[L.E.P.A.K series: London] Chap 23: St Paul's Cathedral

And We're back in London yo! 

After a good night's rest in our super comfy hotel bed, we woke up to another early morning of exploration. We took a breezy morning walk to Waterloo station and rode the tube out to Bank (that's the name of the station and not an actual bank. hehe).

Upon exiting the station, we were greeted by our first sight of spring. 

Since it was towards the end of March, we were caught between winter and spring. It was chilly as ever throughout our entire trip but we eventually warmed ourselves towards this somewhat cold and gloomy city. 

 In fact, after five days, we bravely decided to dress more like a local and loose a few layers of clothes with only a layer of tights to warm our legs. Not bad at all! Either that or the weather did get a little less colder as the days passed by. But a girl can imagine, right?

Our first itinerary for the day was St Paul's Cathedral. 

We actually arrived at the back of the cathedral because that's where the closest tube exit was. It was a great choice actually because we then get to stroll along the side garden before finding ourselves in front of the cathedral.

There were little squirrels running around the garden. A really cute sight to behold and Mr Man here whom in my opinion looked very much like Jason Statham (LOL) was generously feeding the squirrels. Poor pigeon was longing for a crumb too, don't you think? Hehe. Mr Man looked very much like a regular guy on his way to work, who also makes it a point to stop by to feed his little buddies. Why? Because both Mr Man and the squirrels looked very much accustomed to each other and he even had them running up and down his body.

Squirrel!! Squeeee! 

A not-bad-shot from my three-year-old-compact camera don't you think? 

*shameless* 

 But this was no winning shot.

It's this that is the winner! 

Thanks Cik Anai for this much-loved photo. :D

This little garden turned out to be quite a 'high-traffic' place with many people walking through it to get to the tube station, obviously on their way to work. Only us two silly gals were loitering around, all carefree and shameless taking photos of ourselves.

Like I said, carefree and shameless. In a good way. Hehe.

A side view of the cathedral. That's the awesome thing about free and easy travelling. If we were here on tour, we would have probably missed out on all these little morning wonders. Probably all we would have seen was...

THIS! 

 Finally, we found ourselves at the front of the cathedral. 

 However, we were there way ahead of schedule as doors only opened at 8.30am. So we headed out to a Marks & Spencer nearby and bought ourselves breakfast. Upon stepping in the aroma of freshly baked buns greeted us and soon after, we found ourselves staring at the sandwich aisle with our mouths open, undecided on what we want because... well, we wanted everything. Haha. 

 Call me crazy but it was also nice to be a part of the morning crowd there, many of which were there to grab a pack of sandwich before heading off to work. We on the other hand, stood lingering around with some extra time in our hands.

 There was a bank a few doors down and guess what? We stepped right in! You see, a few days ago while we were buying our tickets to Tower of London, Cik Anai's £20 note got rejected. Turns out, the note was... was... an old note! Hahaha. Nope, we did not get cheated on a fake note, just an old one. The lady there told us that we can change it in any banks. So that's how we ended up visiting a bank. Guess I can check that off my list "Visit a bank in a foreign country...Check!" 

Surprisingly the bank turned out to be less electronic-driven than those in Malaysia. No waiting number was taken and we actually lined up for our turn much like the good old days. As if I'm that old to talk about the good old days, but yeah, surprising nonetheless. Tellers were not sitting behind high counters either but normal height table tops.

With our breads in hand and new notes in Cik Anai's pocket, we continued our stroll to find a place to settle down and enjoy our breakfast.

Behold Breakfast! 

Classic Ham (from British farms so says the packaging), Cheese & Pickle on Malted Brown Bread for me and a more humble Classic Free Range Egg & Watercress on Malted Brown Bread for Cik Anai. And because we're hungry travellers, an extra hot cross raisin bun for each of us. Yummmmmy! 

Taste aside, you know what I love about these sandwich?

The Packaging! 

It tears right at the centre and...

Lo and behold, carries a sandwich on each side. Awesome possum if you ask me. This is not something found in Malaysia. Modest bank yet state-of-the-art sandwich pack. London, you amuses me.

Nature called after breakfast and this was what greeted us at the public toilet. Haha. No need for a Makcik to collect entrance fee. Just drop the right amount of coins into the gates and step right in. 50p is the fee, that's RM2.50 for a piss. Sigh.

Finally, we're all set to visit this sanctuary. Our rail card entitled us to a 2 for 1 promotion which saved us a bunch. That's the reason why we chose the regular travel card over the more popular Oyster Card. It entitles travellers to various 2 for 1 promotion at a lot of tourist attractions.

