Scene 4 - 23rd June
The day that vanished into thin air. I say it vanished because exhaustion has finally caught up with us.
All of us oversleep and stay in the room till after noon. Then lethargy is replaced with laziness. Sloth. Its a part of life. So on the second longest day of summer, we kill half the day by sleeping.
The good news is that this scene would thus be short.
I have mentioned, in an earlier act, that England is widely renowned, especially by English fans, as the home of football. Yes, England makes no claim to American or Aussie Rules football; both because the names of each of these sports suggest otherwise, and because these sports are kind of dumb. American football, probably, in the minds of English and soccer fans alike, is not football because you use your hands more than your feet. Its like the retarded half brother of Rugby.
Which was also invented in England, mind you.
I have also mentioned that England have been marginally better than the French; that being the source of great cheer here in London. Perhaps.
England have a must-win game against Slovenia. Lose, and they will go home. We join the hoards ofcrazy crazily patriotic English fans ardently cheering on for their home nation. I comment that this scene would just not happen in Singapore. In a match between Singapore and England, I'm reasonably assured that, at best, the cheers for both teams will be equally loud in a partisan crowd at Kallang. Blame whomever; but I, for one, blame the BPL for influencing Singapore to play like England, while our SEAsian counterparts play the dazzling football of Brazil or Spain.
In any case, England needs a win - which also does mean that they really needed to start performing better than usual.
A couple of hundred Ooohs and Aaaahs later and after the heroic cheers when Jermain Defoe deflects the ball in off a James Milner cross; the game is over and England are through.
The celebrations continue way too long, considering
1. They were always favourites to go through
2. They were supposed to go through top of the group
3. Slovenia had ample opportunity to equalise but for some last ditch defending
When England win the World Cup I shall eat my words. I'm reasonably assured I won't any time soon.
As we make our way towards Harrods for the second part of our really short day, a couple of CRAZY English fans came up to us and put their hands on our shoulders and jumped up and down and cheered and sang "England! England!" I would have sang "Singapore! Singapore!" but seriously, it doesn't sound that catchy. Aids-and-hygiene conscious Eugene probably had to soak himself in Acetone just to live with himself the next day. But I didn't stay to watch that happen.
I first heard about Harrod's a couple of hundred years ago, it seems, in the day of the late Princess Di. For those too young and/or ignorant to know, she was going out with the son of the owner of Harrods. Now, this didn't interest me at all; rather; what caught my attention was that this Mr Al-Fayed guy owns Fulham football club.
A few hundred years later; Fulham becomes Weelong's least favourite team because it knocked out his beloved Reading from the Premiership on goal difference - so I remind everyone to refrain from buying anything from Harrods as a boycott on Fulham FC.
This boycott works; but mainly because the prices were probably three or four HUNDRED TIMES our budget. Which makes me actually wonder why Fulham aren't actually rich enough to match the bid for Fernando Torres.
Ultimately, the only thing that is affordable is Krispy Kreme donuts; so we get some of those for breakfast for tomorrow.
To think that Gobi called it London's Mustafa Centre. What a joke.
We have dinner not far away - at Victoria Station; and we call Mr Jean Luigi Maillard, our roommate for the past 3 days, for dinner.
Just for your information, convincing an Italian to eat burgers is in itself a Sisyphean task. And so is convincing a Frenchman. So for Jean, with blood of both these races flowing through him, and living in Italy, it was impossible.
Jean claims to be as European as they get; having blood of both the French and the Italians. Why we do not consider the Swedes and the Norwegians and the Finns and the Poles and the Germans and the Spaniards etc in this equation I have no idea. But Gobi's corrupted him - he now knows two things:
1. He's white
2. Thats a damn good thing
One thing about Singaporeans is that racism seems to flow naturally through our veins. Its something we joke about endlessly; and perhaps its part of our lives. The awesome thing about this form of racism is that its not ugly. There is rarely malice involved. Obviously, when malice does get involved, we have the Sedition Act.
Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that Jean Luigi Maillard has been educated.
Just a flash from the past - we have Oporto's. THE Sydney Burger.
Scene 5 - 24th June
We start the day in a typical Aussie fashion i.e. how we did it in Sydney. Donuts in the Park. Except, of course, this time, its Hyde Park, London. Once more, hygiene conscious Eugene needs to be persuaded to gently place his arse on the grass of Hyde Park - but that task proves easier than convincing Jean Maillard to eat Oporto's Double Fillet Bondi Burger.
