in the cold night air didn't help either. We quickly made our way home, showered, took some meds, turned on the space heater and snuggled in bed.
Heathrow T4 was nothing to shout about. Quite bare really. The immigration officer asked a whole lot of questions about our itinerary and who we were staying with. so you really know the person. Have you ever met the person? Just a friend of a friend? What is the address? Yadda, yadda, yadda... At least customs did not hassle us like what happened to me in Melbourne~ all blue gloves and ransacking your luggage. We waited a while before Matt and Jess, our host and hostess arrived. They were so nice to actually come pick us up before going to work! And it was a fifty minute Tube ride from town. :D. The first thing I learned about the Tube is that people in London stand on the right of the escalator. Was also shocked at how tiny the train was. Small even for 'petite' Asians and it services an ang moh Metropolis. Tak sangka. Oh yeah, it doesn't have air-conditioning too. Just open the air vents in the case its packed like sardines and you're taking in the heady and musky scent of a guy's arm pits. From Heathrow, we travelled to Swiss Cottage. It was just a short walk from the Tube station to the flat that Matt was house-sitting. Located on the third floor, the place was quite cosy and well-insulated. After we had settled down, Matt left for work and we unpacked some stuff before starting the first day of sightseeing. Earlier on, Matt had helped us get some Oyster cards for use on the Tube and we had the TubeMap app for the iPhone. Really makes navigating the train network a lot easier. Criss-crossing coloured lines can be such a pain for colour blind people like me. Was delighted to find that each station was unique with different tiles and colours.
Our first stop was St. Paul's Cathedral. A big and imposing structure with a clock tower and giant dome. Well-worth the GBP14.00 we paid to get in. Inside, it was very ornate with beautiful sculptures and mosaics. The high altar was heavily-decorated and one can't help but be awed by the grandeur. Too bad photography's not allowed inside! :(. Not feeling the effects of the long flight, we braved the 259 steps up to the Whispering Gallery, a corrider that runs on the lip of the dome. Whispers on one side can be heard on the other side. I wanted to do a Parseltongue whisper, but the kids were obviously better than me. Feeling adventurous, we took the other 200+ steps up to the Golden Gallery to take in the London cityscape. Was quite winded by the arduous climb up the circular stairs. And the journey back down had me feeling my shaking knees. :S. Next was the crypt, then we made our way out. Taking the Milennium Bridge, we crossed the Thames and arrived at Tate Modern, a modern art gallery housed in the former Bankside Power Station. The bridge is not very interesting by itself but it seems that it suffered some bad publicity when it first opened and was even nicknamed the "Wobble Bridge" due to a design flaw. I couldn't really appreciate the art in the Tate as it was just too.... modern. Haha. A splash of paint. A line on the canvas. A mirror on the wall. A spurt of cum. Haha.
Lunch was had at the restaurant on the 7th floor of the Tate, a recommendation from my Lau, a Flickr buddy. The view from up there was quite beautiful. I ordered the mezze plate, while KH took the lamb. Delicious. Finished up the rest of the exhibits and went to see Ai Wei Wei's "Sunflower Seeds" at the basement. A giant field of hand-painted procelain sunflower seeds. Shockingly saw a mainland China tourist savagely kick a little girl repeatedly. And the rest of the relatives just smiled like she was being patted on the head. And over here, we punish kids with 14-day suspensions. Hardly a slap on the wrist. Next up was the British Museum. The highlight of the place was not only its large collection of artifacts, but also the Great Court, a fantastic glass ceiling radiating from the Round Reading Room~ bathing the whole place in sunlight. From the Greek Revival facade outside, one can hardly expect to see such a thing inside! A surprising contrast. Among the highlights in the collection was the Rosetta Stone, Lamassu, Caryatid, the Egyptian collection and pieces from the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. All the walking had really drained us, so we sat down at Pret A Manger near the Angel Tube station for a croissant and cup of mocha.
Matt met us there and we subsequently made our way to Canada Water for some Vietnamese food with Jess at CafEast! I had some rice noodles with spring rolls while KH ordered the beef pho. The food was quite good, but Matt wasn't happy that they scrimped on the sweet basil. Not easy to source for such things in Europe I guess. I don't know if it was the cold weather or the long flight, but KH wasn't feeling well. And the walk in the cold night air didn't help either. We quickly made our way home, showered, took some meds, turned on the space heater and snuggled in bed.
Comments
1. Asian
2. Young
3. Single
As long as we don't look dodgy and can answer all questions, then there is nothing to it
Thanks baby! Wanna go London again? Thought you prefer Barcelona.
@TBoy:
In their eyes, I think we all look dodgy. :P
@JJ:
Memangz.
+Ant+
Eh, I tot im the only one complainin on the size of the Tube...
You hav to admit, Aiweiwei's work is AMAZING! Let alone TATE MODERN!!
KH wasn't shy, he would put his head on my shoulder during the flight. And Matt's gay too.
@Janvier:
You're going somewhere?
@Medie:
Yeah lo. But I guess everything looks more beautiful in our memories.
@Jon:
Matt exclaimed the other night about the art in Tate Modern, "F*ck, I could do that!".
"imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"
@Shane:
Gooooooooooo :)
I heard that Italy is grey-er. :S