European Exercise IV: Boring Towers, New Friend and Familiar Food

Tower of London
Swiped from williamnyk.

On a sunny morning, we made our way to the Tower of London. Mr. Sunshine was so strong that we didn't even need our jackets. Paid the GBP20 and went in to look at... an old castle. Although it undoubtedly has a rich history, it failed to impress KH and I. Just halfway listening to the weirdly-dressed yeoman, we started yawning. Undoubtedly had a dark history, but we couldn't stay interested. If you must know, it became the prison for Thomas More and Anne Boleyn. Thomas Cromwell and Catherine Howard also met their executioners there. If the names sound familiar, try digging out your Form 4 history textbook. The line to see the crown jewels were very long, so we gave that a miss. Instead we looked at exhibitions in the White Tower. Henry VIII's armour really caught my eye with its protruding metal codpiece. Exiting the place, we went to the bank of the Thames to catch sight of Tower Bridge that is often mistaken as London Bridge. We had lunch nearby, a pub by the name of Liberty Bounds. Ordered the most typical British items on the menu-- fish & chips and steak & kidney pie. Both came with a side of peas. The fish and chips wasn't anything to shout about and as for the pie... I tasted the pieces of steak and kidney in it. Haha. Not exactly a glowing review right? The sun was out so the lunch crowd was also basking in the nearby park. Much of the grass had been trampled to death, but people in office attire had no qualms about lying on the ground. :S.













Since morning, Jon had been exchanging text messages with me about meeting up, so we managed to arrange a rendezvous at the Natural History Museum. He took a bus all the way down from Oxford. Super hot day coupled with a super long queue outside. The only museum in London that I had to queue up at. Must be because it is a giant kids draw. Housed in a very ornate building with a Victorian terracotta facade, it is rightly dubbed a Cathedral of Nature. A giant diplodocus skeleton was displayed at the central hall, not unlike something you see in the inane movie "Night at the Museum". Took Jon some time to actually join us because some misunderstanding caused him to actually line up with a whole bunch of kids to enter the dinosaur section. Finally, we met at the mammal section with the giant blue whale witnessing our first handshake. He didn't look like he only slept four hours the night before. The vitality of youth! While going through the dinosaur section, a bunch of girls actually tapped on Jon's shoulder and asked:

"Are you Far East Movement? You know? Like a G6, like a G6!"





We just smiled at their gyrations. They sped off as quickly as they came. When I had the chance, I Googled "Far East Movement" and found that it wasn't a compliment at all. Gosh, not cute! Went into the The Coccoon, a structure resembling an egg that was located adjacent to their research laboratories. With Natural History Museum closed for the day, we moved on to the Victoria and Albert Museum just across the street. Full of beautiful sculptures. Quite a number of artists sat around sketching. Jon on the other hand popped up here and there but mostly he hid at a corner charging his iPhone. Dinner was at Four Seasons, Chinatown. Matt and Jess had been raving about the place. A full house and the staff spoke Cantonese. Ordered roast duck (half deboned cause the ang moh celups didn't like bones!), soy sauce chicken, beancurd and kale. Not exactly melt-in-your-mouth like Matt described, but good enough. Jon tagged along and EarlGrey also made an appearance. He was in town for work. What are the odds kan?







Just immediately after paying the bill, we rushed over to Queens Theater to watch Les Misérables. EarlGrey had also at the last minute bought a ticket to watch with KH and I. Believe it or not, we found our seats to be occupied. So we asked the staff over to check.

"Your tickets are for April 21st. Today is the 20th."

Boy, were we red in the face. We had mixed up the dates! That meant that we were supposed to be at the Apollo Victoria Theater watching Wicked!!! Unfortunately, we still had to waste precious minutes waiting for the staff to fish our ticket stubs back out. By the time we walked in to the theater, we had lost about 30 minutes. Oh well. The play was quite funny and the sets were marvelous. Cool songs too. The audience was obviously captivated. But both of us didn't emerge from the play wanting to buy green makeup or try to adopt some flying monkeys. Before ending the night, we went to Westminster Abbey to look at an illuminated Big Ben and the London Eye. A power failure had downed four underground lines, so we ended up taking the bus back home...