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Tamara's Travels
Saturday 18th September
This weekend was Open House London, where 500 of London's buildings are opened to the public. Such buildings as the King's Library at the British Museum, Bank of England, 30 St Mary Axe (also known as The Gherkin), Westminster Hall & Portcullis, Buddist Centres, Hindu Temple's, etc. Absolutely huge number of a huge variety of buildings. The Gherkin, I would say would have to have been the main attraction, with it's unusual appearance and spectacular architectural design. Unfortunately the queues where anywhere from 3 to 7hrs long, so I passed on that opportunity, and headed off to Windsor Castle with Sophie. I know not exactly in London and not part of the whole Open house London thing, but we couldn't let a beautiful sunny autumn day be wasted indoors.
A very quick train journey out of bustling London and into Windsor and Eton. A tour around the area gave us some insight and great views. We even spotted some young, handsome boys in full dinner suits, shame I'm not that young anymore. Although . . . .
Sophie and I explored and investigated the beautiful towns of Windsor and Eton, touring the Royal castle. Missed out on tea with the Queen, I must have mis-read her invitation to tea, coz she was in Scotland :)
A spot of rain was well timed as we enjoyed some afternoon tea, before taking some more snaps of the picturesque setting. Back to London we headed and decided that we hadn't really seen London by night and we were in the mood for some night photography. Tower hill, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Westminster and Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament all became victims of the Aussie tourists ;o
Sunday 19th September
Another inspired day to explore this city I have been living in before I head on back to good 'ol Melbourne. Went back over to the Gherkin to see if the queues where any less than yesterday, and as luck would have it, they weren't, heheh. A lovely guy selling the Open House London booklets told me there had been people lining up since 6:45am!! Can you believe it? Must be some view. This was when I was pleasantly informed of the unusual architecture of the building finished off with a superb 360degree view of the city. Ah well, another time :)
So off to the Old Turkish Baths, which is now apparently quite a famous little Italian restaurant that's plastered with pictures of famous people with the owner - random. The Rudolf Steiner House in Baker Street was also open with tours running every 15min. A lovely building but not as well kept as would be nice for such a spiritual philosophy building.
Passed by a load of rollerbladers on their way from Regents Park to Hyde Park corner, a regular activity every Sunday at 2pm. Cool. Must find out about horse riding in Hyde Park before I go.
One last stop, the purpose built Iyengar Yoga Institute in Maida Vale. Nice place, very light, perhaps a little harsh being so white, but great energy about the place. Might head on over for the free yoga lesson in a few weeks time.
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