Gobi needs to go to the lab to finish up his project; something that hopefully will change the future. Makes me wonder sometimes what will I do to contribute to Mankind.
Eugene and I make our way to the River Thames and the Tower of London.
But first, St Paul's Cathedral. St Paul's Cathedral is a major church in the Anglican Church - so it does make a good visit. It IS huge; undoubtedly. However, an entrance fee does apply. So the plan to view the insides are put on hold. I make a point that we are, after all, going to visit the Basillica of St Peter in the Vatican, THE biggest church in the world; so paying 9 GBP for a look see into the biggest Anglican Church in the world didn't appeal to a cheapo like me.
St Paul's is a stone's throw from the Thames, so walking over to the Thames is relatively easy. We cross the Thames using the Millenium Bridge. No idea why this particular footpath across the Thames is thus called; or why there are flocks of tourists crossing it. A well educated guess would probably that it was built sometime around the turn of the Millenium - which would then explain why I don't remember it being there the last time I was at the Thames. That being before the turn of the Millenium.
But then, I also dont remember the Tate Gallery. Which is where the Millenium Bridge brings us to. Now, the Tate Gallery was in the list of "Things to do in London"; but when we walk in, all we see is four blank walls and a couple of boys playing football with a water bottle downstairs.
After momentarily contemplating joining them, and then realising that Eugene is a 'kaki bangku' i.e. cannot play soccer, we decide to leave the supposed famous art gallery and continue our walk towards London Bridge.
Perhaps the exhibition is further in; but neither of us is enough of an art buff to know. Or care.
Which brings us to the next point of our journey - London Bridge. Now the only reason I know about London Bridge is from the old nursery rhyme "London Bridge is falling down". If we use the fact that we walked by London Bridge without realising it as a gauge; I understand why the song writers want to pull this inconspicuous "Platform 9 3/4" bridge down.
But then, I reckon bridges oughtn't be too conspicuous - as an engineer: the most important factor is that it should serve its purpose to link the two sides of the Thames. And that it does.
So we walk on along the Thames. Recall; we want to see the Tower of London. To get there, though, we get distracted by the Tower Bridge. It's cheap, so we decide to go in for a quick tour.
By the end of the tour, we realise that it was indeed a very interesting tour; and hence probably worth every penny.
The expedition into the Tower Bridge was quite educational - it showed us all the most famous bridges in the world, as well as the challenges required to build the bridges. Also, it detailed-ly went through the process of building the bridge, as well as the mechanism of lifting the bridge.
For those who do not know, the Tower Bridge is capable of being raised to allow tall ships through it. Unfortunately, we don't get to see any raising or lowering of any part of the bridge. So we just watch an animation of it happening.
After spending way too long inside the Tower Bridge, we finally allow the bridge to serve its purpose - we cross it.
On the other side is the famous Tower of London. Along the way I make up a "Dan Brown" story to Eugene (i.e. mixing fact with fiction). Only thing, I honestly did mix up my fact with my fiction. But I do know that there are guided tours inside the Tower of London; so we are relatively certain of learning more of the place inside.
We go into the ticketing place and ask for two student tickets - Student tickets are actually affordable, so it was a great move to have brought our student cards along. Only that I have to rely on my EZLink card. Which does say that I'm a student, thank God.
The ticket selling lady is willing to sell us the tickets, but encourages us to come back tomorrow - she recommends spending at least 5 hours in the tower. FYI, at this time, the clock reads around 4.30pm. The tower closes around 6.
So we decide to just have a little snack and then return to hostel. We can always come back tomorrow before we move off to Paris.
Mr Jean Luigi Maillard; our resident French-Italian food expert; suggests that he goes out to buy food back to us. He gets Armenian food, and by some luck of some draw of fate, we each get our first choice of food when he returns back from the restaurant. Well, obviously, Jean would get his first choice, but the other three of us actually get our first choice. I have lasagne. But I'm too hungry to take a photo of it; and by the time i'm less hungry, I have just an empty plate.
Besides, we are all watching Reno 911.
1 hour that I will never get back off my life.
Thats all I will say about that show.
