Reminds me of EVE from Walle.
I have stayed at this hostel twice now.
Showing posts with label london. Show all posts
Showing posts with label london. Show all posts
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Colour Film: London
I feel like colour film captures the true colours and mood of the situation more than digital does without postprocessing. I didn't realise until I got to London that I had accidentally brought one roll of colour film (the other 5 were black and white). As I was scanning in this roll, my heart ached a little. Although there is something quite special about black and white, colour just looks and feels amazing.
Reminds me of EVE from Walle.
I have stayed at this hostel twice now.
Reminds me of EVE from Walle.
I have stayed at this hostel twice now.
Tuesday 16 December 2014
London III
6th December 2014
One of my favourite places on my last visit to London was Greenwich Park. For our last day in London, we stayed in a hotel in Greenwich and decided to catch the sunrise from Greenwich Park before catching the (disappointing) Virgin train to Edinburgh.
Super cool English canals.
Overall Thoughts
I enjoyed London a lot more on my previous visit. This time I realised it was just an insanely busy city. This feeling was probably further exacerbated by the Chritmas shopping crowds and the overall frenzy on the streets. It was weird transitioning from Paris where things closed relatively early to a place where things were open to 11pm (if not later) 7 days a week. Of course this was only really restricted to central London but I feel that it was kind of reflected in the suburbs.
Would I re-visit?
Not anytime soon. It seems that I am not much of a "big city" kind of person anymore.
One of my favourite places on my last visit to London was Greenwich Park. For our last day in London, we stayed in a hotel in Greenwich and decided to catch the sunrise from Greenwich Park before catching the (disappointing) Virgin train to Edinburgh.
Super cool English canals.
Overall Thoughts
I enjoyed London a lot more on my previous visit. This time I realised it was just an insanely busy city. This feeling was probably further exacerbated by the Chritmas shopping crowds and the overall frenzy on the streets. It was weird transitioning from Paris where things closed relatively early to a place where things were open to 11pm (if not later) 7 days a week. Of course this was only really restricted to central London but I feel that it was kind of reflected in the suburbs.
Would I re-visit?
Not anytime soon. It seems that I am not much of a "big city" kind of person anymore.
Wednesday 10 December 2014
London II
3rd December 2014
This was probably the second best morning I had in London in terms of weather. Last time I visited, I saw the end of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. This time, I decided to see it; it's just one of those things that should be seen once ... I guess.
In hindsight, I wouldn't recommend it at all. It was so boring and long and I became frozen by the end of it.
How I felt too
The coolest thing in London during my visit was the Paddington bears that were scattered throughout London. There are 50 in London (more info here) to celebrate the release of the film, Paddington.
Christmas tree at Somerset House. The Christmas tree at Trafalger Square was so disappointing.
Near St Peters Cathedral
Also found Twinnings' Flagship Tea Store accidentally. It was very cool (I am a tea lover) but crazily expensive!
This was probably the second best morning I had in London in terms of weather. Last time I visited, I saw the end of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. This time, I decided to see it; it's just one of those things that should be seen once ... I guess.
How I felt too
The coolest thing in London during my visit was the Paddington bears that were scattered throughout London. There are 50 in London (more info here) to celebrate the release of the film, Paddington.
Christmas tree at Somerset House. The Christmas tree at Trafalger Square was so disappointing.
Near St Peters Cathedral
Also found Twinnings' Flagship Tea Store accidentally. It was very cool (I am a tea lover) but crazily expensive!
Tuesday 9 December 2014
London I
2nd December
Last eclair in Paris
The Eurostar ride from Paris was very very boring and kind of painful. I can't read, watch movies or do pretty much anything on transport due to motion sickness and resorted to being bored for the entire ride. It was painful because of the change in air pressure in the tunnel. Ah well. I have to say that the UK customs/ immigration is one of the most difficult that I have experienced. Last time, the woman grilled me with all these weird quetions, "why are you travelling by yourself?" "Why are you coming to the UK if you don't know anyone", which at the time I thought was a little weird. This time round, the man was really cold. Well colder than the average immigration officer. The weird thing wa that he asked how many days we were also going to be in the Republic of Ireland (as we didn't include it in our total duration question on the form). In hindsight, the Republic of Ireland isn't even in the UK so I have no idea why it was any of his concern.
We stayed at the same place that I stayed at last time, near the Swiss Cottage tube station which is just outside Zone 1.
