London: Land of Queens and Kings

Ep.39

"Make new friends but keep the old, some are silver and others are Gold" – Anonymous.

LHR – London, England.

17^th-20^th March 2012.

Me and Mr. Big Ben

Since the day I joined CX, all of my classmates got London flight for at least once or twice by March 2012. But I was a different case. This is my first London flight that I have been waited for so long. And in London, I got my list for sightseeing already without even searched the Google. Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Harrods, King’s Cross Station (due to the Harry Potter influence) and so on and so on. Do I get any friends in London? Well, yes! My old time pal from middle school, Fransiskus Felix.

Pound

But, first thing first. In order to get my feet on the land of Queen and King, I got to work for 12 hours in flight. Again, it was a midnight flight after all, and assuming that you all have known already by the time you read this, I arrived at the hotel in the morning. And thanks to Heathrow Airport that applied the rule that no aircraft should be landed before 6 am, so that we have to wait until 6.02 am to land. From the aircraft, we were directly sent to our designated hotel. There, the day where I got poundsterling in my hand for the first time.

unidentified building

I tried to contact Felix but regarding that it was weekend by that time, I do understand that he might not woke up yet due to a very fun weekend occasion the night before. I took a bath and a quick nap and still couldn’t contact him. By that time, my stomach could no longer compromise. I went out for breakfast just to near by café or mall. I ended up stop by several fashion retail and the famous Primark to “window-shopping” until it was nearly 12 noon. I walked back to the hotel and found out that Felix contacted me several time already (regarding I only managed to be able to use the wi-fi function in the hotel). At about 1 pm, he showed up in the hotel lobby to pick me up. It was our first meeting after high school graduation, which means almost 5 years ago. 

westminster underground

What are we talked about after 5 years not seeing each other? Of course, we were updating each other on our recent life as well as our friends’ whereabouts and current occupation. It feels like kinda weird if I recalled, on how those topics that we’re talking about few years ago shifted drastically from “which high school or universities that you’ll proceed to?” into “what kind of job are you doing right now?” and “have you got any plan on marriage?” Having this kind of conversation with an old friend in a beautiful outport made me love this job even more.

my bodyguard?

During the talked, Felix guided me to the nearest Underground (that’s how they call metro or subway system here in London) and suggested me to buy the one-day pas ticket for GBP 7. Felix is my tour guide of the day, which means that I entrusted him regarding the whole itinerary. Ah! He was on his master study in London. Back on track, I told him my own version points of interest and hopefully I could finish it up within my visit.

St.Patrick Day celebration at Trafalgar Square

We started our trip from Hammersmith and our first stop was Trafalgar Square. Why here? It seemed that on that day, St. Patrick festival was held in the square. St.Patrick day’s a cultural and religious holiday celebrated on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. The whole square was filled up by people in green color clothes (I wear brown and Felix’s black). It was such a parade that every body held a can of beer on their hand and seemed to have such fun! Even though it was 9°C, it seemed that the crowd heat up the place. I bought a souvenir tee (in fact, I’m wearing it while typing this post) and walked around the square, took some pictures (are you sure “some”?).

London's Eye

"Hello?"

Next, we’re heading to the famous landmark of London, Big Ben and along the way, we (or to be exact, me, by Felix helps) took a tons of picture with what we called “so Londonese” things. Red telephone box, Red Double-decker bus, even an unidentified nice architecture building (coz we couldn’t figure our what the building’s name after all) and a picture with the guard on horse. We stopped by a convenient store to buy some snacks and continue our walk, yes, we walked. Then, I finally see the Big Ben along with London’s Eye in front of my eyes. It was not as huge as I imagined, yet, it still gave me goose bumps when I keep in my mind that how blessed I am to be able to stand there, in front of two of the world’s landmarks.

late lunch by Thames River

We walked under the London’s Eye, passed few of the street performances. London is more lively than I expect. It was supposed to be spring already and rains begin to pour. We decide to grab a good late lunch. Felix recommended his own pick of café by the Thames River between the London Bridge and Tower Bridge, as they’re our next target of photo taking. And as we (silly old pals) thought that it would be “cool”er to have our lunch outside the café, under the heater, it was resulted that the only part of our body that were heated up was our face. I ordered the steak of the day and cranberry juice, while Felix ordered a portion of mussels and a bottle of beer. I didn’t pay much attention onto the bill (it was not me who settled the bill).

