My first solo trip! Was quite excited.

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Got a shock when I woke up in the morning to see that it was 5.45am. Somehow I managed to turn the alarm off and go on sleeping without waking up. Luckily my body seemed to know that I needed to wake up or else! Haha all those rushing-to-school sessions helped and I wasn't too flustered. But I was still quite worried that I might be late for the megabus cos I left at around 6.10am and the bus was scheduled to leave at 6.30am. At least the cab came very quickly, I guess cos it was in the morning and they didn't have many customers. And the pick-up location for the bus wasn't too far also.

The bus went past... er... lots of highways, green fields, yellow fields (I like the yellow ones, don't know what plant it was), and stopped at Coventry to pick up more passengers. After that I dozed on and off, until we neared London. It felt quite weird to see everything in bright sunshine this early in the morning.

At first when the bus reached the Greenline coach station I was quite blur and I didn't know where to go. So I just walked around and after finding the Victoria tube station, I was quite -__- cos actually I could have walked through this shopping centre-like building to get there instead of walking around the building. But it was ok, get to see how the place is like right? The place was milling with people and luggages and suitcases, cos people take the Gatwick Express from the Gatwick airport or vice versa. There were quite a lot of pick-up/drop-off points for those open-top sightseeing buses and little newstand-like 'shops' along the street sold tickets for these buses. So far I've seen two companies, one called The Original Tour and the other Big Bus (something like that la, can't remember.)

I took the tube to Oxford Circus... being the sotong that I am, I forgot that to get to Boosey & Hawkes, Bond Street would be nearer. So when I got to Oxford Circus and realised that, I set out to try to walk to Bond Street station, which was only one station away. Took detours along the way cos I kept thinking I was walking in the wrong direction even when I wasn't haha. So I took long ways round before I happened to chance upon Bond Street station heehee. From there it was quite easy to get to Boosey & Hawkes thanks to Ruth's clear instructions and cos I went to check the map online too.

After helping to collect a score from Boosey & Hawkes, I also browsed for the Bach Italian Concerto + French Overture + Duets + Goldberg Variation score but they didn't have it on the shelves. The shop assistant said they had the Goldberg Variation that came by itself. So I decided to go to Schott. This time I didn't get lost walking back to Oxford Circus station. But from the station I started to get a bit confused, cos there were four exits from the station, each on all four sides of the junction. So I didn't know which was the exit on the map that I was supposed to 'start my journey from' haha. Stood there looking at the signs for some time and luckily the first guess I made was right. Yet I was blur again. I walked past the Great Marlborough Street sign and continued walking until I came across the toy shop, Hamleys. Again thanks to Ruth I knew I've walked too far. Once I found the street it was ok.

Schott only had one copy of the score, so after buying it I decided to go to Chappell to see if they had a copy too. Ok, this was dumb. I walked to Bond Street station before realising that I was supposed to turn into New Bond Street, which was also on Oxford Street and which came before the station when I walk from Oxford Circus station to Bond Street station. But it was quite easy to find. Managed to find a copy of the score there. Yay. I succumbed to the irresistable temptation of Starbucks... the shade and frappucino. It was too hot! I was roasting after walking to and fro on Oxford Street and taking detours on Regent Street and others. Haha but ok la, they are known for the shopping right. At least I got to see them.

After getting all the scores, I had lots of spare time before meeting Clarice and Yiting for dinner. First I went to Westminster:

The British Airways London Eye












Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster












Westminster Abbey












Then I went to Covent Garden:

Exterior and interior












There was a man entertaining people:




St. Paul's (I escaped here from the buzz of Covent Garden, for shade, benches and tranquility)












Then I walked around this area and Leicester Square:

Royal Opera House












Trafalgar Square (too bad Nelson's Column was undergoing some work)












National Gallery












St Martin-in-the-fields















I sat around Trafalgar Square for quite a long while, enjoying the breeze (when there was one), and getting roasted by the sun, just people-(and pigeon)-watching:












The pigeons are too used to humans, so if you feed them they will even perch on you if you have food in your palm. A man was doing that and also helping some visitors do that so that they could take photos. Bird flu how??

After I got sufficiently burnt I took to exploring the area and also chinatown. I chanced upon this:












Hopefully I'll be able to watch Les Miserables in my three years here before going back to Singapore! Then I took refuge in Burger King cos my legs and my skin couldn't take the heat anymore. Had to order a cup of coke. Haha so I sat there till around 4.30pm and then I went to the Leicester Square tube station where I was supposed to meet Clarice and Yiting at 5. It was much cooler there!

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant, Misato, in chinatown. Luckily Clarice suggested that we go early, cos the queue really started to get long while we were eating. The food was good! Er, but too much. It's really really toooooo much. Haha but worth it for 4.90. Just that we couldn't linger around cos they were quick to clear our plates and give us the bill once they saw that we weren't eating any more. More customers waiting!

Yiting bought each of us a postcard and chocolate (in very high class packaging):


















Thank you yt! Clarice and I felt bad cos we didn't get something for her.

It started raining and we couldn't find seats in fast food restaurants to 'sit around', so we went to Clarice's room. Cos it was too early... I booked the 10pm bus back to Birmingham. We took a photo together:


















Taking the tube back from Clarice's place to Victoria was quite weird, cos it was only 9-9.30pm, and yet it was already quite empty. The stations were also quite deserted, especially the one near Clarice's place. But once I got to nearer the busier stations there were a little more people. I slept most of the way back to Birmingham. Oh ya, I was quite evil, I called a cab when I reached Birmingham, but cos there was a taxi stand where I was waiting... and another company's cab came up, so I took that cab instead. The original cab I called, called me 4 times when it arrived.