Scene 6 - 25th June
Once more, our tour guide that is Gobi abandons us to complete his work in his lab at Imperial College. So once more I'm free to roam the capital of my Motherland with the Monkey that is Eugene.
Also, tonight we will be hopping on the coach to Paris. I do wonder when that bus will be amphibious; because apparently we would have to get off at Dover to hop onto a ferry.
But first, with our ample time to kill, we decide to spend the morning at the Tower of London. If we recall from the previous scene, the Tower of London decided to close just as we were approaching it. Definitely proves its worth as a fortress - so today we will allow it to prove its worth as a tourist attraction.
Amazingly, we actually go back to Harrods for breakfast. I think we had enjoyed the last Krispy Kreme breakfast that we had had, so it makes natural sense for us to go back there. However, we do not actually have Krispy Kreme's but rather enjoy some pastries that were sold from the shop next door. However, we do sit down AT Krispy Kremes - having bought a drink from there.
The Indian lady stall vendor at Krispy Kremes turns out to Malaysian; so Gobi and I, both being Malaysian at heart, had a chat with her.
We arrive early; or rather, as early as we can. I like my sleep, and I'm not appreciative when it's stolen from me. But I make an exception; and we arrive relatively early. At least, compared to yesterday.
The tower is quite vast; so I think we cannot see everything - the goal is half. After all, as engineers, we will be able to analyse a few data points and then extrapolate. Sampling, if you must.
We arrive just in time to watch a show - the Medieval siege weapons demonstration. The 'actors', who are indeed very convincing as Medieval characters; demonstrate how two siege weapons work. They tell us what they are called, apparently, but I amn't listening too carefully. Anyway, one is basically a big arrow that is used for defensive purposes; while the other is just a giant sling shot which is used for both defensive and offensive purposes.
Ultimately, it is a relatively educational experience - though perhaps it would have been slightly interesting if they used stones rather than water balloons as the projectiles. Yes, I do understand it is dangerous. Also, it would have been nice if they had used my dear trebuchets; which I had so sworn by during the original Age of Empires.
ITs also interesting how we actually hear of the Scottish as the bad guys or trouble makers. Every other portrayal of the Scottish rebellion that I know of (including Braveheart) has the Scottish as the heroes and the English as the oppressive rulers. Yet these medieval characters are so loyal to their king and shout "God save the King!" repeatedly.
I also then realise that I don't know any shows where the Medieval English are portrayed as 'good'. Maybe they just weren't. Or maybe that isn't just interesting enough.
I do wonder how future generations would portray the ruling empire of today.
That would be America if you don't know. Though probably if you consider that China actually own America in a way; the ruling empire would be China. Hmm...
Moving on, the Medieval Siege Weapons demonstration ends just in time for the beginning of the next beefeater tour. I tell Eugene that this would be a very educational tour; if not interesting. So we follow the Yeoman Warder aka Beefeater around the Tower of London as he tells us stories of the past.
Then out of nowhere, he says "Enough of this blood and gore, ..."; and this is where I realise that this script hasn't changed in the past ten years. Because, the last time I was there at the Tower of London, the Beefeater guiding us around said those exact same words.
How do I remember?
1. My brother kept repeating it.
2. I mutilated the words to "Enough of this Bush and Gore".
So we now also approximately know when I was last in London.
This guy is funny too; he did make a poke at France not being in the World Cup while England still is - which is definitely not something that he could have said 10 years ago. Which is infact when France did win the World Cup. Later he welcomes all the Aussies back to their homeland. England.
After the tour, we go see the crowning glory of the tower of london. Pardon the pun; for this is the Crown Jewels Exhibition. The Crown Jewels are kept in a lock down that is indeed amazing; not that I know anything about safes or vaults; but this vault does seem like it would actually protect the crown jewels from a nuclear explosion that takes out the rest of London. Sadly we can't take photos in it; perhaps they don't want people to take photos; send the photos back to Hong Kong; and get duplicates of the crown jewels.
Anyway, finally we visit the White Tower. Honestly, I get bored after the first floor of seeing the ancient armours of Kings of England.
So concludes part one of this busy day.
Part two is a visit to Stamford Bridge. First and foremost, I must point out that I'm not, never was, and probably never will be a Chelsea Football Club Fan. This visit to Stamford Bridge is probaly merely a visit to AN EPL club. I would much rather visit to my dear beloved Loserpool; but that's way up north in the north of England. So I settle for Chelsea and Stamford Bridge. London's Pride.
