London: Day One, Part One

Merry Christmas everybody!

I spent most of my first day in London being very upset every time I checked the time and it wasn't as late as it felt - I was very, very, tired and really wanted it to be night so I could go to bed.

I sat in Starbucks for a bit and planned my attack. London is very big and not as walkable as Edinburgh, but I came up with a plan that I figured was doable (after finding out how expensive the tube was, and discovering that a single bus ticket was £2.40, I was reticent to take public transit).

King's Cross railway station is a major London railway terminus, opened in 1852. It is on the northern edge of central London, at the junction of Euston Road and York Way, in the London Borough of Camden on the boundary with the London Borough of Islington.

A lot of the photographs are buildings and other things that I passed along the way, which I know nothing about, but were nonetheless very cool.

King's Cross features in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling, as the starting point of the Hogwarts Express to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The train uses a secret platform 9¾ accessed through the brick wall barrier between platforms 9 and 10.

First, I headed off to the obvious - Buckingham Palace. It was a lovely day out, and though it was a very long walk, it was very nice (I also stopped along the way for a hot chocolate and to charge my phone - I forgot how much using google maps constantly drains my battery).

The British Museum is a museum in London dedicated to human history and culture. Its permanent collection, numbering some 8 million works, is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence and originates from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present (I did not end up going inside The British Museum, but I did walk past it).

Coming across Green Park (imaginative name, I know) to the Palace, I was surprised to see a gate with "Canada" written on it.

The gate forms part of the city's Queen Victoria Memorial scheme. The Canada Memorial erected in 1992, behind the gate, is a tribute to the 113,663 members of the Canadian Forces killed during the First and Second World Wars. The gate is in the same style as those of Buckingham Palace and bears the emblems of the seven Canadian provinces of the time. The Canada Gate was commissioned, in 1905, along with the gates for Buckingham Palace and two other similar, but smaller gates presented by Australia and South Africa.

I then ventured across the street to the palace itself. The famous changing of the guards occurs at 11am, so I had just missed it at that point. 

Buckingham Palace is the official London residence and principal workplace of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality.

This is the principal façade, the East Front; originally constructed by Edward Blore and completed in 1850. It acquired its present appearance following a remodelling, in 1913, by Sir Aston Webb.

There was a large statue in front of it that I didn't recognize. Walking around it I was startled to see the face of Queen Victoria. I was also startled to realize that I knew what the face of Queen Victoria looks like. 

It is very awkward, taking a self surrounded by a hundred other people.

It was also very sunny.

The Victoria Memorial is a sculpture dedicated to Queen Victoria, sculpted by Sir Thomas Brock in London, placed at the centre of Queen's Gardens in front of Buckingham Palace.

Leaving Buckingham Palace I passed through the Australian version of the gate through which I entered the Queen's Gardens and headed towards Big Ben and Westminster Abby.

Another charming shot.

To be continued...