imjustshane

West End but without the hippies

London’s West End feels very familiar, though not quite the same as Brisbane’s West End with all its hippies, more like Fortitude Valley. Arriving early in the morning you can really feel that the area is barely coming to, like the streets themselves have awoken with a hangover. Clearly everything happens here at night. [Edit: A trip here for dinner the following night really drove that fact home with the streets full of theatre goers and drunks, quite the combination.] Im really enjoying wandering run fussing over places all the locals that drift past me take for granted, I keep finding myself spellbound while the locals wander by bemused by my interest in what to them is mundane.

A camera memory card fail hijacked my morning and gave me some actual direction for the day. A trip up to Oxford St to Argos seemed my best bet to get a new card. I arrived at Argo sot find no electrical equipment on show, just a counter that would look more comfortable in a pawn shop plus rows and rows of catalogues. Turns out you find what you want in the catalogue then head over the the counter and trade a slip of paper for your goods. As excited as this seems the prices on the memory cards were not as low as I was promised, so I wandered off and found a bizarre electronics stopper with 5 different counters each manned by a Middle Eastern man and his son. Personal service and much better prices made for an epic win.

With my camera now working I was on the road again and a quick look at the map made me realise I had ended up near the The Britain Museum. Holy shitballs its HUGE! Once inside it feels like half of Ancient Greece is here. Also important to note here, while the Pathenon at the Brassall shops is long gone, a fair chunk of the real Pathenon is in mint condition in this museum. In fact the museum holds a greater percentage of some of the buildings than the museum near their original site in Greece.

From here I wander further on and took a stroll up to the Camden Markets. I soon realised if I didn’t forcibly remove myself I would have no money left and more tee shirts than I could possibly carry home. I also found a lot of the shop keepers to be annoying as one, one guy chased away a guaranteed sale when he pestered me too much.

Having not eaten asian food for nearly a w week I was seriously craving noodles so I stopped at a Thai restaurant for some Singapore noodles, in hindsight possibly wasn’t going to be their speciality or their signature dish, but at least it was on the specials list. The first surprise came when rather than come from the back of the restaurant which I was hungrily watching instead it came from the little sales kiosk by the front door. Turns out they don’t have much room so the kitchen is up stairs and my food came down a little elevator to get to me from the front of the restaurant. The second surprise was the sheer size of the it, my mountain of noodles would have fed a family of 4, I barely ate half. The final surprise was a sad one, it seems when they wrote the menu they embellished slightly , my prawn and pork Singapore Noodles did have pig product though it seems a stretched to call diced bacon pork. Oh and one last foot note, whats with the slice of lemon in my coke? I didn’t ask for that! I get angry enough when my fish and chips get the lemon treatment, this is a new low.

Fed I jumped back on the tube and retraced the start of the morning, retaking my photos from Picadilly Circus and Leister Square I lost with my memory card fail. With the day warming up the streets were now awash with people, Leister Square looked more like Surfers Paradise (without the sand of course) with bodies strewn everywhere soaking up the unexpected rays. Job done I made my way up to Covent Garden and found a more Australian type market, I think mum would think she had died and gone to knick knack heaven if she ever came here. The highlight here was all the entertainment Outside the Punch and Judy hall a street performer entertained a throng some 200 deep, and inside a string quintet was going to town with a rambunctious performance, playing up to the crowd with devilish chagrin. This was punctuated by a rousing rendition of the can can, high kicks and all, never missing a beat… well a string!

Setting off from convent garden I went in search of Trafalgar Square, with in line with my planes day I managed to get distracted not once but twice. First as usual a gorgeous spire caught my eye and drew me in down a long road towards a church in a traffic island. Before I could reach it however I came to an archway which opened up to an enormous court, with a massive lower section covered by water spouts for kids to play in. Returning to the main street I was back on my way to the church. The size of its spire was the first sign it was something special, its location on a traffic island with the world forced to grow around it the next and once inside it didn’t disappoint. Rising guilded domes with gorgeous paintings adorned the roof, the timber and stone at ground level while not as spectacular still shone with a regal elegance.

Next stop was Trafalgar Square, which wasn’t event a compulsory stop on my tri, I just happened to be nearby so I stopped by. Im really glad this worked out as it would have been sad to miss such an phenomenal space. First the massive statue rising up in the sky surrounded the glorious art gallery and an imposing and equally impressive archway and of course the two massive fountains. The weather was an amazing blessing on this trip and Trafalgar was a perfect example. Londoners really embrace the rare sunny days and the square was awash with people bathing in the sun. Oh and on homeless guy bathing in the fountains searching for coins.

Tracking back to the tube for the trip home I passed through St James Park where I had my first squirrel encounter. They really are crazy little critters, who if I believe Skinski are delicious, especially when roasted on an open fire.