\nI’m really enjoying being able to vanish underground & reappear somewhere else using the Underground; It’s like teleporting with white tiles & odd smells. Plus, as a tourist, it’s kind of nice to know that, once I’ve found a station, getting back to the hotel will be comparatively simple, if topologically complex.<\/p>\n
Found Euston Station without incident, then hopped a train to visit Forbidden Planet, as suggested by Tanja.
\nThat’s a lot of bookstore.
\nCould have bought any number of things, but limited myself to a Dresden Files book I didn’t already have, as luggage weight may become an issue after two conventions.<\/p>\n
By the pure chance of someone asking me whether she was going the right way for Trafalgar Square, and someone else<\/strong> telling her when I couldn’t, I learned that Trafalgar Square was that-a-way, so I went for a wander, which is how I happened across St. Martin In The Fields. Trafalgar Square had this;<\/p>\n I met a London Ambassador (help for the tourists, or possibly just the confused & lost)<\/em> who wasn’t a fan of the Big Blue Rooster, as it detracted from the Gravitas of the square, but would have been OK with a statue of a Pigeon, as long as it wasn’t blue. A more classical pigeon, from a more civilised time.<\/p>\n It started raining, so I hid under a tree & got chatting with one of the other cowerers about the weather, as you do. Turns out there was a short but very powerful rain + wind event yesterday, strong enough to blow a rack of clothes onto him at the entrance to a shop, more or less at the same time as I was at Paddington, which would nicely<\/em> explain it raining inside the station.<\/p>\n I spotted a map showing the way to the river, then found the Admiralty Arch more or less accidentally, so I wandered through to find St. James’s Park and a somewhat familiar road.<\/p>\n The weather couldn’t decide what it wanted to do on the sun\/rain stakes, so walking under trees was quite nice. Back through the park, with increasingly tired feet, and through a display of WW1 pictures & art, set up for the centenary. A bit south, while looking for the underground station, I did<\/strong> manage to take a very London sort of picture.<\/p>\n I’m glad that this sort of thing is so very easy to get to on public transport, as I wasn’t really in the mood to do any wandering around looking at famous buildings; The prospect of a cold drink and putting my feet up appealed more. Fortunately, it’ll be piss-easy to get back there when I do<\/strong> want to read plaques & take obnoxious clock-tower selfies.<\/em><\/p>\n I took the gondola back from the O2 \/ Millennium Dome,<\/p>\n seen here impersonating some form of alien bioconstruction, mostly because I could, and because it’s close to my hotel. Also, Gondola!!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThere was a concert about to start, so I didn’t poke about in the church itself, and instead read the historical bits & looked at the models & pictures.<\/p>\n![\"20140812-030740.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/hoarde.net\/craigblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/20140812-030740.jpg\")
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\nEnded up outside Buckingham Palace, watching a couple of (I assume)<\/em> fantastically bored guards march back & forth in fancy historic uniforms with massive hats, carrying something in the L85 assault rifle line.<\/p>\n
\nLearned a few things, such as the role of Zeppelins in attacks on England; Don’t think that ever got covered in history classes at school, as it was all trench warfare & Gallipoli.
\nThere was also this;<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n