16 march london eye but not up
Went to the london eye after work. Cold cold day. We walked from waterloo station, hoping to grab a bite along the way. But no good eateries. By the time we reached the london eye, it was closed. Cant go up and take in the sights. Anyhow, some photos: (most of the photos i took were blurred. either too cold and hands were shaking or the zoom in function of my nikon not very good)
Big ben. Beautiful view along the river. The only not as blurred photo.
Walking towards tube station. View from the bridge.
Had nandos again. So much fast food. nandos twice in a week. KFC too. i must rave about the KFC. more herbs and tastier. The fries are yummier too. cant eat too much junk food. control, control!
13-15 march to south ken
i accidentally navigated away from this page. In short what i wanna say is that work smart. Ask the question and think of the best experiment to prove it. Do not be afraid to ask questions. People will generally help if they are able to. So i need to learn to work smart and publish papers. Think before i do. Plan and action.
i had to attend a course at south kensington. since i was slightly early, i popped into the neighbouring science museum to have a look. the floor i stepped into from the entrance. some engines and energy exhibition.
Did not have enough time to look through everything. Not even the first floor. Will have to come back another time.
After the class, on my way home i passed by the natural history musuem. South ken campus is surrounded by three museum. science museum, natural history and victoria & albert.
Took a bus opposite south kensington station.
The horrid pickles that i had. 2 pounds for this side dish. And i threw most of it away. Should have settled for the fries. Wanted to be adventurous. Oh well....
12 March part one To the lab and back
Off to the lab to meet my sup finally. finally met him in person yet. but first i must get to the lab with the set of directions he gave me. the directions looked easy to follow. However, i was still unsure as i kept on walking and not see the hospital. I should have trusted my sense of directions and kept on walking long the road. I turned back to the road junction and asked for directions. But the lady did not know where the hospital was either. In the end, i decided to walk down the stretch of road again. i was right! it was just deep in.
my sup meets with his staff the whole of mondays. so i din really get to have a super long chat with him. some stuff he told me:
1. the neighbourhood is not safe. be careful if you are going home late at night. take the bus. dun walk to the tube station. incidents of pple getting mugged. (i had walked to the hospital in the morning! so scary)
2. work smart. most of the time you can finis watever you need to do on time and get home early. it's amazing how pple work here. work smart and help fellow co-workers. you can get so much done. publish papers as well.
3. he can speak mandarin. that's totally cool. he used to stay in the eastern countries.
din do much that day. just read some papers. try to....
some fotos of wat i saw on my way back to the tube station
one side of the road
the other side
BBC
more bbc.
finally back to marble arch. Designed by John Nash in 1827 as the entrance to Buckingham palace. However it was too small and unimposing. so it was moved here in 1851.
since my roommate would not be home for dinner, i decided to shop around. this was when i got addicted to dorothy perkins. my buys:
dinner. takeaway from nandos. deco in the shop:
The packaging:
A satisfied customer.
11 march part two to chinatown misato
Off to chinatown. We alighted at trafalgar square at the exact spot as last nite. It was dark. Now there was light. Photo time:
Stupid windows vista. i still cant get my free upgrade.
At leicester square. Can buy tickets for musicals.
The japanese food at Misato is yuMMy. LArge servings. I love jap food. It was almost three when we got seats at the restaurant. Not too long a queue. Luckily. heard that the queue can snake all the way out.
Sashimi bento. Such thick slices of sashimi. Yum.
Katsu don
Me n food.
Chinatown. Bought rice to cook porridge in chinatown.
Wanted to watch musicals. but no musical on sun nite. Took some photos along the way to bus stop.
Ciao gelato at 1.90 pounds. Delicious. Saw the shop accidentally at the corner of national gallery.
10 March part four trafalgar square-chinatown-covent garden
We walked from the south bank to the north bank, crossing on tower bridge. Then passing tower of london. After which we made our way to St Paul's Cathedral. The dome is only second in size to St Peter's in Rome.It is also renowed for dodging the bombs during the Blitz of WWII.
