Lost, lost and lost again!
So the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly on Monday morning when I opened my sticky eyes. Alan left me the keys and everyone else went to work already. Not feeling like a bum, I slowly took a shower, and realized the sun went hiding behind mountains of clouds. So much for the happy feeling then.
The plan for the day was to go to the London bridge area and then attend a lunch concert near Greenwich. I took off at Bank station, and got lost in the area. I walked towards St Paul cathedral, hoping to find the Barbican area and grab some programs of the month. Alas, the thing was closed for renovation. On my way back, I managed to get a glimpse of the Millenium bridge and the outline of the Tate Modern.
For some reason I got lost in the meander of some obscure streets and so I walked back, got lost again, and had to take a bus for an unknown destination. I just hopped off at the nearest Tube station to go to Canary Wharf station, South of London.
Greenwich concert
I cannot remember the exact station I had to take off afterwards, as I was walking, feeling lost again in the big business area. Tall glass constructions, imposing men and women in business suits, and no signs to direct me. I managed to end up in the Greenwich area, and finally got some visual queues as to where to go. Besides, there were number of tourists in the same situation so I just followed the crowd and ended up at the old naval college. Not sure of its full name anymore, but it looked ancient.
Roaming about, I stopped a young woman, carrying a violin case and asked her for the Painted Hall. Well, she was going there so I just followed her....fair enough, I was the only under 30 year old person in there, apart from the performers. It was a nice and peaceful concert, the ones attended by retired old couples, friends of the performers, and me...Most of the pieces were from British composer as well as German composers from the 15th century.
By the end of the concert, I was starving and very far away from any cheap food place. I admired the old boat anchored near the Naval college, then rushed in the Tube again to go to Camden town. That place left such an impresion on me, I was ready to be there again!
Camden Town
I regret not having taken a single picture from this area. This is definetely my favorite place in London. I strolled along the cool souvenir shops, and the weird nails and leather shops. There were less stands in the market area but the PussyCat shop was open and I tried on several sweaters. They had very cute and sexy tops too but the weather did not make me feel sexy at all. So I took a black and pink sweater, perfectly comfy to warmup my freezing upper body.
Afterwards, I just sat down with a salmon bagel, alone and with no cute boys to spy on....(sigh). Ah well, the Indian dudes were hailing at me for their food, but I was not up for curry.
In Harrods
After Camden town, it was still early to go pick up Alan. So in order to just get closer to the area, I ended up in Harrods. The outside of the building can be dissapointing, but the inside was definetely out of this world. There were so many things in there, like a whole big room full of chocolate delicatessen...such a torture to just pass by. So I took the Egyptian escalator, pretended to be interested in designer clothes, took some perfume samples, and refused to be given a free make over...maybe I should have...
Anyway, I got dizzy and rushed to the bathroom...well, the ladies' room is a luxurious boudoir, with several bottles of perfume lined up for the clientele. I sprayed up with one of them, and went out of the building for some fresh cold air. I started to walk towards Kensington in the sunset, and it was very nice. I passed by some Museums, and got lost again. I even ended up near the Ecole Francaise..like I was stalking some pre-puberty boys out of school! Very funny. I asked for direction and after watching with envy the clean white residence of the rich and wealthy, finally found the South Kensington station. After calling Alan, I proceeded to Marsden Hospital.
Marsden Hospital
Believe it or not,the receptionist gave me the directions to Alan's lab, but I ended up in the mammography department, and in some other labs. It was a bit bizarre to access those facilities, where nurses and scientists were manipulating blood and tissues. So I retreated to the reception area again and begged for help...hahahahha,a severe case of orientation-deficit-disorder.
Food food at last!
Alan was a bit worried as he waited for about 20min for me to come up to his lab. But I finally made it and we got ready for some food hunting. We took the bus to Fulham broadway area, and got into a noodle shop. My palate was ready for some noodle soup, and already tasting the Chinatown food. It was cheap, quick and real good. The perfect comfort food after all those adventures. And I was real happy to see Alan again. So after some good food binge, we headed home. I might have just finished the Da Vinci Code book and proceeded with my book: Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum"..some complex secret society mystery, a bit similar to the Dan Brown story but in way too much brain-wrecking.
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