DAY 9

First of all, I now know the score from the Saturday night games. Although its too bad that Montreal got knocked out of the playoffs and Calgary was beaten by our arch enemies last night, I am glad that at least one hockey tradition remains unchanged: The Leafs will continue to remain cupless since 1967.


On with my day...



I've been meaning to take a picture of one of these for a couple of days now. When one travels to Europe, one expects to see a number of "exotic" cars... makes like Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, plus the usual array of Benz and BMW. One does NOT expect to see a Dodge Caravan, the symbol of North American suburbia.



Hopped on the tube for a long journey north out of the core of London, and into a quiet suburban neighbourhood. In addition to many average Londoners, this area is home to...



... the Royal Air Force Museum :)



A Spitfire and a Hurricane on stand in the park outside the museum.



A mock-up of the Wright Brothers Flyer



North American P-51 Mustang



The array of flying machines in the first great hall



Eurofighter Typhoon



"Jim, he's down there!"



Harrier Jump Jet



He-162. With planes this ugly, no wonder the Germans lost.



The British version of the F-4 Phantom. The only difference is the airframe is slightly modified to fit a pair of Rolls Royce engines rather than Pratt and Whitneys.



British Airways L-1011 cockpit simulator.



The civilian version of the EH-101 helicopter. If that sounds familiar, its because these were the helicopters that Jean Chretien cancelled in the early 90s. Jerk.



A Canberra jet. This aircraft set the England to New Zealand air record in the early jet age.



The control capsule of His Majesty's airship.



The plaque leading into the Battle of Britain exhibit.



Back in the heart of London now. I thought i'd take a shot of this... its how they tow cars over here.



Marble Arch. An impressive gateway and directly adjacent to...



Speakers Corner. I had visions of this place as one where people took turns getting on their soapboxes. Not so. Given that I was visiting on Easter Sunday, it was pretty religiously charged.



There were Muslims...



Christians...



generally crazy people...



and people giving free hugs.



Its hard to believe that, just next to this shouting festival, people were peacefully enjoying the park.


From here, I headed back to the hotel to shower and change. After, Sunday night is hockey night in London.



So it was back to where I started the trip :)



Didn't take long to make friends, as usual. Luke (on the left) is from Toronto and, obviously, a Leaf fan. Len, in the Habs shirt, is from Saskatoon. This was taken shortly after the Habs lost to Toronto.



Also included in our impromptu group were Kit (dude in the middle holding the Jays hat) and Jim (not pictured for some reason), also from Toronto.



My Flames shirt also caught the attention of these ladies (from Calgary) who also merged with the ever-growing group.


The rest of the evening is a sad, sorry blur. Habs lost, Flames lost. I then decided to play the good Canadian and join the Toronto boys over at the Sports club where they were showing Sunday afternoon's Islanders-Devils game live (at, like midnight here). That too ended in disaster as the Islanders won to clinch the last playoff spot in the east.


Given the healthy flow of beer last night, this morning has been pretty relaxed. I'm finishing this up, then heading back to the hotel to pack up and check out. I'm maximizing my time at Heathrow to a) explore and b) improve the odds of getting an upgrade.


I'll have one more post with pictures from today and the trip home to Victoria.


In the meantime, cheers from London!

END OF DAY 7 and DAY 8


Guten tag everyone!


Turns out the end of the last post from yesterday wasn't truly the end of my day. My friend Rick from back in Victoria had hooked me up a friend of his here in London (they were in Japan at the same time many moons ago). Andy (his friend) was gracious enough to invite me over to his place for a few drinks with the gang.



Here's Andy with his sister (and one-night flatmate) Kelly.



And most of the rest of the party guests. These gals are all from South Africa and the one on the left is Andy's girlfriend.


Many thanks to Andy and Co. for a fun evening! One of the downsides of travelling alone is that you don't really get to talk to people and share your experiences (which, by the way, is part of the reason for blogging the trip). Last night's rendez-vous certainly helped clear away some of that downside.


Being that its a 4 day weekend here in Britain, the tube stopped running earlier than normal. I caught a train to Paddington Station before being thrown into the bus system. This wasn't terribly worrisome, given that i've used the bus just about every day. Night buses, though, are infrequent and it was nearly 1:45am before I got home.


