Day 05: London-Rochester-Canterbury-Lille

It is 6.12am as I type this. If you're wondering how the hell did I manage to wake up so early, it's mainly cos I didn't sleep. Strangely I don't feel tired at all- probably related to that cup of extra-nescafe-powder coffee I had a few hours back. Besides if I sleep now I'll never get to school in time to study at 9am. I really need to study more! Have only covered half of maths so far. Studying today-yesterday-was pretty unproductive, especially after I shifted from VJ to VS, which is like shifting from a noisy classroom to a noisy canteen. The difference is seeing everyone again and of course the ever popular game of bridge. Will probably do the same thing later. Hey, it's only mid years.

Ok think I had better get on with narrating day 05 before I forget even more of the trip. Ever hear the metaphor of memories as sand in your hand, the harder you try to grab it, the more it falls away? Which kinda explains the slew of posts this two weeks.

Woke up early, brought bags down, then went into the already-regular process of breakfasting. Collect tray, deposit food coupon, 2 sausage rolls, 1 chocolate croissant, 1 toast (white), 1 jam (strawberry), 1 butter, walk up steps, put down tray, walk down steps, get coffee, etc. Bus was early so we boarded immediately after breakfast, bade farewell to yet another hostel and headed to Rochester.

What's interesting in Rochester? The Dicken's Festival (of course!) was supposedly being celebrated (still, I doubt if this answers the question for most of you). Anyway we didn't head into town first, since we first had a tour around the area (this word suggests 'small'. It took one hour to get to where we wanted, within the area). Dickens lived here, and used alot of the surrounding places in Great Expectations, such as the marshes and the church and the hulks. Don't get me wrong, the old kindly-looking guide was very knowledgeable on Dickens and was in fact quite interesting. It's just that late previous night+early morning+comfortable chair=inevitable, definite, sure slumber. Anyway our point of interest was the church with the graveyard containing the 13 tablets Dickens uses in the first chapter of GreatEx. It was a desolate church in the middle of strawberry farms (don't ask me). Quite a small church, and it looked pretty old, but nevertheless a somewhat spooky aura emanated from it, despite the fact that the sun was high in the sky. Wish I could take pictures that at night... Anyway gotta make do with these:

Headed back to Rochester proper after this, and headed into town, which really takes its celebrations seriously. There was confetti all over, a big band playing music, and heaps of people dressed up old-fashion-like parading down the streets and posing for pictures. There were banners everywhere and flags and lights and tons of people milling around. And it wasn't even Chinese New Year or Christmas. We headed to the house Dickens implemented into his novel as Satis House, which I've always imagined to be grander than what it actually looked like. Sometimes, imagination>reality. Actually, all the time. Strolled around town some more, then headed back to the bus for Canterbury.

Come to think of it, Canterbury held no strictly-academic connotations. Strictly-academically speaking of course. There was of course the famous cathedral and the West Gate.

Canterbury is quite a scenic town- we had to snake along a shallow river infested with ducks to get to town, which is basically defined by streets bordered by double-storey houses, a cathedral and the West Gate. Had free time to explore town, where we guys decided to savour the fish & chips (learnt that salt does go with coke) and explore the cathedral. Spent most of the time at the cathedral actually-the land it occupied was huge, and only had time enough to stroll through the gardens and surrounding ruins, then walk through the church to get back to our meeting place. Took a few nice photos though:

Returned to the bus which took us to the train terminal. Apparently there was some screw-up or other which left four people without tickets, but luckily managed to procure them- what's important was that we now had about half an hour to play bridge (with Ms Chia's luggage starring as the table). The train was surprisingly (at least to me) packed, and had to chase some French buggers off of our rightful seats. Sat with Desmond, Jing Han and Daniel at the table-seats. Which, if you're getting the gist of this post, meant that we could play bridge. The train soon entered a tunnel, and soon after exited the tunnel, and just like that we were in France. Which is quite a rip-off since I expected more notice and a longer time to play bridge.