Notice that I still wear my belovedLoserpool Liverpool cap at the Bridge.
Apparently it is among the attractions of London; since we do know that Chelski is the best 'English' team.
Notice that John Terry doesn't even see me coming as I tackle him. Typical of England's display at the World Cup so far - cannot even spot a player from the Nth ranked team in the world (where N>100) coming to tackle him.
So naturally, the manager wants to sign me.
But my allegience is elsewhere,
So, soon they kick me off the team. Oh well. Ah well, that's a story isn't it. Lastly, note the following irony.
Ah well, that's Stamford Bridge.
We can't spend too long at Stamford Bridge though, because we have to pick up Larson from the Train station and then take the coach down to Paris. We choose to lug around the guitar that Jean had left in the room. Its quite sayang to throw away a guitar - even if upon closer inspection its a pretty crappy one. But I think its the mentality that I/we have that I/we don't want to throw away stuff that is still functional. So we lug it around to the station to meet Lase. Its actually kinda cool. I think.
Henrik Larsson is the "man from sweden" who shares his name with the legendary swedish striker. Unfortunately he does not share his namesake's ability nor passion with the football and is the least likely football fan in the world. Come on, even Andy Murray is a football fan.
Interlude
We have to board the bus, but first we have to check in. So dinner seems to be out of the question due to lack of time. After checking in, and going into the bus to sit quietly, Gobi runs (literally) to KFC and buys some KFC for us.
KFC is my least favourite fast food joint - I only like the Zinger. So I get that. Unfortunately the bus driver doesn't allow us to bring up the food up on the train. In fact, he doesn't even allow us to bring any of our "hand luggage" up, stating the fact/opinion that it is too big. Gobi says he's just following regulations; but honestly, he could afford to be abit nicer. But then on the other hand, considering that this was the cheapest alternative at hand, he mustn't be getting paid enough to be courteous and gracious.
So we have the KFC Zinger at Dover; just before boarding the ferry. It is cold by now, but food is food. Zinger is Zinger. Cannot throw away. Eat.
Soon after, in the middle of the night, we board the ferry over to Calais. Later we will change back to the bus at Calais and then make our way down to Paris.
Onward to the Next leg. I'm very excited. Never been to Paris after all.
The day that vanished into thin air. I say it vanished because exhaustion has finally caught up with us.
All of us oversleep and stay in the room till after noon. Then lethargy is replaced with laziness. Sloth. Its a part of life. So on the second longest day of summer, we kill half the day by sleeping.
The good news is that this scene would thus be short.
I have mentioned, in an earlier act, that England is widely renowned, especially by English fans, as the home of football. Yes, England makes no claim to American or Aussie Rules football; both because the names of each of these sports suggest otherwise, and because these sports are kind of dumb. American football, probably, in the minds of English and soccer fans alike, is not football because you use your hands more than your feet. Its like the retarded half brother of Rugby.
Which was also invented in England, mind you.
I have also mentioned that England have been marginally better than the French; that being the source of great cheer here in London. Perhaps.
England have a must-win game against Slovenia. Lose, and they will go home. We join the hoards of
In any case, England needs a win - which also does mean that they really needed to start performing better than usual.
A couple of hundred Ooohs and Aaaahs later and after the heroic cheers when Jermain Defoe deflects the ball in off a James Milner cross; the game is over and England are through.
The celebrations continue way too long, considering1. They were always favourites to go through
2. They were supposed to go through top of the group
3. Slovenia had ample opportunity to equalise but for some last ditch defending
When England win the World Cup I shall eat my words. I'm reasonably assured I won't any time soon.
As we make our way towards Harrods for the second part of our really short day, a couple of CRAZY English fans came up to us and put their hands on our shoulders and jumped up and down and cheered and sang "England! England!" I would have sang "Singapore! Singapore!" but seriously, it doesn't sound that catchy. Aids-and-hygiene conscious Eugene probably had to soak himself in Acetone just to live with himself the next day. But I didn't stay to watch that happen.
I first heard about Harrod's a couple of hundred years ago, it seems, in the day of the late Princess Di. For those too young and/or ignorant to know, she was going out with the son of the owner of Harrods. Now, this didn't interest me at all; rather; what caught my attention was that this Mr Al-Fayed guy owns Fulham football club.
