Back from England Land…

Posted by admin on February 21st, 2009 filed in Uncategorized

Five days in England was indeed a much needed vacation time for me and it was a great trip, a cultural experience, and a great time of “getting away from it all.” How great it was to visit another land and be placed over your feet a shoes of a traveler! Your shoes have stepped on another land hundreds of miles away across the ocean, tasting different kinds of dirt, different kinds of air, and places a normal shoe would not have gotten to on its own. The wearer of the shoe, myself, indeed enjoyed the ride as well, my mind taking in more perspective and appreciation, as well as interacting with people you never would’ve met otherwise. People who are perhaps the farthest sixth among six degrees of separation.

So, what did I see in England? Lots and lots of buildings for one. I love archictecture. The plane ride was fairly reasonably smooth, along with pretty good food. Me, my buddy Dan, and his coworkers overall made up about six of us in overall. Me, Dan, and couple of other people would be doing a lot of sightseeing, while a married couple would be taking it easy in London, pub-touring. We took off from LAX to Heathrow, then took the Tube subway (a great transportation to get around) toward London. We got to the hotel in the evening, and it started to snow a bit in the streets of London.

Heathrow Airport… love, actually..

The Tube! But, no surfing…

A common scene, especially if you are not driving…good for us, since we can’t drive on the left side.

Travistock has small rooms..	Dinner at the pub…
Fish and chips… popular British dish.	Pub is short for “Public House”

It was snowing in the evening… but it adds to the “feel” of the city.

The following day, Friday, after the arrival on Thursday night, Dan and I, with a tour group, visited Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Oxford. A friend of mine from LA wanted me to get her an Oxford shirt, so I did. The tour guide was extremely informative. For example, a pub is short for “public house.” Back during the industrial revolution, many workers needed housing nearby, so they build apartment complexes. The rooms were quite small, so they built a “public house” per complex where people could hang out. These houses all closed at 11pm so the workers could go back to work the next morning. Thus, to this day, the pubs in London close at 11pm.

Our first stop of the tour was Windsor Castle, which is like the Queen’s common place of residence (whereas Buckingham Palace is more like their office), was particularly noteworthy with its castle structure and extremely ornate interiors. Quite amazing, really.

Continental breakfast…	Our coach/bus
Welcome to Windsor! No cameras inside, please.	The queen and her family lives in this castle…

It feels a lot like time traveling…

Stonehenge, an amazing landmark of 5000 years, was quite impressive, especially considering the function of it being almost like a solar clock. Dan was more impressed with it than I was, as I do tend to lean toward architectural sites. The lush countryside was however quite beautiful.

Oxford (or Oxnard, as one of friends accidentally mis-said it), with a lot of its historical monuments and buildings intact, it is amazing how it all doubles as a university.



Nope, Druids did not build Stonehenge… it was built by what people refer to as the “beaker
people” because these guys were buried clutching pottery (aka. beakers).

You can’t tell here, but the stones are tall.	Stonehenge means “hanging stone”
Sheep.. mowing the lawn.	Oxford…part historical site, part university..

Oxford has a lot of story in its own…

A well-known theater in Oxford..

The next morning, Saturday, as I did the previous morning, I jogged around some of the London areas surrounding our hotel (Travistock), ate breakfast, then met up with our other friends and headed on over to briefly look at Buckingham Palace, then went into Westminster Abbey, passed by Big Ben, then to St. Paul Cathedral. Both were quite amazing, with famous people buried in there. St. Paul has a dome that you can get up through a flight of windy stairs, where you can get a grand whole view of London landscape.



Westminster Abbey. Lots of beautiful statues inside and tombs. Shakespeare,
Handel, Lewis Carroll, and many others were buried here.


Big Ben is actually the name of the bell inside the tower, not the clock itself.


St. Paul’s Cathedral… is quite huge and beautiful. You can actually go up the dome.


A picturesque view of London from above St. Paul.

We had lunch at “Apostrophe” cafe…

London’s oldest pub.

Exterior of the said pub. I believe it was remodeled in 1667.

Spaghetti for dinner…yum…

People love pubs in London..

Quiet, night view of streets of London.


The next morning, which was Sunday, we saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace (they didn’t have it the previous day), then visited the London Eye, which looks like a giant ferris wheel (about the length of the Statue of Liberty), which had a amazing top view of London. Afterwards, we ate lunch (London food), and checked out Tower of London, one of the old medieval castles. Lots of rain that day, but it made it look cool. I wished I had more time to enjoy at Tower of London, but time flew pretty quickly.



In the morning, I was jogging around the neighborhood..


The subway (aka. Tube), a common (and cheap) transportation…

Changing of the guards…

The eye!! The London Eye, that is.

Buckingham Palace… and view downwards from the London Eye.




It’s a good ways down….


Inside the Eye… you can see a lot.

Tower of London!

Beware! Few have returned!

Trebucket, as seen in Age of Kings…	Middle-Ages style chapel…
Save the clock tower! Save the clock tower!	The Tower Bridge is right close by…

For dinner, Dan and I ate with people at Newsong London (affliate of Newsong Church in the U.S.), which is a small group of people in an apartment that meet up, a place to hang out for wayfarers and exchange students. They cooked us up some homemade Jajang with rice and seawood, Korean-style. It’s nice to feel some love.

Nice and toasty away from the rain…

Korean-style home cooked meal!

Following day, we took the Tube back to Heathrow Airport, and flew back to LAX. It’s certainly great to be home with this wonderful southern California weather! The sky was bright blue with lots of puffy clouds.