Regent Park
First stop was an early dinner/ super super late lunch at Bone Daddies, allegedly the best ramen in London.
Tantanmen 2
They both tasted really weird. They weren't meant to taste traditional but the flavours were really really weird. The Tantanmen 2 that I ordered felt as though someone had poured an obscene amount of peanut butter with the broth. Not a very pleasant experience, especially with the compulsory service charge added (not happy Jan).
Regent Street and Oxford Street were insanely packed but also very very pretty with all the Christmas lights. I'm not the biggest fan of shopping and when I do shop, I shop with a plan. However we did pop into Hamleys on Regent Street which was opened in 1881. It is the oldest toy shop in the world and it has 7 floors of toys! The best part was definitely the employees who were trialing the toys around the store and also performing magic tricks.
Disney store!!
Last eclair in Paris
The Eurostar ride from Paris was very very boring and kind of painful. I can't read, watch movies or do pretty much anything on transport due to motion sickness and resorted to being bored for the entire ride. It was painful because of the change in air pressure in the tunnel. Ah well. I have to say that the UK customs/ immigration is one of the most difficult that I have experienced. Last time, the woman grilled me with all these weird quetions, "why are you travelling by yourself?" "Why are you coming to the UK if you don't know anyone", which at the time I thought was a little weird. This time round, the man was really cold. Well colder than the average immigration officer. The weird thing wa that he asked how many days we were also going to be in the Republic of Ireland (as we didn't include it in our total duration question on the form). In hindsight, the Republic of Ireland isn't even in the UK so I have no idea why it was any of his concern.
We stayed at the same place that I stayed at last time, near the Swiss Cottage tube station which is just outside Zone 1.
Regent Park
First stop was an early dinner/ super super late lunch at Bone Daddies, allegedly the best ramen in London.
Tantanmen 2
T22
They both tasted really weird. They weren't meant to taste traditional but the flavours were really really weird. The Tantanmen 2 that I ordered felt as though someone had poured an obscene amount of peanut butter with the broth. Not a very pleasant experience, especially with the compulsory service charge added (not happy Jan).
Regent Street and Oxford Street were insanely packed but also very very pretty with all the Christmas lights. I'm not the biggest fan of shopping and when I do shop, I shop with a plan. However we did pop into Hamleys on Regent Street which was opened in 1881. It is the oldest toy shop in the world and it has 7 floors of toys! The best part was definitely the employees who were trialing the toys around the store and also performing magic tricks.
Disney store!!
Sunday 27 October 2013
London Pt 3
9th January 2013
Despite missing my free tour of Greenwich, I decided to explore the area by myself. But first, I made my way down to Hyde Park.
Hyde Park was enormous and I got really bored walking through it after a while. I was contemplating renting the city bicycles however it started to drizzle and considering I hadn't ridden a bike in over 3 years, I decided that it probably wasn't a good idea.
I caught the Tube to Canada Water. I had some issues with the Tube, the main one being that I consistently got motion sickness. I wasn't sure if it was because I was sitting sideways or if it was the smell of the cleaning products or the speed, I just felt nauseous 99% of the time. London was also the first 'big' city feel in terms of public transport. Perhaps I just missed out on the rush hour crowd in NYC, but it always felt quite relaxing. But being crammed into the carriage was another experience in itself. I also loved how there were repeated announcements over the PA at the escalators which reminded people to stand on the left hand side. Now, that is something which bugs me in Sydney. Far too many people don't abide by this rule and it frustrates me when people don't walk on the right side of the footpath. I digress.
Finally the skies cleared up and the first blue sky since I landed in London! From the station, it was a 40 minute walk to my final destination of Greenwich Park and it was quite lovely walking through a residential area of London. It reminded me a lot of my feelings when I was in the US; continually I would think to myself, 'wow this looks just like it does in the movies/ on tv'.
Greenwich is famous for the Royal Observatory, or more specifically the prime meridian line.
The walk back to Canada Water was equally lovely, especially with the setting sun. This was my last day in London.
My Overall Thoughts
London was amazing and has such a big-city feel. In some respects, even moreso than NYC. It is so cosmopolitan and just incredible. It has such a lovely vibe and it is a place that I could see myself living in (like so many other Australians). Oddly enough, it felt a lot like home, but not quite. I am not entirely sure where the sense of familiarity comes from considering physically, it is quite unlike Sydney and yet there is something there that I can't place my finger on.