A few hundred years later; Fulham becomes Weelong's least favourite team because it knocked out his beloved Reading from the Premiership on goal difference - so I remind everyone to refrain from buying anything from Harrods as a boycott on Fulham FC.
This boycott works; but mainly because the prices were probably three or four HUNDRED TIMES our budget. Which makes me actually wonder why Fulham aren't actually rich enough to match the bid for Fernando Torres.
Ultimately, the only thing that is affordable is Krispy Kreme donuts; so we get some of those for breakfast for tomorrow.
To think that Gobi called it London's Mustafa Centre. What a joke.We have dinner not far away - at Victoria Station; and we call Mr Jean Luigi Maillard, our roommate for the past 3 days, for dinner.
Just for your information, convincing an Italian to eat burgers is in itself a Sisyphean task. And so is convincing a Frenchman. So for Jean, with blood of both these races flowing through him, and living in Italy, it was impossible.
Jean claims to be as European as they get; having blood of both the French and the Italians. Why we do not consider the Swedes and the Norwegians and the Finns and the Poles and the Germans and the Spaniards etc in this equation I have no idea. But Gobi's corrupted him - he now knows two things:
1. He's white
2. Thats a damn good thing
One thing about Singaporeans is that racism seems to flow naturally through our veins. Its something we joke about endlessly; and perhaps its part of our lives. The awesome thing about this form of racism is that its not ugly. There is rarely malice involved. Obviously, when malice does get involved, we have the Sedition Act.
Nevertheless, I'm pretty sure that Jean Luigi Maillard has been educated.
Just a flash from the past - we have Oporto's. THE Sydney Burger.
Scene 5 - 24th June
We start the day in a typical Aussie fashion i.e. how we did it in Sydney. Donuts in the Park. Except, of course, this time, its Hyde Park, London. Once more, hygiene conscious Eugene needs to be persuaded to gently place his arse on the grass of Hyde Park - but that task proves easier than convincing Jean Maillard to eat Oporto's Double Fillet Bondi Burger.
Gobi needs to go to the lab to finish up his project; something that hopefully will change the future. Makes me wonder sometimes what will I do to contribute to Mankind.
Eugene and I make our way to the River Thames and the Tower of London.
But first, St Paul's Cathedral. St Paul's Cathedral is a major church in the Anglican Church - so it does make a good visit. It IS huge; undoubtedly. However, an entrance fee does apply. So the plan to view the insides are put on hold. I make a point that we are, after all, going to visit the Basillica of St Peter in the Vatican, THE biggest church in the world; so paying 9 GBP for a look see into the biggest Anglican Church in the world didn't appeal to a cheapo like me.
St Paul's is a stone's throw from the Thames, so walking over to the Thames is relatively easy. We cross the Thames using the Millenium Bridge. No idea why this particular footpath across the Thames is thus called; or why there are flocks of tourists crossing it. A well educated guess would probably that it was built sometime around the turn of the Millenium - which would then explain why I don't remember it being there the last time I was at the Thames. That being before the turn of the Millenium.
But then, I also dont remember the Tate Gallery. Which is where the Millenium Bridge brings us to. Now, the Tate Gallery was in the list of "Things to do in London"; but when we walk in, all we see is four blank walls and a couple of boys playing football with a water bottle downstairs.
After momentarily contemplating joining them, and then realising that Eugene is a 'kaki bangku' i.e. cannot play soccer, we decide to leave the supposed famous art gallery and continue our walk towards London Bridge.
Perhaps the exhibition is further in; but neither of us is enough of an art buff to know. Or care.
Which brings us to the next point of our journey - London Bridge. Now the only reason I know about London Bridge is from the old nursery rhyme "London Bridge is falling down". If we use the fact that we walked by London Bridge without realising it as a gauge; I understand why the song writers want to pull this inconspicuous "Platform 9 3/4" bridge down.
But then, I reckon bridges oughtn't be too conspicuous - as an engineer: the most important factor is that it should serve its purpose to link the two sides of the Thames. And that it does.
So we walk on along the Thames. Recall; we want to see the Tower of London. To get there, though, we get distracted by the Tower Bridge. It's cheap, so we decide to go in for a quick tour.