-END OF DAY 7-



Given my late arrival, I slept in a bit this morning. I wasn't too worried about since my first event of the day was the historic annual boat race between Oxford and Cambridge. I didn't expect this to happen very early in the day, so I casually made my way back to Westminster at about noon. I also couldn't resist getting another shot of Big Ben.



I continued to wait... snapping some beauty shots like this one of the London Eye.



Still no boats. This is pretty much what I saw for about an hour before I finally decided I had missed it. Oh well, carry on. I elected to venture up to one of the must-see items on my list.



Enroute, I stumbled upon The Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Excellent! I've always thought that Engineers belong in an institution.



Arrival! This is the appropriately-themed entrance to the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. In here are the ACTUAL ROOMS where Churchill's War Cabinet met. This is the ONLY museum I have paid to see. Letme tell you, it was worth the whole £9.


I will apologize for the poor quality of the subseqent photographs. The low light of the bunkers makes non-flash photography difficult. However, the small enclosed spaces in which this attraction is housed make for even worse pictures with the flash on.



This original sign says "Turn off that switch please". It was a reminder of the need to conserve energy. They should have had those fancy contraptions that the Holiday Inn uses.



An original set of maps with a not-so-original wax dummy.



Telephone central.



An original map detailing the European front.



The door leading into the Cabinet War Room.



This sign was interchangeable and told the occupants of the bunker what the weather was like above ground.



One of the bunker's bedrooms.



The Chiefs of Staff's conference table. There was a map on the wall opposite that had some original graffiti mocking Hitler.



Back outside the museum now. This is a memorial to those killed in the terrorist bombings in Bali, Indonesia in 2002.



The Horse Guard's Parade.



A conveniently located Horse Guard. I feel bad for this poor bugger. Its as though the people who go right up to him and pet the horse thing he's only there for show.



Conveniently located along Whitehall.



A memorial just across from the Cabinet Office.



Hmmm... should I pop in and see in Tony's at home?



More damn hippies.



My sister asked for something from Burberry. This is it.



One of my many cross-crosses of Central London today was on an original double decker bus. These buses board at the rear and actually have a conductor onboard (in addition to the driver) to take tickets.



The Albert Memorial located across from the Royal Albert Hall.



Walking in what I believe was Kensington Park, I came across a group of people playing hockey. I refrained from asking which team was which.



Back on the bus heading for Trafalgar Square, I spotted this. Its either the Iranian Embassy, or the home of some damn fool who thinks its appropriate to fly an Iranian flag in Britain lately.



Arrival at Trafalgar Square in front of Canada House.



Couldn't resist taking this picture and one of the Alberta flag.



This was amazing, like something out of a Hitchcock movie. The fact that these birds would flock to seed-bearers without flying into anybody was impressive.



The Square.



The fountain on the Square.



The impressive architecture surrounding the Square... although this stuff is all over London.



Felicity and Tiffany, a pair of operatic buskers in front of the National Gallery. I also took a video one of their songs, but I can't get it on youtube. I'll keep working on this, though.



The National Gallery. I went in and was very glad I did. The Tate Modern was "modern" art... this was proper art. A truly incredible collection of paintings from the 11th century all the way up to the early 20th century. I'm VERY glad I stopped in here.


From this point I returned to the hotel and dropped off the camera. After a quick recharge, I headed down to Trafalgar Square to catch another movie. This time it was the new Will Farrell/Jon Heder flick, Blades of Glory. It was good for a laugh and a chance to get some more of that english-style theatre popcorn.


As you are all preparing for your late afternoons and evenings in Canada, mine is drawing to a close. What follows is an IMPORTANT NOTE:


Enjoy Hockey Night in Canada this evening. Cheer for your team (unless they're the Leafs). But please please please please please...


DO NOT TELL ME THE SCORE


Tomorrow night is the rebroadcast of the games at the Maple Leaf Pub, and I intend to watch the game as if it were live for me (as it is for most of the pub's patrons).


Once I have watched the game, I will blog and either gloat or sob.


That's it for today... GO FLAMES! (And, to a slightly lesser extent, Habs).