Trip London 201711 E

Next, China Town. It's dark already.
So the place is getting busy with visitors.
These two were taken earlier behind the National Gallery.

 China Town is near Leicester Square.

(but I learnt not to believe the estimated timing listed in any map
which must have been done by
a very tall strong youngster who know all the short cuts?)
 
Originally I was looking for something so
I got inside SeeWoo mini supermarket.
(It is not too convenient go to the hyper big one in Croydon.)
So crowded.
I couldn't find the two items I was looking for.
Squeezed in another also crowded snack shop.
I saw moon cakes in HK brand names but printed in Simplified Chinese.
偽もの Nisemono!
Yuck.
A number of shops in China town bear the same names of famous shops
 or restaurants in HK are totally unrelated pretenders.

Be very careful  ! ! ! ! !

This time, the bread in bakery shops did not tickle my fancy either.

I picked up free Chinese newsapaper from the boxes.
(sadly, most are pro-Beijing, except the Epoch Times.)

Time to head back to Japan Centre .
Good that they have vegan choices.
This time I resisted the urge to eat sashimi.
The shop is busy. Long queue.
As time is running out,
I only quickly grabbed a pack of avocado sushi
and a pack-of -4 non-GMO mini natto.
(Pity that they do not stock organic version)

Just in time to get back on coach by 17:25.

The coach went past this theatre showing The Phantom of the Opera.

21th century version of the old British red double-decker.
More see-through at the back
but people can no longer hop on there. 😆
It got a curved door now.

While the coach inched through the traffic jam to get out of London,
I enjoyed the pack of sushi.

A long day.

Coach trip is easier. It picked me up and dropped me off near my place.
No need to have the 4 extra legs to and from the rail stations.

In case you missed the earlier part of this day trip:

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711a.html

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-b.html

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-c-national-gallery.html

http://sn-uk.blogspot.com/2017/11/trip-london-201711-d.html

Trip London 201709 B

After the short detour of the Westminster Cathedral(London),
time to head to SW1.

After finding the bus stop and hopped on a bus...
I found a good seat on the upper deck.

Another type of sight-seeing, slower-pace.

(over 20 photos below. Might take sometime loading.)

Big Ben under renovation

 Big Ben under renovation , with Parliament.

 Nelson Column Trafalgar Square. And National Gallery.

 Trafalgar Square fountains.

I got off the bus around Trafalgar Square.
Then I walked through China Town ( some snack along my way there).

China Town, London. Typical view.

Chinese call this thing   "pai lou"牌樓 /  牌坊"pai fong" / "pai fang"
Where as the Japanese equivalent is 鳥居 "torii".

(A closer look. I do not like the other side.)


Then, my main aim of the day trip...
I went to 💗 Japan Centre on  Panton Street ...

Shopping done in 😍Japan Centre (supermarket with food court)

Happy to see lots of Japanese food items.
Even natto - Japanese fermented soy bean.
(although frozen version)

It has a mini food court with hot food and also cold-food refrigerators,
with lots of  sushi, bento, desserts, etc.

My shopping...

(non-GMO)Natto,  dried seaweed salad, miso suru soup paste, Chilli sesame oil,
etc.

A plant-based nigiri 握り(formed with hands) sushi寿司 pack.  Avocado.
(This version is with white rice. They also have brown rice sushi)

Then, I walked past the Charing Cross Library.
Charing Cross Road. A400.
It used to have many books in Traditional Chinese text.
Now most books are in the inferior Simplified Chinese.
The language in classification signs also changed.
So, it was penetrated by PRC people. They are everywhere. 
  :(


Got on bus a bit further up, for Victoria Station.

St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church　viewed from the upper deck of a bus.

closer.

Trafalgar Square. Post Code: WC2.  Nelson's Column.
The views from the upper deck -- different from walking on the ground level.

 The bus number 24 goes by Whitehall.(A3212)

 Only on the upper deck can you see the cyclists in London from this angle.

?? No horse guard? Oops. Out of office hour already?

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey


Back to Victoria Station, while waiting for the train,
I went to window shopping a little in the shops inside the station.

I chose the correct coaches/compartment and get a seat.
On train,
I enjoyed my seasoned mini natto I bought from Japan Centre,
 and a piece of bread I bought in China Town.

HINT: be careful about trains.
Often, first 4 coaches and rear 4 coaches
parted along the way and go to very different destinations.
-- Listen to announcement carefully.
-- Choose the correct coach before sitting down.
-- Try not to fall asleep.

Trip London 201709 A

One afternoon in September, I fancied visiting London.
I got on a train to Victoria Station.

(📷🔎 many photos; might take a short while loading.)

I got an Oyster card from a tourist information centre.
Walked around the station.
Saw a mini version of the clock tower.

 Part of the exterior of the station.

Victoria Station viewing from the bus stop.

This red building was named one of the most ugliest building in UK.

Little Ben.

This picture show how "little"

100 Victoria Street. Interesting appearance from this angle.
This building is at the bend of Victoria Street near the Victoria Station.

This map show where I left my foot prints :)  🔎


Wandering a little bit around the Victoria Station,
I saw this. Westminster Cathedral.

The tower is 273 feet tall.
The Viewing Gallery of the Tower is 200 ft above street level.
If you pay GBP 5,  you can get there by elevator and get a 360° views across London.
I didn't.

Sorry that the photos were taken from a simple smart phone camera.
Please forgive the distortion of the lens.  

Cathedral Architect: John Francis Bentley.
But the mosiac interior was not done by the time he passed away.
Unconvetional design modelled on a Byzantine basilica. Thanks to sculptor, marble merchant and explorer William Brindley, there are 126 marble varieties insides, from around the world.

Baptistry: the place for baptismal ceremony.

 Ceilings ... glittering. Lots of mosiac everywhere. Modern art/craft.

Lots of chapels around.

Wall decoration of the chapels use
modern art/ modern deco of this century. And... many are glittering.

They said the fish scales designs was to match the fisherman job of the disciple, St.Andrew, the patron of Scotland.

Lots of marble and mosiac.

Holy Souls Chapel inside Westminster Cathedral.

Just a quick tour as it was unplanned detour.

 I put the rest of the day trip on another entry.

First I need to find the bus stop 🚏

churches/ buildings...

Seen some churches. Old and new.

This one is old. With cemetry ground around.

 This one is small. As it is near a market,
 it has been a long relationship with local actors, baskering performers...

This is newer one.

This is from yet another newer type  of

Some like this a cathedral. Asking tourists to pay £xx to visit.

modern building... Exterior facade in style of a castle .

another old style  church.

There have been churches destroyed
by change of political power,
shrinking of Christian populations
or too expensive to repair/maintain...

There are churches (not showing here)
which have been transformed into
 other types of venues by new owners,
like galleries, shops, museums, community centres, residential blocks...