By the end of the tour, we realise that it was indeed a very interesting tour; and hence probably worth every penny.
The expedition into the Tower Bridge was quite educational - it showed us all the most famous bridges in the world, as well as the challenges required to build the bridges. Also, it detailed-ly went through the process of building the bridge, as well as the mechanism of lifting the bridge.
For those who do not know, the Tower Bridge is capable of being raised to allow tall ships through it. Unfortunately, we don't get to see any raising or lowering of any part of the bridge. So we just watch an animation of it happening.
After spending way too long inside the Tower Bridge, we finally allow the bridge to serve its purpose - we cross it.On the other side is the famous Tower of London. Along the way I make up a "Dan Brown" story to Eugene (i.e. mixing fact with fiction). Only thing, I honestly did mix up my fact with my fiction. But I do know that there are guided tours inside the Tower of London; so we are relatively certain of learning more of the place inside.
We go into the ticketing place and ask for two student tickets - Student tickets are actually affordable, so it was a great move to have brought our student cards along. Only that I have to rely on my EZLink card. Which does say that I'm a student, thank God.
The ticket selling lady is willing to sell us the tickets, but encourages us to come back tomorrow - she recommends spending at least 5 hours in the tower. FYI, at this time, the clock reads around 4.30pm. The tower closes around 6.
So we decide to just have a little snack and then return to hostel. We can always come back tomorrow before we move off to Paris.
Mr Jean Luigi Maillard; our resident French-Italian food expert; suggests that he goes out to buy food back to us. He gets Armenian food, and by some luck of some draw of fate, we each get our first choice of food when he returns back from the restaurant. Well, obviously, Jean would get his first choice, but the other three of us actually get our first choice. I have lasagne. But I'm too hungry to take a photo of it; and by the time i'm less hungry, I have just an empty plate.
Besides, we are all watching Reno 911.
1 hour that I will never get back off my life.
Thats all I will say about that show.
Scene 6 - 25th June
Once more, our tour guide that is Gobi abandons us to complete his work in his lab at Imperial College. So once more I'm free to roam the capital of my Motherland with the Monkey that is Eugene.
Also, tonight we will be hopping on the coach to Paris. I do wonder when that bus will be amphibious; because apparently we would have to get off at Dover to hop onto a ferry.
But first, with our ample time to kill, we decide to spend the morning at the Tower of London. If we recall from the previous scene, the Tower of London decided to close just as we were approaching it. Definitely proves its worth as a fortress - so today we will allow it to prove its worth as a tourist attraction.
Amazingly, we actually go back to Harrods for breakfast. I think we had enjoyed the last Krispy Kreme breakfast that we had had, so it makes natural sense for us to go back there. However, we do not actually have Krispy Kreme's but rather enjoy some pastries that were sold from the shop next door. However, we do sit down AT Krispy Kremes - having bought a drink from there.
The Indian lady stall vendor at Krispy Kremes turns out to Malaysian; so Gobi and I, both being Malaysian at heart, had a chat with her.
We arrive early; or rather, as early as we can. I like my sleep, and I'm not appreciative when it's stolen from me. But I make an exception; and we arrive relatively early. At least, compared to yesterday.
The tower is quite vast; so I think we cannot see everything - the goal is half. After all, as engineers, we will be able to analyse a few data points and then extrapolate. Sampling, if you must.
We arrive just in time to watch a show - the Medieval siege weapons demonstration. The 'actors', who are indeed very convincing as Medieval characters; demonstrate how two siege weapons work. They tell us what they are called, apparently, but I amn't listening too carefully. Anyway, one is basically a big arrow that is used for defensive purposes; while the other is just a giant sling shot which is used for both defensive and offensive purposes.
Ultimately, it is a relatively educational experience - though perhaps it would have been slightly interesting if they used stones rather than water balloons as the projectiles. Yes, I do understand it is dangerous. Also, it would have been nice if they had used my dear trebuchets; which I had so sworn by during the original Age of Empires.
ITs also interesting how we actually hear of the Scottish as the bad guys or trouble makers. Every other portrayal of the Scottish rebellion that I know of (including Braveheart) has the Scottish as the heroes and the English as the oppressive rulers. Yet these medieval characters are so loyal to their king and shout "God save the King!" repeatedly.