When we were done, we had to find our way to chinatown/covent garden to meet kiat. Its a long story from here onwards. First we tried to find our way to a metro station. SUpposedly, st paul station is the nearest. But we could not find it. SO we decided to retrace our steps to cannon station that we passed. At the bus stop, we saw buses going to trafalgar square. Hooray. we could get to our destination. One bus came, stopped but did not open its doors. The bus driver did not let us up the bus. Supposedly it was full. However, it was not. The people at the bus stop were all shocked. Along came another bus. The same thing happened. %^$#@@$^**!!
We decided to take the tube. Alas, the tube was down. We either had to walk to bank station or wait for the bus. We should give the bus one last chance. Our persistence paid off and the bus stopped. Yay!
At the next bus stop, the bus driver did not allow more passengers to get on the bus. We looked around and saw a sign which says no standing beyond this line. The bus was not super packed but we were standing near the line. So we moved in. And the bus driver opened the door at the following stop.
We alighted at Charing Cross station and tried to find our way in the dark. It gets dark at 6 plus. Streets which were deserted and not well lit were avoided by us. We ended up walking in circles before we found the right way. While tying to get to covent garden, we passed chinatown. Saw misato (the jap restaurant with HUGE serving), london jade (for dimsum). Can come back the next time.
Kiat called and gave us directions as to where to meet him halfway near haagen daaz. Finally can deposit the box i had to carry around the whole day. He brought us to covent garden and attempted to find the oldest fish n chips shop at endell road/street. He succeeded. But fish n chips usually does not bode well for me. I will feel nauseous after eating it. It happened again. think its the combination of tartar sauce and oily deep fried food. Bleh. Thanks Kiat for the treat. now i can say that i have tried the oldest fish n chips. chips and vinegar is great!
Kiat, having been entrusted to take care of us, kept us awake beyond ten o'clock. His theory was that staying beyond ten o'clock each day would cure us of jetlag. Initially we were going to eat ice cream at haagen. but no brandied cherry. that is the only flavour i eat in the shop. Thus, we ended up following him to the supermarket. And buyin a comb n eyedrops at a pharmacy. I forgot to pack in my comb. was looking like a siao char bo for a few days. eyedrops cos its very dry here. Yay we stayed up late beyond 10pm.
10 march part two along the southern side of thames river
On the way to the thames river, we passed by vinopolis. ANother polis. biopolis, fusion polis. Its a place selling wine and beer. Cheap wine. Perhaps will buy wine before going back home to singapore.
A map of vinopolis.
Walking along the river side to shakespeare globe theatre. Southwark bridge in the background.
I suddenly remember the name of the cathedral at borough market. Its southwark cathedral. There is a story to the cathedral. A rich miser wanted to save money and pretended to be dead. He thought that his servants would mourn for him and live simply for a time period. Alas, he was wrong. They celebrated his death by spendin a lot of money. He was so angry that he died. His daughter, on hearing the news, sent for the lover to receive the inheritance. The lover died on his way to see her. Thus, the daughter was terribly distraught by the deaths and did some mission work and gave money as well. Then the cathedral was built.
Some shots along the river.
Underpass.
The shakespeare globe museum and theatre. We din go in though. Not free. Haha. Tate modern is beside it. But we din see it. Tate modern is supposed to be the ART MUSEUM. Europe's most successful contemporary art gallery and London's number one attraction. Was not readin the map then. So we missed it. Oh well, we can come back another day.
We retraced our steps back to vinopolis and continued in the direction of Tower Bridge. Along the way we passed some people gathered in front of a signboard.
Wouldn't have known there is an interesting palace ruin otherwise.
Ship that we passed. Supposed to help commuters get from one side of the river to the other.
As we walked we ate the tomatoes and strawberries that we had bought from borough market. The tomatoes were really sweet. The flavour and juice erupts in your mouth.
