After my phone had rang, I woke up immediately. It was going to be a perfect day, weather was superb. I went down to eat some breakfast. I kind a hoped it was a traditional English breakfast-eggs and bacon,you know- but it was classical continental breakfast which included toast with either marmalade or butter and cereal flakes. I was a bit scared, that after few days like this, the same thing happens that happened to me in Germany three years ago- there were buns every morning and so for 10 days. After that I didn't want to see bread for a month.
After breakfast I saw Hyde park during the daylight. We took a little stroll to Hyde park's Speaker's Corner. I'm telling you, parks over there are way different from the parks in Estonia. They're huge. Hyde park is about 120 ha. There's not so many trees, it's more like an open space, which I think is cool in the middle of a big city. And there were flowers already. Back in Estonia we still had snow everywhere.
We passed this little house, which was inside the park, acclaimed to be the park's guard's house (but I'm not sure) and it was the cutest house I'd ever seen. Just near to it was the end of the Serpentine, artificial lake in the park. Popular picture-taking place it was. I felt almost like a tourist myself...
We arrived to the Speaker's Corner about 9.30. So we had half an hour to look around, before the „speaking“ started. For those who don't know, Speaker's Corner is considered as the best expression of democracy- people can go there every Sunday 10 am and speak about whatever they want as long as they want, about politics, weather, religion, education, films etc. Well, as long as they are polite enough so that the police wouldn't have to escort them away.
We had 30min to look around, so we strolled a little in Mayfair, district that is among one of the richest in London. Celebrities like Keira Knightley and Guy Ritchie live there and Mayfair is the favourite clubbing place for celebrities from Kate Moss to Rihanna. Houses there were really pretty and I would very much like to live in one of those one day. Not likely to happen, but I can dream, can't I? In front of the houses were expensive cars starting with Bentley and ending with Ferrari.
On an island that separated two driving directions, there was a statue for all the animals that had suffered in war or in any other way when working for humans. I think it is so sweet and nice. I mean we always remember our war heroes and unknown soldiers but never the horses, dogs and all the other animals, that have suffered or died because of us. It crawled deep into my heart, thinking that there are people thinking of every victim in this stupid thing called war.
10 am the speakers started. The most popular topic this weekend was Jesus. One claimed that he is reborn Jesus and another one said, that Jesus was a woman. Since I'm not religious and even though they spoke well, it didn't give me anything, so I took a little walk to the Serpentine with my cousin. Bought some coffee( £1.70) and saw a man, mid-fifties, figure skating with his roller skates. He was pretty good actually. You really don't see anything like this in Estonia. I call him the Skater Dude.
The park was full of footballers training in groups and I started to hope, some of them were players from Chelsea, Arsenal, Fulham or something like this. Which is hard to believe, obviously. There was a woman studying some kind a martial art with a personal trainer. It felt as if people had come out of their buildings to embrace the sunshine, which is said is hard to find in London area, with all the rain.
We went back to the Speaker's Corner and listened a theory about the end of the world. Took some pictures and watched two speakers arguing each other about God and his presence.
In the middle of the March is a great Irish holiday- St. Patrick's Day. This year it was on 17th, which was Tuesday. So that everybody could celebrate, the parade took place on Sunday. So we went to Green park, because that's where the parade starts. At least we wanted to go there. We had a map, but luckily we saw a bunch of red-headed Irish people. No doubt where they were going so we just started following them. And they went just to the right place. After 20 minutes the parade started.
There were bagpipe orchestras, river dancers and costumed leprechauns. At the head, there was London's mayor, Boris Johnson. Streets were crowded and when the parade had passed by, everybody followed it to Trafalgar Square, where a concert took place. There were so many people, that I lost my mates repeatedly. So I went to National Gallery.
National Gallery borders the Trafalgar Square on one side and I went in there. Entrance is free and you can just walk in and out. It was the first room I went into, when I saw the most famous painting of the gallery- Van Gogh's „Sunflowers“. I only got to know it later, that it is considered as the most expensive painting in the world. Which was weird, because it had no special protection, it just stood there, amongst other paintings. It could be the most famous, but there were other famous paintings there from other famous painters. And they were far bigger than I had imagined. I'd heard, that the Mona Lisa was a lot smaller, than people usually expect, but these paintings were bigger than I thought they would be.
I took a picture of the painting and moved on until I hit the room which was under the dome and it was so beautiful and extravagant that I took another picture. Then one of the museum guards walked up to me and told that taking photos is forbidden. Well, since I didn't know that, I had two photos already. I didn't take any more but didn't delete these either. Sorry for that.
I went to the museum's gift-shop and bought a lovely mug( £6), on it was black-and-white Houses of the Parliament, the Big Ben and on the bridge was a red double decker. I was tempted to buy loads of stuff but I managed to control myself.
