倫敦旅行記

London Trip (1)

 I landed in London at about 7:00 a.m. London time. It's Feb 21, 2009.

 Nitin, the childhood friend of Rocky, greeted us at the Heathrow Airport. Rocky is my colleague who came with me to London. Nitin gave me 20 British Pounds because he believed the train ticket office does not accept Euros, which is not true. But, as I learned later, some restaurants don’t accept Euros in London. Nitin told me in detail how to take a train to my hotel, near the Earl’s Court station. Huh, it's very easy to find it!

 Lessons I learned: you can buy a one day ticket for taking as much train as you can for just 7.5 Pounds.

 I took a train to Westminster. We then met at Big Ben. The day was very cooperative, with bright sunshine and nearly no wind. It is said that days like this may be around 10 for each year.

 Big Ben looks very tall and rather old. The office building near the Big Ben looks no younger. Nitin said that is the British Parliament where a lot of important decisions have been made, including the colonization of India. He didn’t show any bad opinion about the British rule of India even though he is from India. Rather, he had a touch of admiration of the British Empire.

 We then walked to the ridge on the Thames River near the Big Ben. Wow, gentle waves did shine under the bright sunshine, just like a huge silk white scarf spread over a meadow. London Eye, the circle like structure on the other side of the river spin slowly, looked like a very old spin machine, telling the long stories about the city, the river and the nation.

 We then turned back towards the Downing Street, where the Priminister resides. That street had been under construction. Dozens of people gathered in the front gate of the small street, watching guards walking to and fro Downing # 10, in the hope of seeing the Big Banana come out. In just a few seconds, we lost interest and moved ahead towards the Palace.

 There were a few people dressed in the old Night’s uniform in the front gate to the Palace complex. Two Nights were on foot, each with a sword on his right hand. The helmet covers the head and entire nose, making them look very funny. However, they were expressionless and motionless, even without saying “hi” back when I said hi to one of them as I took a photo with him. I also took a photo with one Night who was on the back of black horse. Nights were well respected in British history. Some people take great pride in being knighted by the Queen today. I think Michael Jackson the wired pop star was knighted too, even though he has nothing to compare with the Round Table Nights of King Arthur. Night Lancelot took Arthur’s wife, but Jackson has not shown much interest in women at all.

 After finishing up with the Nights, we moved into the old Palace complex. A large building is attached to a section of the old wall of a fortress and is said to be the barracks of the 1,000 Guards. Of course we did see any guards coming out.

 After walking through a park, we finally arrived at the front avenue of the Buckingham Palace. 

  

London Trip (2)

 The distance from the old barracks to the Palace may be about 1 km, separated by a park. It was the Royal Park in the old times and is now a public park for any one, including bums.

 The grasses were greenish but weak compared to the old tall trees inside. Some trees have swelling bulges to show their experience, endurance and the beating of nature. The lower side of the park has a creek or more likely, a long ditch without much water because I saw the dark mud at the bottom. On the right side of the park is a street leading to the front gate of the palace. The street is wide, with an even wider side road for people to walk. The street was apparently the old royal road, with the color being a mixture of red, yellow, brown and dark gravels doped on the surface of the road. The mixture is a reflection of the colorful life of some royal bananas.

 The trees are old, tall, and beautiful. But I neither saw any phoenix nor any other noble birds. No! Not even an eagle. Some British girls are pretty with boots stuck to long legs. But they cannot fly unfortunately. The squirrels are beautiful, with silver like hair tips shining under the sunlight. They look smaller than the American counterparts, just like the subjects here vs their American counterparts.

 There is a tall stature rested on a foundation in front of the Royal Palace and it looks like an angel. Thin steel poles line on both sides of the royal road in the front gate, with golden decorations on top. The gold might have been taken from some old colonies like Canada, Hongkong and India.

 Piles of people piled along the fence of the Palace, trying to take photos, watching the guards in the front yard of the Royal place, or day dreaming. Nitin joked that he and Rocky now have a similar dream: to live in the Palace as a king. Rocky said that he turned down a date offer from Diana some 10 years ago and I said he must have had that offer from her Royal ghost. Well, people from poor countries often have big and dramatic dreams.

