DAY 3

Good morning everyone!

My first full day in London is now firmly behind me, and what a great start!

I made a point of not getting a wake-up call so that I could sleep off the jet lag as best I could. I woke up at about 8:30am (not TOO bad) and began the adventures of the day.

This is the appropriately named Cafe Internet, located just across the street from the hotel. The people who run this shop are very nice and the clientele is like a low-budget version of the United Nations.

I was initially going to head up to the Tottenham Court Road station to see... well I can't even remember. Anyway, the line for the Piccadilly Circus tube was rather long, so I elected instead to hop on the District line and head one stop over to South Kensington station and visit the Natural History Museum (shown above). In keeping with the theme of the morning, the line here was very long and full of children. Apparently, the release of "Night at the Museum" has caused quite a run on admissions to this place. I decided to take a short walk down the road to see what I could find.

What I found was the line-free Victoria & Albert Museum. I tried to get a full-on shot of this most impressive building, but that would have required darting across several lanes of uncontrolled London traffic and that just wasn't in the gamebook, so this will have to do. I'll admit that the "V&A" wasn't high on my list of things to visit... but am I ever glad I stopped in... what a collection! Below are some of the highlights. Forgive me if I don't have a tagline for every photo... the shots I took of their nameplates didn't all turn out.

A platform used for preaching to the masses. From Egypt in the 1500s.

The opulent Ardabil carpet. Commissionned for the shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din in the northwest Iranian town of Ardabil. Completed in 1539/40.

A expression of some of the feelings of Hindus towards their then-colonial masters. The tiger has a handle which plays music... i'm guessing its not a Glass Tiger tune.

Bhairava. Dates from Nepal in the 17th century.

Pretty self-explanatory.

The opulent "chandelier" hanging over the central hall at the V&A.

After my visit to the V&A (which took almost 3 hours), I decided to hop on a bus and head further into London. The tube is great for point to point travel quickly, but its mostly underground so you don't really see anything. If you're not in a hurry, you want to see something, and you've got an Oyster card (tube/bus pass), take the bus.

I looked out my window and saw this, and decided to get off and take a look around. This is the famous Harrod's department store. Its a truly unbelieveable store with everything you could ever want (at twice the price). The store obviously gets a lot of tourists just wandering through and they are VERY welcoming, but they don't allow photography so the exterior is almost the only Harrod's picture you'll see. I say almost because there is one exception...

... a statue dedicated to the memory of Lady Diana and Dodi al Fayed (son of Harrod's boss Mohammed al Fayed). In addition to this statue, there is also a memorial downstairs that includes a photograph of the couple, a still-stained wine glass from their last meal at the Ritz in Paris, and the engagement ring Dodi bought for Diana the night before their death. Some people think these shrines are a bit much. After seeing them, I think it is merely an expression of grief from a father who very much loved his son, and the woman who would have been his daughter-in-law.

Back at the hotel, I thought i'd take a picture of this ingenius energy-saver. In order for the lights or TV in the room to work, you have to put your key in this little holder. When removed upon exiting the room, everything shuts off to conserve energy. A brilliant little device.

I decided to head out to Leicester Square to try and find some cheap Indian grub. There was Indian grub that wasn't TOO expensive, but it was all in a formal-ish table setting and that wasn't what I was feeling, so I opted for a traditional steak and ale pie at one of the nearby pubs. On the way over, I saw the van above... for just a second, I thought I was back in Victoria.

In case anyone is wondering if there have been any disapointments thus far, the photograph above is your answer. I certainly understand that American culture touches every corner of the globe and I also realize that London has every other culture represented, so its only fair that the yankees have a little slice of it too. The real disapointment is that there is ALWAYS a line at the American fast food joints, and it always seems to be Americans heading towards them (yes, you really can tell).

On the way back to the hotel, I decided to hop off at the Piccadilly station and get a shot of this...

... and this. I ended up ditching the tube and taking the bus home.

And there you have it... my first full day in London.

Its a quiet Tuesday, so I think i'm heading off to Greenwich now.

Cheerio!