A picture is worth a 1.000 words. My vacation in 62.000

[beelikej]

My vacation in 60+ pictures: London! Cardiff! Fangirling!
(All pictures are resized to 500 pixels width. For a closer look, right click and select 'view')

DAY 1: From Zwolle to London

8.23, the busstop in front of my apartment


8.45, it's too fucking early to be catching a train to Rotterdam


Quite an amusing warning sign, until you realise people may actually be *that* stupid :-)


Pretty bug. Sadly I may have injured it when it crawled onto my pants and I flicked it away. Sorry. I thought it was going after my lunch.


It was very hot inside the Eurostar-waiting area, so I found a bench outside until boarding for the tunneltrain commenced.


All aboard for the 14.59 (2.59 pm) to Londen St. Pancras


I love this building fence - close to my hotel, across from the Northside of Kensington Gardens


My hotel... (affordable, but not recommended)


At least the bathroom was clean,


but the floor and bed were not. (Bring your own sheet is my advice for budget travelers - I used a silk sleepingsack;)


Summary of day 1: traveling (train), walking (thanks to construction work on Underground) and finally checking in in hotel. At night I went to see 'Hancock' in Vue Cinema on Leicester Sq. and I bought a pair of big bitching blue sunglasses:)


DAY 2: London - Camden & Brief Encounter

This is what they call a continental breakfast. I only drink tea when traveling. I prefer it the English way: lots of sugar, lots of milk;)


I love the new animated type of advertisements in the Underground. I also love the Underground.


Camden: even if you don't like shopping (like me) you can still enjoy the awesome buildings.
Plus if you are looking for funky stuff, this is the place to go.
It's best to plan your visit in the morning. In the afternoon the market gets hellishly crowded.


I totally resisted the lure of the donuts, but I had to get a glass of real lemonade though. They don't sell the sour stuff in the Netherlands.


Camden Lock


Back on Leicester Square, I saw the arrival of Wall-E on the red carpet.
Except the carpet was blue. And I didn't see any celebrities, only a lot of unknown journalists.


Close up of Wall-E


An artistic point of view of Piccadilly Circus *g*


There are not a lot of shows on Sunday, I got a ticket for Brief Encounter, a stage performance of an old film by Noel Coward.
The actors were also part of the audience plus they stepped in and out the movie, it was fascinating.
The cinema in which they performed was very pretty: an old style theatre with all the staff dressed up like we were in the 30s. Awesome.


My home away from home: 24 hour access to the internet, best place in town:)


Summary of day 2: Scored vinyl in Camden: a special edition Yellow Greenday LP and a PatD single.
I also spent some time in Hamley's, but I only bought a cuddly toy and candy. In the afternoon a visit to the theatre:)


DAY 3: London - Oxfordstreet + Avenue Q

My big blue bitchglasses on Oxfordstreet:)


To get away from the shoppingcrowd I went to Embankment and crossed the bridge to relax on the South Bank.


St. Paul's Cathedral among other buildings;)


Good food: more lemon drinkie, a Marsmuffin (yeah, I know, never heard of it either, it's evil!) and honey-yoghurt. Mmmm.


In the distance: Big Ben, Westminster Hall and the Houses of Parliament, behind the tree: London Eye.


Avenue Q


Awesome show. Go see it. I already knew two songs (The Internet Is For Porn + If You Were Gay) but every single one of them is worth it.


Summary of day 3: Shopping in Oxfordstreet: books, music (more vinyl!) and dvd's. Avenue Q!


DAY 4: Cardiff & Chem

Train from Paddington Station. It's a LOT cheaper to travel after nine am. (FYI: 57 in stead of 128 pounds for a return)


Fancy that: a reserved seat:)


Welsh. Apparently. I'm glad they offer a translation in English.


At exactly noon I met Chem and Stef. \o/


We had pasties for lunch. Mmmm.


And then we visited Cardiff Castle.


I especially liked all the cool details.


This is the original castle (from around 1200), it's enclosed by newer buildings.


A great view from the top: the surrounding newer castle ground and in the background the Millenium Stadium.


The symbol of Wales.


That must be the best brandname for a beer.


I'm not sure if I can understand all these rules *g*


Tadaah: the Millenium Centre. You might recognize this from a little series called Torchwood. I understand it also features in something called 'Doctor Who'.


