Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Random Photos from London

Here are some photos from my recent trip to London. Just some random offerings for you of things I found interesting.

First off, God bless the Brits. They heard I was coming (ya know, ME? ... with all my dorkiness?) and thought to paint "look right (with an arrow no less)" or "look left" at every crosswalk to keep little ole me from getting my ass run over every time I stepped into the street. Ya know, what with them driving on the opposite side of the street and all! Thank you, Brits! Love ya!



My new favorite car!! Isn't it The Cutest?!?! It's called the Smart car. They're sooo tiny. Yet look like the driver (and front seat passenger) have plenty of room. Absolutely adorable. And coming to the US in the next year or two. Woot!


Ya know you've got to do fish n' chips while you're there!



Why, Nestles, why?! Why release this yummy Lion candybar in the UK and not in the US?! What the hell is wrong with you??! Curses!



Okay, so I took this pic outside The Shakespeare's Globe Theater. The story goes that patrons could pay 300 pounds to have their name put on one of these tiles (you know, a way for the company to raise money when building the site). So John Cleese buys two ... one for him and one for his buddy Michael Palin. Only, as a joke, he has "Palin" mispelled with two "L"s. Ah, what a card!



The Tower Bridge. During a lift. Which apparently people call in advance to find when those will be. Living in a city with a plethora of drawbridges, it didn't even occur to me to do so. Nonetheless, we were up in the towers for one lift and walking back from the interior tour for a second. I guess that makes us lucky!! :)




Alright. So while shopping on Oxford street (LoveLoveLOVE you, Oxford Street), I noticed that my regular clothing sizes weren't fitting when I went to try them on. Which, with all the stairs and walking I'd been doing, just seemed like a cruel joke of some kind. Hello? MUCH walking and MUCH stair climbing and I'm two sizes bigger than normal?! IN a week??? WTF, right?!!! Until finally, I'm flipping through some clothes and find this tag. Hallelujah, I wasn't crazy afterall. And the good news, now if anyone ever questions any of my clothing sizes (no matter on which continent purchased), I can simply say "oh, that's the UK size .... " :)



"Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!!". HEHEHEHE. Anyone know which movie that's from? Yep, National Lampoon's European Vacation with Mr. Chevy Chase! That dang phrase kept swirling in my head every time I saw Big Ben and Parliament. Every. Time. And y'all, you see them A LOT! So not being one to keep that kinda joy all to myself (*evil grin*), I soon had that line stuck in Buck's head too (you're welcome, Buck!). Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!!! (*snicker*) (this picture was taken from up in the London Eye)



For the longest time, I couldn't figure out what this sign meant. A man running for a rectangle?... WTF? Turns out ... it means "exit". Who knew? I think it's the man running which threw me off. Running elicits panic. Not good. Not quite sure while y'all just didn't write "exit"? Or in Brit lingo "way out"? But no, instead, a man running. Run, Forrest, run!



British Airways! You rock! Had a great flight! And loved this little option on the personal monitors which allowed you to check the visual on where the plane was during the flight, plus the stats on how high we were, the temperature outside (brrrrrrr!), and most importantly, how much longer (and the distance til) we landed! Very cool!



Buck and I stumbled across some odd things during our trip. This was one of them. Outside "Big Ben, Parliament!!" we found The Guinness Book of World Records doing a photo shoot of the World's Tallest Man and the World's Shortest Man. So I took a pic. I'm guessin' you can figure out who is who?? (*grin*)



And the picture you've all been waiting for .... (*insert drum roll here*)..........the picture of The Yarn! I found this yarn within John Lewis on Oxford Street! Lots and lots of yarn! I picked up 10 skeins of some Rowans for T1. Nothing for myself (I know, oh the humanity!). Loved that the person I asked directions from at the store's information booth said to hang a left when I reach the "haberdashery". Haberdashery? Anyone?? I just nodded like I knew what the hell he was talking about. And instead, just followed the women wearing handknitted items. (yeah, don't let the blonde hair fool ya ... there is some smarts hidden in this head of mine). BTW, doesn't Buck just look oh so thrilled to be hanging out yarn shopping? Poor da Buck!



And there you have it .... London. Love you, London!! Great shopping (OMG the shopping!!!), wonderful sites, super nice people and oh so clean a city! I hope to visit often! Until then, feel free to send Lion candybars!!! :)

7 comments:

lizze said...

Great to read a tourist view of London!! Very good read.

Did you really eat the Fish’n’chips? Good on you.

Hey – anytime you want those yummy Lionbars - drop me a line. I promise I will send you some :)

I work fairly close to Tower Bridge, north of the river. Are you taking the photo south or north of the river?

*LOL* what do you mean, the green may is obvious but reading your comments I can sort of see what you mean.

Glad you like London. It is a good city with lots and lots things to do. A bit of everything for everybody.

Anonymous said...

oh that yarn store!!!! i am so jealous. you didn't buy any yarn for yourself?

i never noticed those painted signs with arrows to "look this way". they sure would've come in handy as i almost got run over every time i crossed the street. and that sign with the guy running? you sure it wasn't a restroom sign?

thanks for the photo journals. paris next?

Kat said...

Hey Lizze-

I LOVE Tower Bridge. It's really a very cool looking bridge. Though that whole N, S, E, West thing ... hmmmm. My guess would be that the picture was taken from the south side of the river .... if the "south side" is the London Eye side of the Thames. Otherwise it was the north side! ;). It was pretty much taken across the river from Tower of London ... which, if my north-south theory is correct, would be the side you work on, right? :)

Thanks for checking out my blog. Enjoy your beautiful city! And don't be surprised if you receive an email request for Lion bars at some point!! :) Cuz hello ... those and those Magnum icecream bars ... very yummy!

Anonymous said...

The yarn! Oh the yarn!! Love you yarn! Love you Rowan!

I agree with Ms C...it looks like that guy is running for the WC. Was it in a pub? Cuz that would make sense...beer and all.

If I were you...I would have dumped my stuff and filled my bag with Lion bars, yarn and that Paris bartender....

Just sayin'.

lizze said...

Oh sorry about the N, S, E & W thing – again just something one get caught up in and don’t see it from another perspective.

You are right, London Eye is south of the river. I think London Eye is great and I have been up there twice, so simple and genius. The owner, British Airways, were just planning to have it running for a year ( to the end of year 2000) but it has been such great attraction so it keeps on going strong.

LOL – the ice crèmes bars might just be more difficult but Lionbars any time ;) Anyway, I forgot to mention my email when I was typing previous post. It is: akalizze @ gmail.com but with NO spaces – just in case one of those “spiders” crawling around, scanning email address and sending endless spams.

Johnny Menace said...

mmmmm lion

Kat said...

Lizze-

Thanks for the e address.

And I didn't know that about the London Eye. Very interesting.

Oh but hey, while I've got someone In The Know...seriously ... "haberdashery"?? :)