First building I noticed in France: a Carrefour. Anyway. Another bus picked us from the train station and brought us to the lovely town of Lille, which contrary to its name is quite large. Checked into the hotel (Holiday Inn! By far the best accomodation), had a nice French dinner (bread, salmon, bread, chocolate mousse, bread) and then we left to explore the town. Found this small anphitheatre where we fooled around and I almost killed Warran (operative word being almost), then strolled through and around town. Most of the shops were closed or closing, but it was peaceful to walk around. As usual, Warran was just looking for a club. Met Ms Chia, then left her so we could return late. Nothing much to do, so decided to meet in the lobby to-yes-play bridge. However when the three of us (Warran Mark and me) reached our room, we all fell asleep immediately. I didn't even remove my shoes, my legs were half off the bed when I woke up (late, as you shall find out in the next post). (The next post probably being after the mid-years)

ps-If you're wondering why I take 2h to write one post, it's cos I multitask. For example, I played F.E.A.R. and CNC3 and surfed the net. Anyway off I go to YaKun for breakfast and VJ for studying and VS for bridge later on.

pps- This is probably the most times the word bridge has appeared in a post.

Intermission: And Now For Something Completely Different

Seems as though the trip has piqued my interest in photography again. Either that or the absolutely blatant uselessness of the school's DSLR as it lies on my living room sofa was boring into my soul (which reminds me, I had to return it this morning). Actually it was because I was so bloody bored just now, that I decided to go for some street photography in Katong (studying just wasn't an option). Cycling through back alleys and streets, it's amazing what you can find. Got off my bike almost every 3 min to take a photo in fact. I'll share some here:

I found this abandoned house in one of the small side alleys. Most of the doors were barred but managed to find an entrance. The interior seemed to have been left to decay years ago, there were plants and even trees growing inside. There was also a spiral staircase in the next room, which was really a bizarre scene what with all the greenery surrounding it, indoors. It was spooky enough in the daytime.

You can view the rest of the pics on my Flickr.

Day 04: London

Quite a short day, this, but still as eventful as any other. Realised I missed out something amazingly hilarious in the previous post, but I'll tie it nicely into this one then.

The three of us woke up late today, so had to rush breakfast. When we met the other guys at breakfast, they had something amazingly hilarious (note the subtle allusion to the tie-in) to tell us. After we had gone to sleep the previous night, Mark (Leong), Jeremy and Yeow Boon had accompanied Phoebe and Meiyi to the kitchen downstairs to fix up some cup noodles or something, but only after ingeniously passing their one and only key to Warran, who slept immediately. This way, the three of them would have the chance to bang both their doors and our door an hour later, upon realisation of them having been locked out, although this probably awoke more hurt in their hands than the other 6 guys. So, HAHA, they slept on the couch at the stairwell.

Anyway boarded the bus which took us to Westminster Abbey for our guided tour. The tour guides there are superbly well-educated and extremely knowledgeable in almost all aspects of the place. Probably the best beer tour guides on our trip. It was without a doubt one of the grandest church I've ever seen (assuming that this post acts within the boundaries of the space-time continuum and that I have yet to lay eyes upon the Notre Dame). It was enormous and had a very grave atmosphere. Due to the many tombs and burials (sadly, this pun was intended) located all over the church- as the guide said, one cannot help but to step on someone's grave. Excepting, of course, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, bordered by poppies and wreaths. Sadly no photography was allowed within the church, but I know for a fact that Warran and Ms Chia (tsktsk) sneaked some pics. We spent at least two hours wandering around the church, seeing the tombs of Queens, Kings and various rich folk. There was of course the poet's corner, actor's corner, musician's corner and many other unnamed corners, and we even saw Raffles' memorial. Apparently he made some sort of discovery and significant contribution to the world that warranted his memorial in Westminster.


Took the tube to Charles Dickens useum, although we walked past the house, it looked like any other of the hundred houses on either side of it. It was the actual house Dickens resided in, and they preserved all sorts of his belongings. Clocks, pictures, cutlery, dining tables, even the kitchen sink (metaphor here, but could be true you know). Quite a narrow house, although it was three storeys high-almost all filled with his memorabilia- but I liked the garden best. Not meaning offense to his highly decorated interiors, but the small courtyard at the back, surrounded by three brick walls and the gift shop (every museum in London has this). The smell of flowers and the sounds of the fountains complemented the hot sun shining down. In fact the first time I remember it being hot in London. I remember Harris mentioning how this was how summer should be.