The citycouncil thought it was a good idea to celebrate the summer by decorating the fountain with strawberries. I cried a little.
Also: because of all the construction work we weren't allowed near it. But the very nice foreman hinted that we might sneak in after the work was done....
In the mean time we walked to the bay-area.


The pier. Ah, I remember it well: were Ianto tried to convince Jack he could make coffee (Fragments)


... and also were Owen jumped into the water (and climbed out dripping wet;)


The entrance of the Torchwood office! Eeeeeeeeeee!11!!!!


Freaking Fangirls :-D


Art.


Where Tosh had a good time with Tommie.


If you look closer, you can see faces on the back of the statue.


I recommend going to the tourist-office first (the official one in the bay;) for a list of locations. And maybe some lessons in Welsh.


Fun: the Who Exhibition; lots of good stuff...


Doctor Ten's and Martha's clothes: the Lazarus Experiment


Yep. That's me and the Tardis. It was spinning!


Don't worry, Chem and Stef had their eyes on it. Still: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaargh.


I love the Ood.


We had a pretty dinner. With lovely waiters as well *g*


And then we sneaked to the fountain for some fangirly-pics. Fucking strawberries.






Summary of day 4: Cardiff! Chem! Awesome!


On day 5 I wrote postcards in Kensington Gardens and traveled back home. I left London at 14.34 and got home around 22.30.

Comments

[sillie]

Seems like you had a really great time over there. Awesome pictures! :D

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

I had a marvelous time:) Thanks!

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

Looks like you had a good time!

I couldn't help but see the Norwegian flag in the picture with the statue with the faces on the back... guess it's like hearing your name, it stands out. :-)

I am so envious at you for meeting Chem, but then I am envious at her for meeting you too! Glad you see you both enjoyed it!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Yep:)

I have to admit I was a little nervous, I'm not used to meeting people. But -of course- we had a great time:)

[chemfishee.livejournal.com]

It was the Norwegian church that is now the Arts Centre. Pretty building.

[bflyw.livejournal.com]

Oh I know that. :-) Had to look it up when I saw the episode where Tosh and Tommy stood outside that building (and again: the flag stood out). I figured it was "sjømannskirken" but wasn't sure... but it was :-)

[mangojunkie.livejournal.com]

After it took me a good hour to actually get all the pics loaded I finally manage. I am very very patient.

No idea how much you paid for your hotel but there is a lovly little hotel up in Belsize Park, a tube stop from camden Town and it isn't expensive, well at least last time I checked it wasn't.

How I miss london and camden. I lived i Camden for a year and your little trip just convinced me I sooooo need to go bck there for a weekend.

Lovely pictures =) But it looks like you were not so lucky with the weather.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Ahw, such dedication, I'm glad you liked the pictures. The weather was perfect for me, I even managed to get sunburned, despite the clouds. I must say the pictures don't do the temperature justice.

I have a feeling that single rooms are always the worst ones, but maybe I'm too suspicious. It was good to have a place of my own and not share the bedroom, shower and toilet with other backpackers:)

Hey, if Kevin Spacey is doing another play, I definitely want to go to London again, so if you want company...

[kennedy-unknown.livejournal.com]

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

So fricking jealous!

The strawberries are TERRIBLE, though. Reminds me of my poor sister, who wanted more than anything to see the Trevi Fountain, and when she got there it was covered in scaffolding.

Ianto's office is REAL! I just thought it was a set! Was he working that day? ;)

AND YOU STOOD ON THE LIFT!!!

/fanboy squeeing.

You guys looked like you had a fab time - this means I should get off my arse and get over to meet you guys one day. At the moment, probably 2012, just before the world ends.

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

*grins* A little vicarious joy for you, I understand;)

Oh, the strawberries, so horrid. *pouts*
I complained about the strawberries at the touristinformationcentre in the bay and the lady behind the desk told me it was the theme of the summerseason. She felt very sorry, apologized and offered me a bookmark as a souvenir. A bookmark with.......... strawberries. You got to love the Welsh sense of humour;)

Sadly Ianto was not at work, but the whole area made me feel like I could run into any of them at any moment. It was so fricking exciting:)

Yay for squee!

2012. *scribbles date in planner* Cool.

