in the Heart of London
Tuesday, June 28th, 2005
London, a city so well-known, but never reached. Finally, I got the chance of a taste of a week’s life in London City. We stayed at an apartment very near to Oxford Street, one of the main Streets in London city, where shopping malls are queued along both sides of the very long road. London is a very busy city, double deckers and old fashioned taxis are everywhere. Cars and bikes also swoops around with foreign (i mean, not original Englishmen) walking around, in and out of the underground tubes. I see there are not many English people here, as the city has turned into a hectic life, only for tourists and survivors.
On a bus tour, we went round the city, dropping first at the Trafalgar Square. 
That is where flocks of pegions gather for food from the visitors. Just as seen on most of tv shows and movies featuring London. Nearby is the National Gallery, where paintings from reknowed artist (Michelangelo, Vincent Van Gogh, Ruben and many more) are stored. The entrance is free. Wonderful sight.
London Bridge is falling down,.. falling down,.. falling down… We crossed 
London Bridge realizing it is just a normal street like bridge, famous because it is situated near the Parliament and the Big Ben. The beautiful one is the Tower Bridge, located near a prison, and was said built by the prisoners of London some time ago. It can be seen from the London Bridge, blue tinted with two towers and double bridges. The lower bridge opens in the middle to let big ships pass tru. During our visit, the bridge was open but couldnt come down to connect, thus keeping the traffic waiting.. well,… what can we say, its an old bridge, it has its flaws..
Royal Albert Hall, is where our M’sian singers, Allahyarham Sudirman Hj Arshad, and Siti Nurhaliza, once performed. It is a circular shaped building, built by Queen Victoria for her beloved husband, King Albert. A monument of him was built across the big hall.
I also had the chance to visit Notting Hill, as in the movie, featuring 
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. I personally wanted to visit the place where our love song, (*wink wink to Basid) "When You Say Nothing At All" by Ronan Keating was featured.. I wanted to find the garden where the bench they sat on together was, but i couldnt find it.. maybe its behind some secret gate I couldnt find. 
‘Notting Hill Gate’ is actually a road, where modest shops and some halal food are. A flea market is open every saturday, selling antiques and very affordable clothes.
Remember the Three Musketeers? One 4 all and all 4 one!! Thats what i remembered when we visited Buckingham Palace. There are guards in red with tall feathery black hats, standing sraight, guarding the palace doors. We missed the Royal Marching though.
We dropped at Harrod’s, the largest and most sophisticated shopping mall in town, where we can only afford to buy ONE chocolate bar. We visited the restroom, and even the ‘ladies’ and ‘gents’ are technologically equipped, complete with butlers to show us around. Whew! People living in London say, if you come to London, and didn’t experience the Harrod’s environment, your visit is simply incomplete.
Regent Park is a blessing place to visit. The roses!! oh boy, they are so BIG and they SMELL SO GOOD, so STRONGLY good, you can smell the flowers once you enter it’s gate. Its a huge park, where people come to relax and have picnics, or spend time by the pond, with the ducks, geese and squirrels, or just jog around enjoying the beautiful plants. The landscape was precious. Some just sat by a tree trunk and read book, some played ball with their kids, and some just had their sweet time together. It was the best garden I have ever been to.
Another interesting place is Madame Tussaud’s. That is where the manequins of
important people are. From artists, to great leaders, and great people, like Einstein, Bradd Pit, Madonna, Marylin Monroe, Julia Roberts, Robbie Williams, Jennifer Lopez, Steven Spielberg, Charlie Chaplin, Roosevelt Franklin, Princess Diana, the Beatles, 
Muhammad Ali the boxer, Mahatma Ghandhi, Queen Elizabeth, George Bush and Blair, you name them, they are all there!
Sherlock Holmes was a detective, once lived in 221b Baker Street, just around the corner. Now, it is the Sherlock Holmes Museum. Although Sherlock Holmes is a fiction, the museum is worth visiting. Youll get to ‘know’ him better, even though you havent any idea about his stories from the series of investigation story book.
Later, we went to a place the 4 of us loved - the TOY STORE!! it was Hamley’s
Toy Store, the largest in town, where the finest toys are. From Disney characters - i bought two Belle of Beauty and the Beast dolls - , to Star Wars, to legos, to teddies, WWF animals soft toys, Bob d Bulider for Basid, control cars, Harry Potter, and many more. But the best part was the Bear Factory, where you can create your very own personalized soft toys. My sister had one done. She got to choose her own character, fill in its body with stuffs, however much she wanted it, choose the costumes for it, and made voices for it, even made a wish for its heart which is sewn into its body. She got herself a pink tubby elephant with pink floral shirt and skirt. How cute!
Stonehenge, one of the prehistoric wonders of the world, still proudly standing and better kept now, is in the middle of a very windy field. People come from all over the place to see it. It was related to many myths and religious reasons, but the original reason of its built was not able to be traced. Until now, a large part of the monument was lost through time, so now, it is kept behind gates, where visitors cannot come near it, and were given hand phones to listen to the stories behind its built.
One of the days, we went to the University of Nottingham. My schoolfriend is studying there, so we had a real close tour guide - (*just kidding Nieza!). I cant believe I’ll meet my good friend here, right here in London! She was my friend since kindergarten, 
but we became very close friends in secondary school. She’s having a good life over there in UK, doing her PhD. She showed us around the beautiful garden-like campus, where she loves so much. I couldnt agree with her more. She has a perfect sanctuary to study in.
The last place we visited was the Natural Science Museum. The best collection was the skeletons of real dinosaurs, fossils, mammoths and other prehistoric animals! Also included all kinds of mammals, birds, and sea animals, (including the largest
blue whale, i thought, but i didnt came across it - how unlucky). There is also a life science section, explaining human growth, and also the composition and complications of our mother nature, particularly the earth. There was a section where we can experience the eartquake in Japan. Volcanoes, stars and planets are thoroughly explained.
It was a learning journey, i must say, visiting London. As I ventured the city and lands, each and every day, I passed through their old but well preserved buildings, monuments, and gardens, each with stories of its own, and I realized the value of human civilization now, - It is history you are very proud of. We will learn to appreciate our nation’s civilization, its ups and downs, and be proud of it. What happens now will always be a reference for us later. That’s our role as Allah’s khalifah in this land - to learn, and make use of what we learn for the betterment of the future.
