Hello London!
[2007.06.24] As Boeing 747 hovering over the spawling city with many large and small green spots, I could see the Thames river and some palatial buildings through between the pockets of clouds. Yes this is my first time approaching the great city of London.
After a short ride of Heathrow Express to get into city center, an old-fashioned taxicab (a really old car) swinged around the large green area of Hyde Park/Kensington Garden to get me to Holiday Inn - Kensington Forum, where Natural History Museum and Imperial College is just several minutes away. Even after more than 10 hours of traveling, I decided to explore the surroudning area of Kensington. Wandering around the Hotel, I checked out Waitrose to buy daily supplies, and most of things are really expensive with current exchange rate of 1 pound = 2+ dollars. Also found a Underground Tube station (London’s subway) and bought an Oyster card which is travel pass of getting around London. In the evening, I tried to take the Tube, which is really like very old crampy tube - no comparison to San Francisco’s BART, to a nearby shopping center where has famous Harrods and Harvey Nick’s. Unfortunately, the shop closed already at 6:00pm, and it was raining. My water-proof jacket helped me in the misty rain.
It is Sunday, June 24, 2007. And it is going to come with a week of quite big events. First, I learned that Tony Blair stepped down from PM post, and Gordon Brown will be move to 10 Downing St soon. Second, the Wimbledon Grand Slam (Grass Court Tennis) is going during next two weeks.