GARGANTUAN steps

Saturday, July 30, 2011

dieu et mon droit

God and my right

Talk about a delayed post if there ever was one. I am currently sitting back home here in Singapore, enjoying my elective break, whilst I recount my Easter holidays way back in April! Which was spent in a city I could easily call my second home - London. For those of you wondering about the title of my post, it is the British monarch's motto, which is ironically in French.

It's been six years since I first went to London on a holiday, and back then, I had little inkling that I would be spending a good part of my life there, beginning the following year. Looking back, these have been my formative years that have no doubt greatly influenced the way that I think and behave. So much so that people back at home query whether I am actually a local. I'd like to think that it's because I've acquired a posh English accent spoken in a Singlish way. Most probably, I conclude, it's because I enunciate my words. Meanwhile, I can actually count down, in months and not years, when I'll be back home permanently. Working life beckons and my career in medicine will be said to have truly begun. My medical school years can be considered to be my embryological stages of medicine and if that's the case, term is just around the corner.

Enough digressing now as I return to the original topic of my post, my Easter holidays in London.

Day 1 - The Tower of London, the Natural History Museum and Hyde Park

My holiday started with a big bang to one of the first sites that ever captivated me - the Tower of London. The Tower of London is actually a castle, and its origins date way back to 1066 with the building of the White Tower by William the Conqueror, who was the first Norman King of England. The castle served both as a prison as well as a place of royal residence, though now it is a money-making machine (just like most other historical tourist attractions in London, and for that I include St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Windsor Castle as well).

The Tower of London and its surrounding areas (mainly Tower Hill) were where prisoners were executed, including Anne Boleyn who was a Queen of England. Prisoners used to arrive via the river Thames through the Traitor's Gait before they were led to the gallows. Currently, one enters the castle through the Middle Tower and from there I recommend joining one of the tours of the Tower conducted by the Beefeaters, the resident guards of the Tower of London. I'll let them recount the story to you on why they are known as the Beefeaters. Mainly due to the fact that they eat beef. And if you get a particularly humourous one like I did, all the better.

Anything else about the Tower of London and its history, it's probably better to get it out from a book. Tales of murder, deceit, bloodshed, torture are too many to recount at the moment. An important point of note is that the Crown Jewels of the British monarch are kept within the Tower's Jewel House. My final and particularly favourite myth about the Tower is about one of its other occupants, the ravens. Legend has it that if these should ever leave the Tower, then the entire Kingdom will collapse. Hence, at least six unlucky birds have had their wings clipped and are fed huge chunks of meat and beef everyday for their ordeal, to keep the Kingdom afloat. Guess they must have taken a holiday back in 2008 during the financial crisis.

Model of the Tower of London (1547)

A Beefeater

Norman Garderobe
(a posh word for toilet-bowl)
Back then, only the King could use it, and during the winter months, they had an aide warm the seat up prior to its use by the Royal)

The White Tower

Me taking a picture of the raven

Tower Bridge (London's other London Bridge)

The afternoon was then spent exploring the Natural History Museum. The usual cuisine of dinosaur fossils and other extinct animal fossils never fail to excite the little child in me. I found an interesting dinosaur called the Tuojiangosaurus which was the first stegosaur found in China. I wonder how medicine would change if many diseases were named after their Chinese discoverers as opposed to their Western counterpart. This was followed by having crepe at the French creperie nearby below a walk through Hyde Park - reliving memories of my first year in London where I walked through Hyde Park daily.

Diplodocus

Glyptodon

Tuojiangosaurus

Deep sea angler

At the Peter Pan statue

A partially domesticated squirrel

Day 2 - Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, and St Paul's Cathedral

In my opinion, two days is just about sufficient to cover all the major sites in London, excluding the museums, which are in my opinion, unmissable. I don't consider Madam Tussaud's as a major site, if any of you are wondering. The next day began with a traditional English breakfast which is one of three authentic British cuisines (the other two being fish and chips and Sunday roast). Other than that, sandwiches probably fit the bill of a British staple. I then proceeded on to Westminster Abbey, where Prince William and Kate/Catherine Middleton were to wed a week or two later. Of course it holds more historical significance than that, being the place where the coronation of British monarchs are conducted, as well as where many of the previous British monarchs are entombed. A few other renown members of the public are buried there as well, and of significance to me include Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton. The former a simple grave; the latter a gaudy monument. For the younger generation, this was indeed the place where part of the film, 'The Da Vinci Code' was filmed in, as well as where part of the book took place in. You may notice a slight dip in picture quality of the tombs - I need a better quality camera-phone.

Westminster Abbey

Little Cloisters in the Abbey

Tomb of Charles Robert Darwin

Tomb of Sir Isaac Newton

I was then off to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, which I must once again insist that is actually the bell within the tower as opposed to the clock, before proceeding on to St Paul's Cathedral. The current St Paul's Cathedral existed since the 17th century, though there previously stood various churches on its ground before the current one was built. It used to be the most beautiful church I had ever seen, till I went to Rome, though it is still a beauty to behold. After all, it does beautify the London skyline with a sense of awe and grandeur. Important historical points of note is that this was where Prince Charles and Princess Diana got married, and also, a symbol of London in which Winston Churchill sought to protect at all costs during the bombings of World War II. Meanwhile, pardon the poor quality photos once again - I tried my best.

The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben

View of London from the dome of St Paul's

A view of London

The nave

The altar

St Paul's Cathedral

Days 3 and 4 - The Changing of the Guards

The next two days were spend exploring the shopping sights of London. Not a tale for me to recount since shopping was and is and will never be my forte. I started by going to see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, which was a first for me. The next time I do go again, it'll still be another first for me since I barely saw a thing with the waves of crowds! One would have thought the Royal Wedding was happening, though I think that was much worse. My personal opinion of the changing of the guards is that it is an over-rated activity in London, hence my avoidance of it over the years. That's not saying that I can't be persuaded to go though.

Oxford Circus and Bond Street was covered first on the first day, and Westfield the second. I can't recommend Westfield highly enough as a place to go to to shop. Firstly, because it is really spacious regardless of the crowd. And secondly, because of its proximity to home. And you don't have to walk a mile to hunt for a toilet.

The crowds outside Buckingham Palace

Sushi Atariya (formerly Sushi Hiro)
Always a pleasure

Day 5 - Windsor Castle, the British Museum, Covent Gardens and Love Never Dies

The final day of my staycation in London was spent touring Windsor Castle, which is still in use by the Queen as a Royal residence (unlike the Tower of London), and it was somewhere I've been wanting to go to for quite a while. It has been in existence since the time of William the Conqueror and it has a less bloody history as compared to the Tower of London. A very beautiful place though, and I can see why the Queen favours this as her most favourite place of residence. The grand State Apartments as well as the Doll's House are an attraction by itself, though no photographs of the interior are allowed. Half a day is more than sufficient to cover the entire grounds.

The road up to Windsor Castle

The Round Tower and the surrounding gardens

St George's Chapel
- where some of the British monarchs are entombed

It was then back into central London where I walked around Covent Gardens as well as the British Museum before it was time to watch the new musical - Love Never Dies, the sequel to the Phantom of the Opera. Once again, in my humble opinion, a rather weak sequel to the Phantom of the Opera. It didn't help that I was right near the top of the theatre as well. Maybe only one song sticks firmly in my head, unlike those of the Phantom.