nickelass

Today I left the safety of windsor to venture into london town. To the train from Windsor riverside to Waterloo. so about 3 million dollars later, I had a ticket and was on the way. Waterloo station is kinda like central station... only bigger. Why is is it that all major city terminating train stations essentially posses the same qualities? Old structure, contrete, pigion crap, chewing gum marks and the smell of urin. meh.

Sun is out, sometimes. I'm going to have a day centred around the river. Southbank is overrated. It's nice... but it I have no reason to believe it's fantastic. Maybe that will change over time as I start hanging out with locals (aka my sydney friends who now live in London!). I walk over to the edge of the river wall, I see a puppy struggling in the river! He/she is paddling against the outgoing tide holding something in it's mouth. Wait... hang on. Ah I see a person also. Ah this puppy is playing in the river. I never thought that The River Thames would be so tidel that beaches actually appear and people go down and walk their dogs. One happy puppy. Walking further downstream I see the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern. Aussie girl approaches to sign me up to a charity. I lie about just arriving in London to work and being broke. Does the desired effect. Tate Modern calls me. Suddenly southbank gets interesting. Have a look at an exibition about major cities. Totally amazing but this is the wrong day to be doing indoors stuff. The weather is great and I have a great city to explore in person!

Back outside I check out The Globe. Smaller then I expect. Back to post-modernity I wonder across The Millennium bridge. Fantastic bridge, really such a great piece of art that looks fantastic from any angle. Off to St Pauls. Have a poke around but decide not to pay a church that really doesn't need it :) Introduce myself to the london underground by catching the tube from St James to Bank then a change at Montument to Tower Hill. Wow, talk about a rabit warren. Was fun, my sense of direction has been totally thrown in this city due to the hemisphere change. Had a look at the tower of london. Suddenly there was an explosion of tourists. hmmm... had my home made lunch on a bench overlooking the water. Felt alone but happy.

Off over tower bridge and back on the tube (Jubilee) to Westminister. Wow, it's about 11:30 now and the tourists are out in force. I have a look at big ben and cross over the Westminister Bridge to look at the London Eye. It's just getting too crowded with italians and families with prams so I cross back over the river and decide to push away from the river. Within about 2 mins i'm lost and suddenly i end up in the is slightly familiar square. hey, it's Trafalgar . One thing I must say about London is that due to the cities many attractions, you are pretty quickly rewarded for getting lost in the city areas. Still the crowds are hectic so I decided to jump on the tube head to Hyde Park Corner for a wonder down constitution hill to see the queen (we go way back). Moving on I March on to the Wellington Barracks and then past the Horse Guards. I even manage to just stumble pass Downing St and finally Westminster Abbey and Hall.

By now it's about 3:30 and my feat are completely shot! I jump on a tube to Waterloo and just make the next train to Windsor.

Tomorrow I'm off to robyns! I was really glad I did some site seeing and such by myself but i'm also really looking forward to hanging out with a friend who knows the more day to day aspects of London... Like drinking :)