Tobin Blog: London Post

Okay, still no internet at the apartment. Supposed to be Tuesday. Thus I am back at Mocha Beans. I would go to the pub with wifi, but I have to pick Paty up from work as she has still not ventured onto the left side of the road in our Nissan Micra.

We arrived in England Monday around 2 PM. A driver that Attachmate had arranged picked us up from the London Gatwick airport and took us to Staines. That is the city where Paty's office is located. The city is officially called Staines on Thames because it is on the Thames River (the same river that runs through London proper). Staines is about a 35-45 minutes train ride from London's Waterloo station, basically downtown London or close enough to walk there.

We arrived in London around 5 PM after picking up a bite in Staines and dropping our bags at the hotel.

I wanted to see the Premiership Football (soccer) game at Fulham. Craven Cottage (Fulham’s home pitch) is only about a 10 minute tube ride from Waterloo station and they are lead by USA Soccer veteran Brian McBride. I was pumped up as England always has one of their 10 weekend Premiership matches on Monday. This is the British version of Monday Night Football, thankfully without Hank Williams Jr. Paty on the other hand wanted to see a play since we were within walking distance from the theater district. Thus:

Yes, we went to see The Producer's. It was pretty good, but McBride did score in the 2-0 Fulham victory. I'll let it go now. I’m not bitter…….
On the way to the theater we ran into some type of invitation only black tie affair at the Royal Something or another. It came with the cool guards. I think it was a Royal Museum of some sort as the sign said it was normally open to the public:

Some pictures of London at night:

That is basically a photo looking both directions from the Waterloo Bridge. The cool bridge that is lit up is the Centennial Bridge. It is for train and foot passengers only. In the background you can see the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben and at the very back Westminister Abbey.

The next day Paty had her Siebel training class all day. She met the other two trainers at 8 the next morning. She was conducting/helping with the training not in the class.
As I had nothing to do all day I decided to take the train again into London. It has been unseasonably warm all throughout the UK and Ireland. Consider that I was sweating whilst walking around the city in only my rugby shirt. It was somewhat funny to see everyone all bundled up when it was in the mid 60’s. I think that everyone just sees the calendar turned to mid October and knows that it should be cold. They are dressing for the calendar, not the actual weather. I took a bunch of pictures as I really didn’t have anything else to do all day. This is basically the same picture as last night but in the day. Centennial Bridge, the London Eye, Big Ben, Parliament and a whole bunch of ministry offices on the right along with Scotland Yard.

Same pic, but I am on the Centennial Bridge. Notice the new messenger bag (Man Purse):

Before I get too far into this post, let me explain one key fact about London. It is BIG. The city itself is HUGE. I think the whole metropolitan area is among the top 5 largest cities by population in the world. But I am talking about the downtown zone. The area you would think about when someone said they went to London. For me to walk along the Thames from Big Ben to London Bridge would take a half hour walking briskly. Maybe this is one of the reasons that they have developed such an extensive tube system (Mind the Gap). The Olympics are going to be held in London in 2012 and almost all of those events are being deployed in London’s East End. That is a good 45 minutes to an hour walk from where I am taking these pictures. The Londoners are actually really excited about the Olympics, it always seems to be in the news. But the size does not prohibit London from being a good walking town. Exactly the opposite, it is a great city to walk around. Every time you turn the corner there is some cool old building or alley. This is a typical street of no particular interest in London:

The only drawback is that no matter how long you stay I think it is virtually impossible to see everything. There are six major parks in the downtown core. This is St. James’s Park featuring a large duck pond and island in the center:

I don’t think this sign is very effective as these birds are as wild as my cockatiel Porfi, but you have to try:

Eyeballing the map, I think St. James’s is the smallest park but it does have a great location across from Buckingham Palace:

And it also borders Downing Street. #10 Downing Street is where the Prime Minister lives. The rest of the inner cabinet ministers also have residences on this street:

#12 pictured, #10 is actually to the right by where that lady is:

This is the Royal Guard; they actually do stand there all day without moving. Everyone takes these cheesy pictures. I felt bad and just took a picture of someone else so you get the idea:

Apparently he FINALLY got sick of getting his picture taken:

This is Trafalgar Square and the Royal Museum:

Same square, but I am standing on the steps to the museum. You can see Big Ben and Westminister Abbey in the far background. The road pictured goes from Trafalgar Square to Parliament and includes Downing Street, Scotland Yard, The Foreign Office, The Ministry of Defence, The Admirality and the Old Treasury. Basically the heart of the UK’s government.