I also then realise that I don't know any shows where the Medieval English are portrayed as 'good'. Maybe they just weren't. Or maybe that isn't just interesting enough.
I do wonder how future generations would portray the ruling empire of today.
That would be America if you don't know. Though probably if you consider that China actually own America in a way; the ruling empire would be China. Hmm...
Moving on, the Medieval Siege Weapons demonstration ends just in time for the beginning of the next beefeater tour. I tell Eugene that this would be a very educational tour; if not interesting. So we follow the Yeoman Warder aka Beefeater around the Tower of London as he tells us stories of the past.
Then out of nowhere, he says "Enough of this blood and gore, ..."; and this is where I realise that this script hasn't changed in the past ten years. Because, the last time I was there at the Tower of London, the Beefeater guiding us around said those exact same words.
How do I remember?
1. My brother kept repeating it.
2. I mutilated the words to "Enough of this Bush and Gore".
So we now also approximately know when I was last in London.
This guy is funny too; he did make a poke at France not being in the World Cup while England still is - which is definitely not something that he could have said 10 years ago. Which is infact when France did win the World Cup. Later he welcomes all the Aussies back to their homeland. England.
After the tour, we go see the crowning glory of the tower of london. Pardon the pun; for this is the Crown Jewels Exhibition. The Crown Jewels are kept in a lock down that is indeed amazing; not that I know anything about safes or vaults; but this vault does seem like it would actually protect the crown jewels from a nuclear explosion that takes out the rest of London. Sadly we can't take photos in it; perhaps they don't want people to take photos; send the photos back to Hong Kong; and get duplicates of the crown jewels.
Anyway, finally we visit the White Tower. Honestly, I get bored after the first floor of seeing the ancient armours of Kings of England.
So concludes part one of this busy day.
Part two is a visit to Stamford Bridge. First and foremost, I must point out that I'm not, never was, and probably never will be a Chelsea Football Club Fan. This visit to Stamford Bridge is probaly merely a visit to AN EPL club. I would much rather visit to my dear beloved Loserpool; but that's way up north in the north of England. So I settle for Chelsea and Stamford Bridge. London's Pride.
Notice that I still wear my beloved
Apparently it is among the attractions of London; since we do know that Chelski is the best 'English' team.
Notice that John Terry doesn't even see me coming as I tackle him. Typical of England's display at the World Cup so far - cannot even spot a player from the Nth ranked team in the world (where N>100) coming to tackle him.
So naturally, the manager wants to sign me.
But my allegience is elsewhere,
So, soon they kick me off the team. Oh well. Ah well, that's a story isn't it. Lastly, note the following irony.
Ah well, that's Stamford Bridge.
We can't spend too long at Stamford Bridge though, because we have to pick up Larson from the Train station and then take the coach down to Paris. We choose to lug around the guitar that Jean had left in the room. Its quite sayang to throw away a guitar - even if upon closer inspection its a pretty crappy one. But I think its the mentality that I/we have that I/we don't want to throw away stuff that is still functional. So we lug it around to the station to meet Lase. Its actually kinda cool. I think.
Henrik Larsson is the "man from sweden" who shares his name with the legendary swedish striker. Unfortunately he does not share his namesake's ability nor passion with the football and is the least likely football fan in the world. Come on, even Andy Murray is a football fan.
Interlude
We have to board the bus, but first we have to check in. So dinner seems to be out of the question due to lack of time. After checking in, and going into the bus to sit quietly, Gobi runs (literally) to KFC and buys some KFC for us.
KFC is my least favourite fast food joint - I only like the Zinger. So I get that. Unfortunately the bus driver doesn't allow us to bring up the food up on the train. In fact, he doesn't even allow us to bring any of our "hand luggage" up, stating the fact/opinion that it is too big. Gobi says he's just following regulations; but honestly, he could afford to be abit nicer. But then on the other hand, considering that this was the cheapest alternative at hand, he mustn't be getting paid enough to be courteous and gracious.
So we have the KFC Zinger at Dover; just before boarding the ferry. It is cold by now, but food is food. Zinger is Zinger. Cannot throw away. Eat.
Soon after, in the middle of the night, we board the ferry over to Calais. Later we will change back to the bus at Calais and then make our way down to Paris.
Onward to the Next leg. I'm very excited. Never been to Paris after all.
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