The London Series- Tourist In Me

Back from visiting Tamdi and Gjjee. Had been there for three weeks. London is pretty! I mean of course I have seen the streets on the telly and I have done my bit of reading about London but being there was a different thing. I felt like I was in London.. ha ha! what the hell! I was in London. What I meant was it was nice, despite the rain and the cold, cold wind. Everything is so cute there. Weird adjective to use for a city but it IS cute!! Especially the place where Tamdi lives. The plants are beautiful and the people are stylish.  It's just so PRETTY! I was the typical middle class never-been-out-of-my-own-country tourist. You can only imagine what that is like!!

We took a tour to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Oxford. The bus journey was wonderful. The country side is just lovely. Passed through some places that looked like a jungle. Tamdi said “You never know you might spot a Unicorn there”. Of course the kid that I am I actually hoped so. And had my camera ready just in case. The Queen was in when we reached Windsor Castle.  We took a walk on the banks of Thames. There were swans and ducks there. Not something I was excited about. Okay, I sound horrible but then I just don’t find birds to be cute, beautiful, elegant or whatever they say. Anywhooooo, so, I was really excited about going to Stonehenge. Really really. The first thing that gets you is the beautiful landscape. Next thing that gets you is the cold. It's freezing. Of course that’s also because it is December. About the size, well I always imagined it to be taller. But yes it is magnificent and you do wonder how did those people manage to move those pieces of rocks. Oxford was nice too. The colleges instantly reminded me of Eric Segal’s books. I don’t know. The descriptions of the colleges he uses are like the colleges of Oxford and just like how I pictured it. Well, saw the "Harry Potter" sights. As in some places where it was shot and also from where J K Rowling got the inspiration for the sign on Harry Potter’s forehead. That was that.

Other than that we went to Greenwich, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, National Art Museum and Natural History Museum, the Aquarium, London Bridge and the Tower Bridge. Dad really wanted to visit Greenwich. The Geographer in him was inching us towards the 0 degree mark. And Boy! Was he thrilled! The view from the Royal Observatory, Greenwich was breath taking. Like the movies really. The sky line was marked with big names of the business world at the Canary Wharf. We took the DLR till Bank station. It was the most awesome ride. It reminded me of this movie called Wanted where Angelina Jolie is on top of a tube and she shoots someone who is inside a building while balancing on the roof of the tube. Well those who have seen the movie will know. So the DLR goes through the buildings and as Dad says “building ke andar station hai”. The visit to the Aquarium was quite exciting. My folks and I behaved like we have never seen fish! Of course Tamdi was quite amused by our reactions. I loved the Sting Rays! And the sharks and the tortoise and the “cow fish” and the sea horse and the jelly fish and loads of other creatures! I was like Oh, its just like it is in National Geographic Channel. Heh Heh.

I saw dinosaurs.. ha ha! ok, their fossils in the Natural History Museum. It has been one thing I wanted to do ever since I was in Class VI. Awesome!

Apart from that I went to the home makers pilgrim- IKEA and the shopaholics paradise Harrods. Now the thing about me shopping is that I do the scanning and then the shopping. In IKEA and Harrods I couldn’t scan cause I just wanted it all! No scanning required! And too much to cover before I shop! You are never done shopping in IKEA. And in Harrods you just don’t know what is good cause everything is so damn nice!

So this is the first part of my many posts that will be about my visit to London. Be rest assured there are more posts and many many pictures to come. Told you I was a never-been-out-of-my-own-country tourist.

Peace

Tourist Shaki