This is the gate of heaven. :)

The only clear shot that Cik Anai managed to sneakily capture inside the cathedral. Yup. The no camera allowed rule applies here. That is why this post which is supposed to be on St Paul's Cathedral had a very long 'introduction' to all that is around and outside of the cathedral because I have nothing to show of the inside. 

Yes. It was majestic and a tad more luxurious-looking than Notre Dame Cathedral. I guess having an entrance fee does amount to better funding, but luxurious does not necessarily outdo classic charm. The climb up to the Whispering Gallery was tiring, dizzy and memorable. The underground crypt was serene and eerie. The souvenir corner was busy and delightfully vibrant. All in all, St Paul's did offer a more all-rounded experience that stirred up a mix of emotions as oppose to Notre Dame. 

 It was two hours of serenity before we head out to catch a glimpse of the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I'll leave that for the next post! ;)

WE ARE MOVING YO!

We're just one day away from MOVING DAY!

Unlike last week, we're no longer sitting in a store room. 

Today it seems we're sitting among 'well' labelled boxes. Yes! Studio is now known as Area No.5. Now Mr IdunTalkMuch may not necessarily express himself with words a lot but he's sporting enough to participate in his own 'expressive' way.

This goes out to Tinki who personally requested to keep her updated on the progress. 

While others are moving, she looks like she's migrating. o.O;;

And this goes out to Ms 'Loon' June who left her 'crap' behind 

while she enjoy-enjoy in Australia.

Here's another box of Mr Skimmer Dude's shit (his own words). 

He's delusional enough to think anyone would ever want to steal it.

Introducing Ms Beauty.

(It's not about vanity, she's just a very very crazy Beast fan. FYI, Beast is a korean 

idol group and their fans are vain enough to call themselves Beauty. =P)

The peeps at Area 1 posing one for the camera.

Look at what was found. Little Tinki! *snickers*

A proud mama!

And finally we arrived at Area No.6.

Here's Ms Bee posing for the camera. 

I can just hear Mr Skimmer Dude complaining, "Why girls ask to pose for the camera 

only will automatically do the VVVVVV sign?!" Hahaha.

And we're back at Area No.5. There you have it, 5 Sekawan Minus 1. 

Ironically, the missing one's paper was stuck in a different direction from the rest. Hehehe.

Here's one more with me wanting to be in the picture yet 

not waiting to be in the picture. Women. Fickle minded creatures we are. 

 Alright. That's about it.

Bye yo!

Go, Going, GONE!

Remember Lights, Camera, Reflector from last week?

Take a look at the background and everything around Mr IdunTalkMuch 

and PSP-san. Noticed how fun-filled the entire place is with Astro Boy standing tall against 

a whole bunch of other 'ornaments'? Or what I call 'ting-ting-tang-tang'.

Noticed how we build paper forts around us?

Well, they're all gone now. :(

All that's left is a cup of teh-ping on the shelf and 

a packet of Tinki's only edible food from her desk.

This was last Tuesday before we went off on our one-day public holiday

in conjunction with our Agong's installation which also happened to be the day 

the tremors of the earthquake in Acheh was felt in Penang.

Empty magnet board with no 'ting-ting-tang-tang' whatsoever. 

A tad sad looking don't you think?

So cold, without any personal warmth.

Well, if you think that's sad...

We came back on Thursday to THIS.

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE YO!

It's Gone!

Our hanging cabinets are gone!

Too bad we only remembered to take some photos after we cleaned up and settled down in our now very empty looking studio. When we came in the morning, our room looked... well, like it was indeed struck by an earthquake. o.O;; Drawers on the floor. Boxes tucked under the tables. With dust, dust and more dust everywhere!

With boxes stacked up in a corner behind us (you can't see them in this picture) 

and lines of leftover dried glue sticking on the walls, we pretty much look like 

we're working inside a storeroom at the moment.

:(

BUT!

The good news is that it's only for a week!

Because all this little 'sacrifice' is for our new office.

Yup. Next time, you'll be seeing a not-very-different (because let's face it, 

we're pretty much moving ourselves from here to there, so you'll be seeing the same stuff in a different manner only. hehe.) office backdrop for any future work-related posts. 

 In other words,

WE ARE MOVING!

[L.E.P.A.K series] Chap 22: Goodbye Amsterdam!

We should have seen it coming when we 'decided' to miss our train out of Zaanse Schans. That was the sign of our short streak of unfortunate incidents. *sad face* It all begun while we were waiting for our train to arrive. We knew for sure that the train heading to "Centraal" was our definite ride back to Amsterdam but there was a train scheduled earlier for a different destination. We were not sure if that train will be passing by "Centraal", so we decided to play it safe and wait for our 'sure' train. 