Tower Bridge.

We continued our walk towards the Tower Bridge, click! Click! Click! And we moved on to the Carnaby’s Street. But before that, we passed through the Chinatown. Why? Of course because it was Europe, there were nowhere that stores were still open other than in Chinatown. We also passed the “closed” already M&M world, Ferrari Store, and the entire Carnaby’s St. We did it on purpose because Felix said that just in case he couldn’t join me on the second day, I could still manage to find my own way around. Felix sent me back to the hotel, and by the fact that he lives so far away from Hammersmith, I truly thank him for the trip. I gave my body a good rest that night.

to Buckingham we go...

On the second day, I was definitely going to Buckingham Palace and as like God supported me or so, it was a sunny day with clear sky. I went out from the hotel at around 10 am, bought a one-day pass underground ticket again and as always I made a stop at Harrods first (a little bit different from the plan). It was a quite risky decision though as I knew it for sure that I would most likely to ended up falling for a handbag! Just as I thought, I fell in love to a designer bag. Argh! I took pictures with the famous Harrods’ huge Teddy Bear and tried (really hard) to suppress my desire on the handbag. I went out as soon as possible from Harrods and went directly to the Buckingham Palace.

The Buckingham Palace

It was easy to find where the Buckingham Palace is, just follow the crowd. By any chance, when I came to the Palace, it was the time for the guard exchange ceremony. I squeezed myself among the crowd to get a better view of the event. Took few (read: few?) pictures and it was a stunning ceremony whew you could see the whole guards of the Palace end and start their duty. I mean, they still keep those tradition and do it up until now? With the whole music players, horse, and so on and so on? WOW! Such a kingdom! Next I walked around the park just nearby the Palace, there, I saw a full bloomed cherry blossom tree, which reminded me that it was Spring already after all.

Tower Bridge

the Queen's walk

I continue my trip to the King’s Cross Station, but along the way, I couldn’t deny that the handbag from that morning keep going around my mind. it was just like a quiet whisper in my hear that urge me to go back to Harrods and buy it for the sake “Come on, it’s London, get a present for yourself, you deserve it”. Argh! that line was going inside my head again and again. As soon as I arrived at King’s Cross, I looked for the famous platform 9¾ just like in Harry Potter’s movie (I watched the movie over and over again, I even read the books several times). After taking few pictures with the trolley at Platform 9¾, I finally gave up to my desire. I made a trip back to Harrods to buy that bag after all.

Cherry Blossom

As soon as I arrived at Harrods, I bought the bag that I want without furthermore hesitation. Next, I got to know how do I get the de-tax for the good I bought or I wont have enough money to fetch me a dinner. I went to the VAT Refund section in Harrods and those ladies there were very helping in providing you the VAT refund service. Having the form in my hand, I have to make a tour to the airport to do the de-tax on the same day. Why? Because tomorrow morning, the entire set of crew would be sent directly to the aircraft without even passing the passenger terminal, where the Tax refund booth located. And shoot! I didn’t got my passport with me!

???? fountain

I went back to the hotel, drop any unimportant things, fetch my passport and went directly to the airport. In anyway, I’ve got to get my VAT refunded or else I wont have any dinner (poor over a handbag). The VAT refund process was far easier than I thought and I finally get my dinner fund. As my money was drained already, I went back to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the day relaxed and laid back admiring my new handbag. Ha-ha! I think that most of the girls would probably got the same feeling after buying the things that they craved so much.

King's Cross Platform 9¾

Ah! I did remember one thing that I talked to Ivan (EF’s teacher) during my last visit to EF, when I haven’t got any London flight after few months flying. He said that it would be nice if I got scheduled for London during Spring. It would be the best time of the year.according to him. And it was just like a prayer that has been answered, I got my first London flight at early Spring! Next I wish I would get my next London during the Olympic!

“Some people pray just to pray and some people pray to talk to God. In that case, God will also talk to them.” – Me.