We had free time from then on, which was most of the afternoon and night, til 9pm. Had been arranging to meet with Jingyu (presently studying in London), but as we had already agreed to watch a musical, we already booked Chicago that afternoon, so could only meet him later in the evening. Ms Chia also tagged along, although some of the others preferred Les Miserables. The musical was fantastic, and one of the best musicals I had seen so far. That this was the only musical I have ever seen is a minor side issue. But seriously, the stars were quite talented- they could sing, dance and act, all at the same time. I can at most manage 0/3. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the most important part of the play: we were late. It was, by right, according to Ms Chia, only 400m from where we were having lunch, but even with the map, we still managed to avoid the theatre entirely, circling around it and heading too far south before heading north, yet again passing it. All the passers-by we asked gave us totally different directions. Bloody British humour. They're probably still laughing now.

We then parted and took the tube to Oxford street to meet Jingyu, who brought us to a shopping mall and then a Chinese restaurant for dinner. Dinner was quite good though. Definitely better than anything we would have scrounged up on our own. We had lobster noodles, for example. It did cost ALOT though. About ₤160 (S$500). That's average-ly priced in London though. Took quite long to finish dinner, and only ended back in the hostel at 11pm. Whoops. At least we weren't the last group to return. Mr Teo, for example. Last night in London, so Warran's urge to go pubbing was quite high this time. Anyway we played cards in the recreation room til about 3am before retiring to our rooms. Tip: Don't play bluff with Jeremy.


OKOK sorry about the total lack of photos. Here're some random ones then (just got my cam back from Warran, so some shots might be from previous days):

Day 03: London

Let's start with some news from the present: I've been watching Blackadder almost non-stop and in probably lethal doses over the past 2 days. Haven't watched it since oh so many years ago, but watching an episode on the plane and having Harris recommend it to me many times must have galvanized this craze into action. Seriously it's funnier than Monty Python, and everyone should have a go at it. Go on. Season 4 particularly.

Also a certain biannual event, a major theme in JC life, is just 'round the corner', as everyone so affectionately describes it. Mid-years! Of course it's important so of course I haven't started studying yet. Actually dabbled into abit of maths today with the lit trip gang™ (Phoebe Jeremy Mark Meiyi). A total of three pages actually. Fascinating stuff. At this rate I'll be ready for mid-years by the time A's are over.

And now back to day 3 proper.


Woke up early enough to enjoy an exploratory walk (with my camera) down the street outside our hostel, with my roommates Daniel and JingHan. There's a little lake just a few metres down the road, and was the scene for quite a few nice photos.
Returned for breakfast, again English (What did you expect, Chinese? In fact this sets the scene for a sarcastic joke later on during about day 7). Bus was late, so returned to the lake in greater force to better terrorize the pigeons and feed the ducks. Leftover bread from Meiyi's breakfast was more than sufficient, especially if you know that Meiyi's leftovers are greater than whatever she eats in the first place. Took several group shots, then returned to hostel only to find that said bus had still not arrived. But it's amazing what you can do with a bench and a pack of cards. Sit on it and play bridge. Respectively.


Bus finally arrived, everyone boarded bus, bus drove off, 1.5h of sleeping later, bus pulls into London Imperial War Museum. Also known as the "Imperial War useum" in the programme booklet. This visit was meant to give us a better first hand account of World War I and life in the trenches. [I can't help but think of Blackadder Season 4 as I type this bit] There was a great bit which re-enacted the trenches and you could actually walk through them with the utterly life-threatening blare of red and yellow lights abovehead. We finished the WWI bit of the museum within the scheduled time, before realising it was a war museum, and that there were still 3 more floors, WW2, the Cold War, the pre-war years, the inter-war years, yes, the post-war years, and even other misc conflicts. Sadly, no time! (throwback humour w.r.t. previous post)



Boarded bus again, took off, pulls into Shakespeare Globe Theatre. For the sad literary recluses amongst you, it is a reconstruction of the original Elizabethan theatre opened in Autumn 1599, in the same place, and still many popular Shakespearean plays are staged there today with large crowds of audiences. [I did not refer to wikipedia. That's for recluses.] We had a sort of tour-cum-workshop where we learnt how actors acted in the Globe, which was quite a tricky stage, since it was open-air, it was a fixed set, and the lights were mainly on the audience. It was quite useful, especially since we were gonna watch Othello in the same theatre that very night.