Would I re-visit?
Definitely. I definitely didn't see enough of the city. That being said, I am not sure if it will be on my list of destinations for my next visit to Europe since there are so many cities that I would love to visit.
Despite missing my free tour of Greenwich, I decided to explore the area by myself. But first, I made my way down to Hyde Park.
Hyde Park was enormous and I got really bored walking through it after a while. I was contemplating renting the city bicycles however it started to drizzle and considering I hadn't ridden a bike in over 3 years, I decided that it probably wasn't a good idea.
I caught the Tube to Canada Water. I had some issues with the Tube, the main one being that I consistently got motion sickness. I wasn't sure if it was because I was sitting sideways or if it was the smell of the cleaning products or the speed, I just felt nauseous 99% of the time. London was also the first 'big' city feel in terms of public transport. Perhaps I just missed out on the rush hour crowd in NYC, but it always felt quite relaxing. But being crammed into the carriage was another experience in itself. I also loved how there were repeated announcements over the PA at the escalators which reminded people to stand on the left hand side. Now, that is something which bugs me in Sydney. Far too many people don't abide by this rule and it frustrates me when people don't walk on the right side of the footpath. I digress.
Finally the skies cleared up and the first blue sky since I landed in London! From the station, it was a 40 minute walk to my final destination of Greenwich Park and it was quite lovely walking through a residential area of London. It reminded me a lot of my feelings when I was in the US; continually I would think to myself, 'wow this looks just like it does in the movies/ on tv'.
Greenwich is famous for the Royal Observatory, or more specifically the prime meridian line.
The walk back to Canada Water was equally lovely, especially with the setting sun. This was my last day in London.
My Overall Thoughts
London was amazing and has such a big-city feel. In some respects, even moreso than NYC. It is so cosmopolitan and just incredible. It has such a lovely vibe and it is a place that I could see myself living in (like so many other Australians). Oddly enough, it felt a lot like home, but not quite. I am not entirely sure where the sense of familiarity comes from considering physically, it is quite unlike Sydney and yet there is something there that I can't place my finger on.
Would I re-visit?
Definitely. I definitely didn't see enough of the city. That being said, I am not sure if it will be on my list of destinations for my next visit to Europe since there are so many cities that I would love to visit.
Wednesday 23 October 2013
London Pt 2
7th January 2013
As mentioned in my previous post, I woke up at 8am which meant that I was late for my free Greeter Tour of Greenwich since I was meeting at 8am. It would have taken me 40 minutes to get there so I sent an email apologising. I really did feel bad since someone had gone to the office to meet me except I didn't turn up.
A little backtrack first, when I flew from Canada back to the US, one of my first thoughts was, "wow it is absurdly warm! I am finally in the positive degrees!" (It was 2 degress). Throughout my stay in London, it was on average, 13 degrees which was glorious.
Back to my second day in London, I first walked down to Regent's Park, Camden Markets, Thames River, St Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge and Tower Bridge. Largely picture based post.
One of the things that struck me was how green England is. I haven't seen this green in Australia (excluding Tasmania possibly). At least in NSW, it's more of a yellow-green, if not just plain yellow.
My lunch! I am obsessed with salami and I found it dreadfully expensive in US but it was cheap in England (and actually rest of Europe).
HOW ADORABLE IS THIS PINT OF MILK.
11km walk!
As mentioned in my previous post, I woke up at 8am which meant that I was late for my free Greeter Tour of Greenwich since I was meeting at 8am. It would have taken me 40 minutes to get there so I sent an email apologising. I really did feel bad since someone had gone to the office to meet me except I didn't turn up.
A little backtrack first, when I flew from Canada back to the US, one of my first thoughts was, "wow it is absurdly warm! I am finally in the positive degrees!" (It was 2 degress). Throughout my stay in London, it was on average, 13 degrees which was glorious.
Back to my second day in London, I first walked down to Regent's Park, Camden Markets, Thames River, St Paul's Cathedral, Millennium Bridge and Tower Bridge. Largely picture based post.
One of the things that struck me was how green England is. I haven't seen this green in Australia (excluding Tasmania possibly). At least in NSW, it's more of a yellow-green, if not just plain yellow.
My lunch! I am obsessed with salami and I found it dreadfully expensive in US but it was cheap in England (and actually rest of Europe).
HOW ADORABLE IS THIS PINT OF MILK.
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