 The guards in the yard before the Palace are the targets for people to watch and comment because the Royals would not venture out for people to see. The hats on the guards have long unauthentic hair, which look funny to me. I don’t know the origin of the long faked hair on the hats. However, I do know that the guards look much taller than they really are. I then remember seeing the bullying looks of a roaster that was ready to fight another roaster; both wore hats with their hair standing up on top of their feature hats.

 

London Trip (3)

It was Feb. 22, 2009.

 I had a long sleep in an old budget hotel - I was surprised that I had such a good sleep considering the uneven surface of the bed with large bulges like the ones of the Royal trees. After having a small burger, some oatmeal porridge and a coffee in a McDonalds near the Earl’s Court, I then happily boarded the train to Hyde Park.

 I knew Hyde Park since my childhood. I was taught that Carl Max the Communism Founding Father was a rather frequenter at the famous Speaker’s Corner. Other famous figures also preached there when they were rejected or not received well in main media in old times. I hoped to listen to some enchanting talks. It’s not a bad luck even to listen to some wired talks, I thought. I was planning to sing a bad song if there was no people around.

 I entered the park from the Northeastern corner at about 9 a.m., and met a black girl who was to attend a church gathering in the park. It’s too early to see many people. We chatted a short while as we walked along the wide road by the lake (or long pond). She moved to London with her parents from Liberia at the age of 5 and does not remember much of her old country. I do not remember much more what she said. Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of heavy iron shoes. Two horses were walking from the opposite direction. The huge horse was saddled with a big girl on his back and the small one got a smaller girl. I took a photo of the strangers and said good bye to the black girl.

 I walked some distance further along the lake trying to enjoy myself. The air was damp and the sky was a regular London one without the bright sunshine I enjoyed the day before. A tall girl was roller skating, passing me as quick as a gusting wind, with a long horse tail swinging wildly from her head-behind. Two minutes later, a man shaped like a hook was running on his feet, trying very hard to catch up with his dog that was trying to chase down the skating girl.

 White birds were resting on the poles in the water. More birds were on the trees of the small island and still more in the air. A small black water bird was busying dipping itself into the deep water to get some breakfast. Two Asian women were sitting on the bench by the water, each with a large travelling bag which was a rather odd scene. They were most likely Chinese as I could tell, just as I can tell whether it is authentic Chinese food as long as I have the smell filled in my nose.  

 I turned back toward the Southeastern corner of the park through the road away from the lake. The grasses were still weak and sparse, leaving the dark and sticky soil exposed everywhere. London does not have a lot of evergreen trees, which makes the city a bit chillier in winter times. However, there are some evergreen tress and bushes in the park, which was a great plus to my satisfaction and pleasure.

 I finally arrived at the famous corner. The tall tree is still there, with a small bench in its front. No mass gathering to worship the tree as I expected. How disappointing! A black man was standing on the small bench without saying a word. He didn’t speak out, not even a single word! I was puzzled why he stood on the bench if he was not speaking. He was not like the speakers in the old times: they were so enthusiastic that they just spoke loudly no matter there were people or not. A few minutes later, the man on the bench was approached by two other men who asked what he was doing there if he was not speaking. The black man suddenly opened his mouth, saying that he was doing meditation and deep thinking. “My 2 minutes’ deep thinking overpasses the thinking of 200 years of ordinary people,” he claimed. “Some people live without thinking,” he declared that is what Bertrand the English Philosopher said. “I am the man of thinking!” He added with a touch of pride.

 I exchanged a few words with him and asked what he had been thinking deeply. He did not answer my questions directly; instead he handed me a small piece of paper, with a title subject “The Horse” followed by the link of a website http://terminator24.blogspot.com/

www.terminater24.supanet.com

 I have not got a chance to take a look at his website. However, I did take a close look at his dressing: He wore a grey coat that has about 5% of its remaining time and a small hat with two horns, with the bigger horn in the front close to his forehead and the small one in the peak of his head. He looked a bit like the Vikings in the movies but his horns were much smaller. Or he looked more like an American Indian man.