Woke up early enough to catch the changing of guards at Buckingham Palace. Didn't expect the crowd that was earlier than us there though..


Police clearing the path for the guards


Marching band in furry hats. Cut xh's hand and camera out of my picture. The band stood in the grounds of the palace and played John Williams for 20min. Bao says it's the queen's alarm clock.


Squeezed to the gates finally and got a rather decent picture of them marching. I can't believe they make such a big deal of changing of guards every single day. They are much entertainers than soldiers I feel.


The palace and the dispersing crowd


Green Park. Beautiful. and yeah, it has green gates..


Princess of Wales Memorial Walk in green park.


Lobster noodles. Beef's talked about it forever.. Pretty good, I agree. And unique. I've never had lobster noodles before. Dim sum was ok too. And wow, student discount in restaurants, why don't we have that in San Diego?


Les Miserable! We watched that in the evening. 10 pounds. Standing ticket. But we found some seats for the 2nd half, or we'll be miserable. Musical's good. And our seats/ positions were good. Wouldn't be able to get that for that price in Singapore. Theatre is also small and cosy. Esplanade is too huge. Met some other Singaporeans there. Recognised each other by accents.. Singaporeans are artsy. We go to London to watch musicals.


The National Gallery. We went in to take shelter from the rain. But I enjoyed it, there's explanation for all the paintings in English of course, and they tell you the highlight of the room, so dummies like us can just go for that one. And it's free. =)


Birds flying over national gallery


The new form of animal. Made of tubes. It moves when the wind blows, it walks when the wind blows actually. The wings flap, the legs move. I can't remember the name of this species but the creator hopes that one day they'll be an independent group of animals on the beach.


St Paul's cathedral. I want my crystal ball with st paul's and birds flying, like the one Mary Poppins has, but I didn't see anyone selling it.


A tile in the Underground.

Went to Harrod's and Oxford Street after that but no pictures. I was getting a bit tired of taking pictures. And a bit tired generally. Harrod's is enormous and more high-class than I thought it to be. Got a sandwich there for lunch. They seem to have something against backpacks, you can only hold them, not carry them on your back. Wonder if it's for their security or my security. Oxford Street is like Orchard. I need one in San Diego.

Then Phantom of the Opera! Can't believe it right? 2 musicals in 2 days. 25 pounds ticket for a 'restricted view', where the restriction is just a thin pillar. I loved this musical, it's so dramatic, lights flashing, chandelier crashing, colourful, great music.. just that christine's voice is a bit too piercing for my liking, but I can live with that. It's a marvellous choice to watch this. And guess what, people sitting behind us were Singaporeans. Singaporeans love arts, they just can't create art.

That's it. End of London. I don't feel that I've interacted with Londoners much, so I can't agree/ disagree with beef that Londoners are very gentlemanly. I feel like I'm in my little microcosm of Assers, and I don't need any interaction with locals cos there's always bao to do that for us. I don't have to read maps or be lost and walk through alleys to find the right way again. I like London, but I like any big city where it's convenient to go anywhere.. Busted some misconceptions about London. Speaking to let the british understand me is easier than speaking to let americans understand me. After all I have been half-brainwashed by the British system since kindergarten..