Leaving there I went to a small corner shop (Tesco) just next to Trafalgar square and it was crowded. The line started from the entrance door. Probably because of the parade and the concert. Bought a small apple juice, cause I was thirsty and it was really hot outside. I could wear short sleeves in the middle of the March. In Estonia there's usually thick snow as I mentioned before.
Just when I got out of the shop I heard this song „Apologize“ from One Republic. Since the stage opened to National Gallery and I was on the other side of the square I didn't see, if they were really them singing or it just played from a record. I tried to look for it later but couldn't find any information about One Republic performing in London that day. So maybe it was them, maybe not.
Using Whitehall street we went to see the symbol of the city- Big Ben. On the corner of the Parliament Street and the Bridge Street I got my first look at the tower. It was hard to believe that this was the famous Big Ben. And just over the Parliament Square, which is full of statues of important men (such as W. Churchill, A. Lincoln, N. Mandela aso), there was Westminster Abbey.
On the square there were some tents and posters. Gay-supporters, anti-war and other slogans. They were there, just in the place where MP's could see them (members of the Parliament).
After 15min photography session we went to see the abbey. Unluckily the main part of it was closed that day (undone job by our guide, I must say- it is closed on Sundays), but we could visit a small part of it. A part, where no one famous was buried. At least I didn't know any of them. For the record, in the Westminster Abbey, 3300 people is buried. Remarkable number, the building isn't that big. But once your in, it doesn't seem so impossible, because there are crypts everywhere- under the floor and it seemed like even in the wall.
The whole place looked as if it is a film set of Harry Potter movies. My cousin didn't went there and when he saw the pictures I had taken, he seriously thought that I'd been to the film set.
I really wanted to go in there and see Churchill's, Elizabeth I and Newton's tombs, but I couldn't. We started walking back to our hostel (there's a Broadway Street in London as well). We went through St. James's Park, which is considered as the most intimate park in London- full of people on this lovely day. In front of St. James's Palace (where prince Charles lives) we saw a little demonstration from the guards (they walked the same, they did tricks with their guns the same) and I realised, how extremely hard work it is...and boring.
Next place we went through was Green Park. Our tour guide told us, that under the park, centuries ago, leprous people were buried and their bodies fertilized the ground, so this park was a lot greener than the others- so it's the Green Park. Was a bit freaky to walk there and seeing people sitting on the grass, when 6 feet below you are people in a mass grave. To some happier notes- I saw a squirrel there and I even managed to take a photography of … well, It. On the picture it looks like...It's praying. At least the squirrel has a name now- It.
We passed Wellington's Arch and Wellington's Museum, which had nothing spectacular about it, until our guide told us, that this house has the best address in the world- London, house no 1. Duke of Wellington was a leader of the army that won Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo and his successors still own it. Through the Hyde Park and we were back in the hostel...extremely tired.
When starting to watch the pictures I had taken, I saw something that didn't make me happy. Something stupid. It was either me or my cousin who by accident had turned a little button on the camera, so all the pictures of the day, since the National Gallery, were blue. I mean, how pathetic is that! Luckily my cousin's girlfriend's pictures were normal, so we got some colourful pictures as well.
But I just can't be without mentioning a photo I had taken of my cousin with the Big Ben. Later when watching I saw that some other dude was on it too, smiling to the camera. I have no idea who that was. I just call him My Cousins New Friend.
I went to shower and decided to visit a street just next to our hostel- Queensway Street. There were lots of foreigners, especially Indian people. I went to a souvenir shop and bought my sister a sweater, with a “London” written on it. I love it myself, it's warm and cosy. And now I liked it if it was mine. But I can borrow it from her. I also found a shop, where I bought 15 postcards and they cost just 1£. I also bought few key chains which I could give my friends later.
The street was full of Indian restaurants and there was a nice and extremely good smelling water pipe cafe. I think I saw some Indian gangsters there. At night big darkened glassed big cars drive there, really slowly and you can hear a loud bass. Sometimes some of the windows are rolled down and you could see dudes that look like wannabe-pimps.
I went to a food store, but as I got in I saw that it was some kind of a oriental shop, cause I couldn't recognize a thing they sold there. There was a package of, which claimed to be chocolate candy, but to me it seemed like dried meat or chicken legs. Only thing that was familiar to me was a bottle of diet coke, so I bought it (£0.99).
I wanted to buy Guinness bier, but I saw that you can only buy it in a glass, not in a bottle and didn't dare to go in to a local pub. Stupid, ah? Guess that's another thing to do, when I go back next time. When? Don't know. But some day for sure.
xoxo K.
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