But there was still plenty of time after the workshop, and we had a sandwich lunch outside the theatre, by the Thames. Harris then brought/shepherded some of us to Covent Garden Market, passing by St Paul's Cathedral along the way. Think Harris was quite irritated with me and Warran since we were always lounging far off behind taking photos, while the group had to stop a few times to pick us up. Covent Garden is this large marketplace with plenty of shops, cafes, and most entertaining of all, buskers. Spent half an hour watching two great buskers (their act was great, especially with extremely humorous improv).
Spent the time wandering around, viewing the myriad of shops before making our way to Pizza Hut for a nice unique English dinner. We (read:Warran) kept lamenting the fact that the England-Brazil match was on this very night at the nearby Wembley stadium, but sadly we had a date with Othello which we couldn't stand up.

Othello was a wonderful experience, especially after the mishap that was The Seagull. It probably was a good play, really, but one cannot downplay the seriousness of 20h jet lag. Anyway, we had 'groundling' tickets, which meant we had to stand in front of the stage for the entire length of the play, excepting the intermission, of course, where we were allowed to grovel in the dirt like the peasants of old (the bloody teachers had seats). But having the actors themselves pushing through you to get on stage, and hearing the main actors yelling right in front of you is better than sitting way behind. In fact, it's better than TV. Infinitely better. And, I didn't realise this, but Harris told me that the main actor (Iago) was actually one of the actors in Blackadder!

Play was three hours long and ended at 11pm, so headed back to the hostel where we chanced upon the recreation room and played bridge, poker and bluff for another few hours-all the while repressing Warran's urge to go clubbing/pubbing-before sleeping. And that was day 3.

Day 02: Stratford-Bath-London

Welcome back to Day 2 of my riveting series, What I Did In Europe.


I somehow managed to awake, on my own accord, quite early in the morning of this day. It was either the ridiculously early sunrise or some overnight build-up of excitement, since this was a feat I have attempted to achieve multiple times in the past 16 years, and have succeeded in none of them. By 6am the sun had accomplished such a high position in the sky as to make one assume it was midday. Anyway did the usual post-waking stuff, found I was an hour early for breakfast, so grabbed my DSLR and headed downstairs and outdoors- oh, but had a chat with the friendly receptionist. Sifting through his Brit accent revealed that the sun had risen at 4.45am, breakfast was at 7.30, and did I sleep well? Unfortunately this translation only took place after said words, but thankfully the humble nod sustained me throughout without cause for too much embarassment. Anyway here're some of the pics I took around the hostel:

Anyway after breakfast (English! Croissant, eggs, 2 cups of coffee [don't ask] and the likes), we bade farewell to the hostel (not really. we just strolled off with our luggage) and boarded the bus to Bath. No, there wasn't a shower in the bus. The Town of Bath. So-called because the Romans built a great bath-not kidding-over there when they conquered the area a long time ago. So they preserved this great public bath where water still flows today (albeit untreated) from the nearby hot spring. The town itself was quite large. Pulling in from afar and elevated ground, one could view much of the town, which scrawled itself down the hills and lay quite neatly at the base. For someone foreign, it seemed quintessentially British to me. Paved roads, river flowing through, streets lined with small shops, an indoor market (where lunch can be got), and of course the hundreds of British folk strolling around was a dead giveaway. Surprisingly there were several Asians about, but the sort who had Brit accents and knew no Chinese.
We first visited some Jane Austen's Centre, showing where she lived and how Bath had impacted her writing. Okaay. Not really a big fan of hers, but interesting nonetheless. Spent about an hour here, then left for the rest of Bath. Harris had an apartment here, but he no longer owns it though. Had a look at it from the back, then the entire troupe ambled to the entrance to the Great Bath. You could tell it was Roman from the start- in fact it was the one place that kinda stuck out and caught your eye the moment you entered town. Archaic, antiqued roman architecture in the middle of a quasi-modern town. Yes, it did tend to stick out.
Indoor tours in the UK, I've found out, is conducted not by a conventional tour guide, but by renting a nifty handphone-like device, which, by pressing numbers denoted on a sign next to whatever attraction you're viewing, would initiate a short monologue, whereby you would then place the device to your ear and nod away attentively. It was thus a strange but common sight to see people stumbling around the museum-cum-exhibit staring at whatever there is to starre at, all the while with this application plastered to the ear. I tried to get a picture of this occurrence, but people were made suspicious. A DSLR and flash tends to do so superbly well. Anyway the Bath was great (pun intended), and well-preserved Roman architecture is really a sight to behold, and one didn't need the 3D models shown off the hanging TVs to imagine the Romans of old walking up the temple steps or making an offering at the sacrificial altar. There were several baths spread over several wings, but the main one was quite magnificent.

and finally: Had free time to wander around, so we guys decided to savour the local delicacies (read: hotdog) and soak in the splendid view(s) from the bridge. You could see the river winding around the gardens, and faintly make out the far-off houses on the hills beyond. Lunch at aforementioned indoor market consisted of ham/bacon sandwich and a Dr. Pepper and took up quite alot of time. Didn't have much left for sightseeing, so just strolled back to the meeting place-pausing occasionally to take shots of the pigeons(shoot bird)-and bought some local ice cream before boarding the bus. We only managed to see a straight minute line of sights, and still wish I had the whole day in Bath to just roam around.


