Streets of London

Wandering around the streets of London is one of the better things to do in this bustling city. On one fine day in June 2009, I took a walk starting from Covent Garden Piazza in front of St. Paul's Church.

Walking along King Street brought me to the building formerly occupied by the Photographers Gallery. Unfortunately it has just been moved. If it were there, I would surely spend hours going through all the photographic exhibitions and grab a few photography books.

I continued walking along Garrick Street and came to Chinatown on Lisle Street.

It was still quite early in the morning, so the streets of Chinatown were still very quiet. Perhaps it would get busier in the later hours.

Not seeing much activities going on in Chinatown, I just took just a little while strolling around the area to look at the Oriental gates and left through one of them.

Adjoining Lisle Street is Shaftesbury Avenue lined with fine theatres. I didn't have the chance to watch any theatre play though because it was day time. I wonder whether there will be any day-time performance in the future.

At the other end of Shaftesbury Avenue is Piccadilly Circus. There is a big roundabout here without any circus performance. I was expecting some acrobatic shows but was disappointed.

Well, I turned to people watching for some entertainment since there was no circus show.

I kept walking on Piccadilly and found an interesting church. It is the St. James's Piccadilly. There is a cafe and some market stalls selling crafts and antiques inside the church compound.

The Ritz is also nearby. However, I couldn't afford to stay even for one night.

From The Ritz, I turned into Green Park and walked heading towards Buckingham Palace.

I was in time for the change-of-gurad parade, but it was too crowded. So, I had to watch it from a distance.

Only when the ceremony was over, I had a chance to peep into Buckingham Palace from the steel-bar fencing.

There is one question that has been bugging me until now. Was the guard uniform derived from the post box, or vice versa?

Please don't punch me for asking this question, or else I gotta run with one of them taxis.