 To our surprise almost everyone got on the first train that arrived, putting us in a state of indecisiveness. Should we hop on or not? Hop? No hop? Hop? No hop? By the time we were done panicking, the doors have closed and we watched helplessly as everyone leave the station. *double sad face* 

 We consoled each other by convincing ourselves that playing it safe was the smarter choice and took that extra 20 minutes or so to rest in the quiet train station. Little did we know the bad news that was waiting for us back at Amsterdam. 

 Upon arriving at Amsterdam Centraal, we hurried off to the ticketing counter to check our train schedule out to Brussels where we will be catching the Eurostar back to London. Our initial plan was to spend around three hours or so to explore Amsterdam itself before heading off. Instead, we were informed that the next train and apparently the only train for us was leaving within the next hour, minus the buffer time we need to be at the platform, all we had was approximately half an hour left. It was a major disappointment! 

No time to feel bum though.

Time to make the best of our time at Amsterdam.

No bad news shall stop me from putting a smile on my face. 

That's me in front of the iconic Centraal train station.

From here on, we went on a snap and go mode.

Yet, once in a while, we can't help not to stop and stare. *grins*

Look at that crowd!! 

If only we had time, we wouldn't mind lining up for some real Hoh-lan-shuuu (apparently Cantonese refers potatoes as Holland Potatoes, not sure why the specific country though, probably because the first imported potatoes were from Holland?) Wait.... going out of topic here. Anyway, it was a bummer we couldn't try the what-we-assumed-to-be-awesome potato wedges. After all, potatoes are Cik Anai's absolute favourite.

Amsterdam is certainly a very *ahem* liberal place for business.

 Be mindful that coffee shops here do not necessarily serve you coffee. Hahaha.

This is really an interesting place to be I tell you, and we didn't even make it to the red light district where women parade themselves openly behind (oxymoron? lol.) full length windows.

Even their taxi is one of a kind.

Not to mention the people. Hehe.

That's about as far as we went from Centraal station and we had to 

make our way back. *sad face*

Here's another trademark of Amsterdam. The triple X. 

You'll see XXX at every possible design anywhere.

*sigh* And with heavy hearts, we bid farewell to Amsterdam. I initially wanted Amsterdam to be just a stop, look, go destination to check it off my travel list. However, I didn't get to finish 'looking', so now I'm left wondering if I will ever be back again to do so. 

 With our time cut-short at Amsterdam, we found ourselves with some extra time at Brussels-Midi Station instead. So off we went...

Grocery Shopping!! 

Hahaha. That my friends, is a giant vending machine! It's crazy, really. I did not even realised I was standing behind one until Cik Anai exclaimed "Omg, that's a vending machine!" 

 Mind you, this is not where we did our 'shopping'. There is in fact an actual supermarket right behind this vending machine. The funny thing was the entrance of the supermarket was smaller than the machine itself. We went in to scout around for any goodies to buy, like Belgium chocolates!! 

 We were 'inspecting' the chocolate aisle when a lady beside me, tipped me off in a low voice, saying the chocolates here were outrageous in price. She can get the same chocolates in the same supermarket in town at a much lower price. Well, that's no surprise since Brussels-Midi Station is an Eurostar stop which means a whole lot of tourists commute in and out of the station every day. Tourist spot, ergo tourist pricing. Boohoo.  

Since we bought enough chocolates to go around in Zaanse Schans, and since we were specifically told that the chocolates are expensive, we opted not to be 'cheated' and instead stepped out with bottles of mineral water. Hahaha. Water is essential and it is cheaper here than back in London due to the currency exchange. So us 'poor' travellers chose to carry a 1.5 litre bottle each (my vague memory seems to tell me that Cik Anai bought two bottles o.O) just to save ourselves a ringgit or two. So kiam siap right? Hahaha.

And since we still have MORE time. Sigh. How I wish all this time was spent in Amsterdam instead. We chose to sit down and have our third 'sit-down' meal in a row!

Mezzo Di Pasta. 

Pasta in take-away boxes like Chinese take-outs in the US of A. *grins* We don't get pasta take-outs like this in Malaysia. But it was not the boxes that made us all giddy with joy...

It's what was inside! 

Look at the cheeeeese. Yummmmmmy! Though the entire pasta experience wasn't one to shout about. :P Not exactly awesome stuff but not to bad nonetheless. 

 With our stomachs filled and loads of water in hand, we catch our night ride back to London for a good night's sleep back in our hotel room. A luxury really, after two days of intense walking and an awkward night on the bus. Hehe. That's the end of our short yet very memorable adventure in Europe. 

 Next up, back in London!