This would be a consistent theme of the trip, as many a retelling of the trip to friends would consist of many an exclamation of "no time!". We did cover ALOT of stuff over the barely 9 days, and both Harris and Teo commented upon arrival that they couldn't believe we accomplished so much in just this number of days- rather, it felt three weeks or more. But I'm not complaining, only I now-as do many others, I know-have the urge to return to London and Paris one day to continue the trip.

Back to the trip! The previous day, Harris and the bus driver were commenting on how absurd it was to travel to Oxford after Bath, and then head to London, since this was absolutely-I inferred from the multitude of exclamations-out of the way, and would only have half an hour in Oxford. The decision was thus to bypass this Oxford place completely and head straight to London. Everyone was in compliance since this would mean we could visit-ta ta ta dahh- Stonehenge! Yay. Sadly the drizzle prevented me from using my DSLR, but got some pics on my Olympus compact. It's with Warran though-long story which I shall narrate further down. Anyway it was great to see this Wonder, albeit oft seen in television or books. In fact this preceding fascination only served to make the occasion that much more meaningful, despite being hampered by rain and a bloody fence.

Then took the long bus ride to London(!). Bus rides were another major theme of the trip. Especially long ones. This literature thing must be rubbing off me, I'm talking in bloody lit essay terminology. Anyway this bus ride included playing those primary school guess-games of murderer and black magic etc etc. Playing murderer with Ms Chia is especially funny. Go try it some time. I think the bus rides were one of the most memorable and bonding experiences of the trip, and I say this with no satirical undertones whatsoever. Really. Playing cards, singing along to songs (FOB, Timberlake, even Michael Jackson) blasted from a handphone, irritating those seated at the front. Hah. Jeremy dubbed us the Backseat Boys, even.

When we got off the bus, Warran realised he had lost his camera. Sadly a search of the bus proved futile. Although I did find the King of Spades under Meiyi's seat. Tsk. Luckily it was only the second day, so I lent Warran my camera, and with an inconceivable and unlikely link to the upper portion of this post, I have just explained why I do not have my camera now.


After dinner at the hostel, Mr Harris brought all of us around central London, via the famous Tube! Here's a nice shot of us on the tube:

As we exited our station, we saw the Big Ben looming just across the street. A general action of whipping-out-my-camera rippled throughout the group, followed by various cries of "Ah **** no battery". Hah. Amateurs. We then walked around central London, skirting around Soho (ahem) and back to Leicester Square station to return to the hostel. Nights in London are quite rowdy (think drunk girls shouting at us), and very crowded (think everyone shouting at everyone). I'll just let the pictures do the talking:

Anyway back to hostel where we fell asleep almost immediately, legs overtired from walking and mind overloaded with sights.

Day 01: Singapore-Dubai-Gatwick

Finally mustered the erm inspiration to blog about the UK-France Lit trip. It rocked! By far the best holiday I've been on! Anyway, for fear of sounding like a snobbish film critic, I'll just get on to the contents proper and leave the critique to you guys eh. As self-proclaimed photographer, I decided to do this in the form of.... a photo essay! And to add to the immense originality of all this, I shall call it (for lack of a better cliche) :



(editor's note: all photos were taken by me, viz, Mark Thompson, unless otherwise specified.)

So. Day01. Been looking forward to the day for quite some time, although I somehow wasn't as outwardly excited about it as some others I could mention. Ms Chia had been nagging at me the previous nights to be Chief Photographer for the trip, and how I'm supposed to provide quality control every night as I sort through everyones' photos. With excellent 20/20 foresight, I accepted this role without hesitation. Since by the time we reached back every night, it was too late to play more than 5 hands of bridge, let alone have a critique session. I'm proud to say that my duties as Chief Photographer, throughout the entire trip, consisted of no more than saying "I'm Chief Photographer sia", and occasionally taking pictures of other people in front of exciting scenery (read: camwhore).

