Tag: Musings

This is Day 4 and our final day in London.

Of course, what’s a trip to the UK without seeing the famous Buckingham Palace and the Changing of the Guard. It was surprising underwhelming as it began and ended before I knew it. I couldn’t really see much of anything as there was a huge crowd. People was even sitting at the top of the fountain across from the palace.

As we were walking there, mom asked, “Do you think we’ll see King Charles?”

“I doubt it,” I told her. Buckingham Palace is currently being remodeled and not allow in. I doubt the King would work in an “under-construction” office.

After getting a glimpse of the Guard, we continued to St. James Park toward the underground station to Tower Hill for the Tower Bridge and Tower of London.

If there’s one thing I love, it’s listening to stories about imprisonment and beheading. Call me gruesome but these things fascinate me. Thankfully, there was a tour for that. We gathered at the moat where familiar herbs and wildflowers grew and someone called Yeoman Warder told stories about the place.

The tower had been so many things and it was absolutely fascinating to learn all those things.

As mom and I posted our trip on social media, mom’s friends thought we were weird that we went to the UK to go to museums unlike most people who travel to shop. Call us crazy but we hate shopping. It’s just one of those things I would rather do online on Amazon, not in person.

I am writing this on Day 5 – May 18 – on the train to Scotland, which I’m looking forward because we will be staying at a 4-Star hotel in Glasgow for the next 3 nights. After being in the smallest hotel room I’ve ever been in (beside Hong Kong), I’m looking forward to a room where I can turn without bumping elbows with Mom.

I have been trying to enjoy the city but inside, every second of everyday, I’ve been counting down the days until when I can get home.

London is not for me.

I have been dodging people left and right today. People here don’t seem to look where they walk or they are purposely walking into people or they are blind. I was standing outside the restaurant waiting for mom to get dinner when someone walk right into me and bumped my sore shoulder.

My sore shoulder from sleeping on the plane and walking around with a heavy backpack in the airport that day.

Turned out, the guy was looking down at his phone. Dude, looking down at a phone can’t be more important than watching out where you walk.

Anyway, I’m not sure I’m liking London – bicycles don’t stop for pedestrians, people crossing the streets wherever they want, and the stampede of zombie-like people rushing from the opposite direction. It added so much to my existing anxiety. Also, what’s up with shops closing at 6 PM on Sunday? Still, I’m quite impressed at the space utilization like dropping a library in the middle of the city and almost every building in the city has a rich history.

We went on a river cruise today and toured the River Thames, saw Big Ben, learned a bit of history of London’s bridges, and took a walk around Greenwich – Royal Maritime Museum, Old Naval College, etc. It turned out Big Ben is not the clock but the bell that goes off every 15 minutes and the Waterloo Bridge was built entirely by women and it’s the only bridge project to be completed on time and on budget. I didn’t know that.

This was the sky when we were returning to Westminster from Greenwich. I still can’t believe how the weather changes in London. Mom said the weather here is like an emotional child. It’s crazy that the day started out clear and blue but ended with dark clouds that threatened to rain. Talk about a dramatic sky, something I don’t really get to experience often at home. Thankfully, there was no rain.

We’ve been lucky that the worst weather we’ve experienced so far was a few minutes of mist. Hopefully, it will hold.