Random photos in London, first full day of my Europe trip in October 2005…
The National Gallery
I am not an artistic person; didn’t plan to visit the National Gallery, but I was desperately in need to visit the toilet… might as well take a peep after the pee.
It turned out to be an impressive hour of enlightenment… the colours and attention-to-details of some paintings were simply stunning; it didn’t required much artistic sense to appreciate the works. Not to be missed by art lovers.
Horse Guards and Parade
The Horse Guards is an old Palladian style building constructed in 1750s and is now the headquarters of the Household Cavalry.
The white building is the Horse Guards; the red building is the Old Admiralty Building; while the ground covered with pebbles is the Horse Guards Parade, which is set to host the beach volleyball competition of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Somewhere along River Thames
Good thing about travelling randomly by foot is that we might stumble across some interesting places that are not famous tourist spots.
Stumbled upon this small beautiful park adjoined to a classy building by chance, en route to the Tower Bridge from Big Ben. No clue what exactly this place was.
30 St Mary Axe, The Gherkin, Swiss Re
First saw the egg like skyscraper nearby the Tower of London; later found out that it’s officially named as 30 St Mary Axe, commonly the Gherkin, or Swiss Re.
It’s one of the masterpieces of modern London architecture; it won multiple architecture awards not just because of its creative (but rather odd) structure, but also for its energy saving features.
House of Parliament at night
One last stop before going back to my sister’s place in Chiswick… taking a glimpse of the splendid night luminance of Big Ben and the House of Parliament. Pardon the poor picture quality; my hand shook a bit too much…
Shopped for groceries later that night at Sainsbury’s, one of UK’s largest supermarket chain which doesn’t have any outlets in Malaysia. Bought some typical British food and ended the day with a happy stomach.
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