(Or, you know, I could plan my next vacation in your part of the world;)

[chemfishee.livejournal.com]

We kept waiting to see if he was working. We even stalked the area above the tourist office for a bit, hoping to catch a glance. Alas. Stef had bought coffee and I kinda hoped that might lure him out.

It's actually the real former information centre! There's a 'i' sign that's covered by the cage that didn't come out in any of the pictures. Sad. But it had old newspapers in glass cases surrounding the door. It was awesome.

YOU NEED TO GET WORKING ON THIS!

[fred-bear.livejournal.com]

Much in the way of shiny, happy photos there.

Love the big blue bitchin' sunglasses! :)

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Good times, really good times:)

8-)

Warning: Comment of dooooooooooooooooooooooom coming!

[chemfishee.livejournal.com]

Ahahahahahaha!

First, I still think it's hilarious that we went to Avenue Q but on different nights. So awesome.

And now for the important part:
1. You forgot to mention that we were late because of the whole "navigating Cardiff" thing. ;)
2. My pasty was probably the best food of my whole trip. Absolutely delish!
3. The castle! We totally used it for navigation the next day, which I will tell all about.
4. Brains is not only a fantastic name for a beer, but it's also a damn good beer.
5. THE BAY AREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
6. DR. WHO EXHIBIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the quiz for nothing.
7. AHAHAHAHAHA! The waiter! She's not going to live that down for a long time. It's just not possible.

And finally!
FUCKING STRAWBERRIES! Apparently they weren't just putting them up when we got there. But I still love the bookmark story.

Thank you for an AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME day, bb! We must do it again.

Re: Warning: Comment of dooooooooooooooooooooooom coming!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

1.I was just so very glad you two made in within my deadline. "Navigating Cardiff", we should write a helpguide on that *g*
2. Mmmm, I can still taste the perfect filling.
3. I'm impatiently waiting for your picpost:)

5+6+7: gigglesquee!

It was marvelous. Such a perfect day.

So: where to meet next time?

Re: Warning: Comment of dooooooooooooooooooooooom coming!

[chemfishee.livejournal.com]

1. Ahahaha! We definitely need to do that. There will be a chapter devoted to each map that we consulted.
3. I'm impatiently waiting for Stef to finish transferring all of her pics. Coming soon!

I'm thinking of the next place. This could take a bit. Suggestions?

Re: Warning: Comment of dooooooooooooooooooooooom coming!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Weeeeeeell, I understand there is a fanboy on the other side of the world who would like to meet us... *grins*

Re: Warning: Comment of dooooooooooooooooooooooom coming!

[chemfishee.livejournal.com]

Oh really? I may have heard mention of this once or twice... :) I have to see what I can do about remedying this.

[tanisafan.livejournal.com]

Here comes teh comment:

- love the bitchin' blue sunglasses! They're even cooler than my diva/jerk sunglasses, damnit.
- tea should not have milk in it. EVAR. *shudders*
- Are the animated ads new? They were around in '05 when I was clever enough to go to London the day after the attacks, iirc. But yes, Tube = win.
- Oooo, jealous of the Noel Coward show. I'm still miffed that they changed the name of the Albery to the NCTheatre though. It's a gorgeous theater though, right? *hearted it and spent the whole intermission ogling*
- VINYL. VINYL OF PANIC. *keels you with jealous death rays (but not really)*
- Eeeeh, Avenue Q! I love that show so much. Although, me and my mom spent the next day singing Everyone's A Little Bit Racist, which is apparently bad form.
- CHEM! CARDIFF! OMGWTFCAPSLOCK.
- Hee, door to the TW office. Iirc correctly, when Kes and Dana took their photo ther, someone mumbled 'bloody Torchwood'. *veg*
- OMG so jellus of the exhibit! Even if I never got to see the finale. *sulk*
- OOD. INVISIBLE LIFT.
- OMG ANGELS DO NOT WANT.

Wow, that is too much win for one post, almost. *dies of envy* Thanks for the shaaaaaring!

[beelikej.livejournal.com]

Yay for long comment AND CAPSLOCK!

I prefer milk without the tea really;)

Ahw, the animated ads, they must have been around for a bit, but my brain had kind of forgot; it had been longer than I thought since I was in London. I got excited all over again *g*

You would have loved the Brief Encounter performance and that old cinema was even prettier than the Noel Coward Theatre. For real.