Back to the airport... Entered the airport same time as Yeow Boon, but wasn't that close to him, so just attempted to sidle away. Although admittedly the bright yellow VJ PE didn't help matters. Saw a whole bunch of yellow-shirt-wearers bouncing excitedly around one of the departure gates, so headed there and was greeted by Harris, who engaged in conversation with my sister (whom he taught) and my parents. In typical Harris fashion, he told us that he had just finished marking my essay, and that my parents could expect it by mail in two working days. As if I needed something to worry about on my trip.

[OK, realised I have covered half a page of the essay, but not so much of the photo bit. The author apologises and presents a random photo to make up for it.]

After being acquainted with the guys on the trip- all nine of them, (This is a sarcastic remark commenting on the small number of guys on the trip)- realised most were from VS! So could already begin talking cock with Warran and Mark (Leong). Oh ya there was this super enthu guy who hung around us during the pre-boarding briefing, saying things like "WOW LONDON AND PARIS EH!!!" and "COOL!!" and even "THAT'S GREAT!!!" when he heard we were on a lit trip. He used more exclamation marks than I did, and I was the one on the bloody trip.

Let's skip the plane ride, cos if I do talk about the horrible epitome of boredom that it was, you could re-enact me dozing off in the plane in front of your computer screen right now.And with the wondrous speed of recollection, we've just touched down in Dubai. Nothing much to see here, except that sleeping was made that much more comfortable once we got out of the airplane seats and into the hotel lobby sofas (note: sarcasm).

We had four hours of stopover, which means four hours to painfully think about the next 10h of flight time. OKOK I might be exaggerating the horrors of air travel. Promise I won't talk about the return journey. Emirates food rocks. Emirates seats are relatively comfortable. I recommend Emirates to anyone flying anywhere. (corporate sponsorship, hello?) The funny thing was, we slept and played cards in that hotel lobby for 3h, before the guy woke us up to tell us we couldn't sleep there. Anyway it was just in time for us to leave for our gate, while taking photos en route. Eg:

Enough procrastination! We're in Gatwick, and the weather is [quote Harris] absolutely dreadful[unquote]. It's raining. In summer. In London. Apparently this is something quite high up the shithappens scale. But it did nothing! to dampen our moods! Wahahah. Fast forward luggage collection to boarding the bus and meeting our friendly bus driver (for the next few days), Colin! Sadly didn't get a photo of him. Got this though:

London is full of nice square meadows and long hedges lining the road side, bordered by blurry horizons, blue sky and gray highways as far as the eye can see. It's a drastic change from Singapore's landscape, where you can't see half the sky, what with looming skyscrapers and HDB flats blocking every view. Come on, London is greener than Singapore! Every few minutes a cow would zoom past us (no, the bus did the zooming) or a flock of sheep. It was, as Mark (Leong) would put it, relaxing (brudder).



Our first stop was the small town of Stratford-Upon-Avon, the renowned birthplace of Shakespeare! (It is a lit trip) It's a quaint small town with cosy streets and a main street lined with shops. Nothing much to say about the birthplace museum- it basically preserved much of the 17th century stuff and living conditions, and also had stuff on Shakespeare. The drizzle was mildly irritating since I couldn't use my DSLR. Anyway dinner was chicken at the local pub somewhere down the street, and then we proceeded to the first big mistake of the entire trip. We went to watch The Seagull at the Shakespeare Opera House. Not so much a mistake, eh, until you factor in the bloody 20h transition from Singapore, more than half of which was spent without sleep. 30 students, sleep-deprived, recently-fed, put in a darkened room and asked to sit still for 2h. You don't have to be a bloody genius to tell me what's gonna happen. The only saving grace was that Sir Ian McKellen (yes that Ian) acted in the play! I caught glimpses of him in between nods (of sleep, not bloody literary appreciation) and he just has that stage presence that kept me awake. Although once he left the stage.. mm yeah.


Bus ride back to nearby Hostel rather uneventful, since everyone was asleep. Oh yeah and London was cold too. Freezing winds that threatened to freeze your hands if you removed them from your pockets. Bizarre for summer.

And thus ended my first day in Europe. Stay tuned for the rest! Yes, I know, sorry for talking way too much. Here's another random pic then:

update: Have just discovered the wonders of alt text. Hover (your cursor) over my pics to see!