- July 12, Sunday.
- From my almost month-long travels, I never thought my last day in London would come. But knowing me, "last day" isn't always equated to "rest day", rather, the opposite. It was my last day, and I was going to make it count!
- Maximizing my day started at 4am, when I woke up and later headed to one of the most recognizable pedestrian crossings in London: Abbey Road. This pedestrian lane can be found just outside Abbey Road Studios. Most people would know this place from the Beatles album cover, also named "Abbey Road". It still is regarded as one of the best albums of all time! The Beatles crossed these zebra lines on August 8, 1969, and gave birth to one of the most iconic album covers that many people try to recrate when visiting the same spot.
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| This was done manually. I had to take four different photos from the exact same angle (so it's also easier to put them together.) However, as it is still a working road, buses and cars would occasionally pass by. When that happens, I have to redo EVERYTHING, because by then the camera angle would not be the same. It took me maybe 30 minutes to take the four photos. Imagine if it were during a regular time of the day with crowds and more cars!! |
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| The pedestrian from the sidewalk. |
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| Abbey Road Studios. |
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| He's the guy who composed Pomp and Circumstance, yes, that marching hymn we often hear during graduations. |
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| I didn't get to visit the store since it was around 5:30AM that time haha. |
- I had a long stroll from Abbey Road to Hyde Park, just to get me awake a bit more. Hyde Park opened in the 17th century and is a royal park. It also leads to where I was actually headed: Kensington Palace.
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| 18th century Marble Arch. It used to be located at the Buckingham Palace, but it was moved to Hyde Park in 1851. |
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| Serpentine Bridge. |
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| The Serpentine (an artificial lake), with the memorial fountain of Princess Diana at the back. |
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| I saw this green bird! |
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| Plenty of swans!! |
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| Albert Memorial. |
- Kensington Palace was built in the 17th century and has always been a residence of the royal family. Queen Victoria called this palace home, and so she has a statue of herself outside the palace. In more recent history, the palace was also known to be the long-time residence of Princess Diana until her death. She even has a memorial in the palace gardens. The palace is also unique because it allows photography inside, since the rooms that people can visit now function as museums and are not always officially used. (There are other buildings and rooms in the palace for private use, and it is still being used as an official residence of several British monarchs today.
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| Kensington Palace. |
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| Princess Diana memorial. |
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| I found this good elevated spot at the gardens |
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| With Queen Victoria. |
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| The King's Staircase. |
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| Throne. |
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| Cupola Room. |
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| King's Gallery. |
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| Some crown jewels in the palace. |
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| Queen Victoria's doll house. |
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| The royal performance room. |
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| Birth room. |
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| Dress worn by Queen Victoria. |
- Just south of Kensington Palace is what people often call "Albertopolis". This area has plenty of buildings, especially museums, that were funded and named after Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. One of the places I visited was the Victoria and Albert Museum (known as the V&A); it opened in the 19th century It did not occur to me when I visited that it was one of the biggest museums in the world, so I had a hard time covering as much as of the museum as I could. At that time, several galleries were closed because of the heat, so what more if they were open! For a museum of its size, it contained artefacts from all over the world throughout history. I really liked the museum, a lot more than I had expected! It was my kind of museum.
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| Passed by the Royal Albert Hall! |
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| This is called the Thin House. |
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| Yes, it really is this thin. It is only 6 feet wide at its thinnest. |
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| Made it to the V&A!! |
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| I got to wear a (replica) Byzantine clothing! |
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| It has its own chapel as part of its exhibition. |
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| Silverware! |
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| Stained glass. |
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| One of my favorite galleries: the jewelry gallery!! |
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| Medieval gallery. |
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| The Raphael Cartoons. "Cartoon" here does not refer to the animated photos or videos most contemporary people know. In this case, cartoon refers to the sturdy paper used for paintins. |
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| Cast courts. |
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| At the museum garden. |
- I later went to the museum across the street from the V&A, which is none other than the Natural History Museum. Also opened in the 19th century, it is home to animals past and present, from the biggest to the smallest. It had everything from beetles to dinosaurs, to large birds and even larger mammals. Taking center stage is a giant skeleton of a blue whale, named "Hope". I enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs the most, but was disappointed that the museum did not have a full T-Rex skeleton - it did have a robotic one though!
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| I had a brief stopover at Harrods. Opened at 1905, it is one of the historic department stores of the UK. It is also the biggest in Europe! It is so big that I think I should go back to London in the future to see lots of its interior. I did see a bit, just wasn't able to take photos. It is one fancy department store though! |
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| At the entrance. |
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| OK back to regular programming, here's the Natural History Museum. |
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| There was an attraction related to earth science. This was the entrance! So cool!! |
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| Pliosaur. |
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| The main concourse. There's Hope behind me! |
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| A random concrete monkey. |
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| Sequoia! |
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| Charles Darwin himself - but of course! I think this is the perfect place to honor him! |
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| Robot T-Rex!! Rawrrrr!! |
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| Parasaurolophus head. This one was half my height. |
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| Tricerotops. |
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| Bronze-casted "Dippy", the name of the museum's resident Diplodocus. |
- After having lunch near the museum, I rode the tube back to the hostel and prepared to go to the airport that night. London was amazing (and amazingly hottttttttt!!!!) and I really think the many things I had already seen were just the appetizers of what else London could offer! And as for England, where London is, well there are a lot more cities, like Oxford or Manchester, waiting for me to visit in the future! But for now, I close this long journey....the European leg at least!! (And yes, I do have an onward destination!!)
