On the road again! Navigating the traffic leading up to Marble Arch and Oxford street... This place was so happening that I assumed it was the centre of London, the kind of navel where everything stems from. For me however the centre of London is nowadays in Trafalgar Sq. And being a spoilt inner city renter, anything passed oxford circus tube feels like the stix haha.
Continued:
... After boarding the bus and leaving Buckingham Palace we were whisked through the very posh streets of Green Park and up towards the very famous Hyde Park. Cass had great fun explaining to me that hoardes of people sunbathe in Hyde Park in the summer. Something I couldn't wrap my head around. I mean imagine all these pasty Brits getting their kits off and lying on grassy knolls in the middle of the city. But turns out they do it and do it in great numbers to boot. We had a good ol chuckle about this as we neared Marble Arch, with its very eclectic group of statues... seriously. A giant green horses head, a 'marble arch' and a pack of jelly bean babies all kind of randomly tossed together doesn't sound at all aesthetically pleasing... but it works. Kind of... haha. It's very 'London'. 'London' being the way that things of all different eras and styles and ideas are thrown on top of one another at different points in history. Everything has a story, has a meaning and with so many people concentrated in one area it makes sense that all these stories and meanings and happenings would overlap... resulting in a horse, an arch and some jelly beans living amicably beside one another in the middle of one of London's busiest intersections.
See what i mean about the giant green horses head? I believe it commemorates a particular type of breed of horse that was quite popular with the wealthy and aristocratic families. If you can notice in this sideways portrait the ears of the horse are quite twisted which was apparently handy in how the horse weather the strong winds and rain. Cool little bit of trivia is that this statue was only supposed to remain in the park for 28 days after its unveiling... however many years later its still standing strong and doesn't appear to be vacating anytime soon. At first I thought this sculpture was quite garish, but now its definitely grown on me, I also enjoy being able to say to people ill meet you at the nags head in marble arch... see how London i am. with my slang and knowledge haha.
After passing through Marble Arch the buses next stop was out front of Madame Tussuad's wax museum. Now I had already been to Madame Tussuad's in Amsterdam and I'd had a great time so naturally Cass and I decided it was time to hop off our trusty bus and head inside to catch up with some well known Brits!
It was a long line but the music inside had us bopping about and the lighting inside was so dark that i felt like i was waiting in line for an exclusive night club haha. Imagine how freaky that would be, a night club with realistic wax figures of famous people... I'm just going to stop that spooky though right in its track and show you guys some pics of Cass and i getting friendly with some stars.
Look how excited we are, russel brand and i had a great time swapping stories and cass found a wax figure of an Uncle Pete look alike. haha.
Lady Diana and Cass were swapping stories about their travels in Africa when i happened to get in a sneaky photo of them. I however was just exchanging pleasantries with Harry one of the more interesting members of the royal family when he brazenly asked me for a hug. what a cad! He never did call me back...probably because grand mumsie and the prince of bad jokes were looking on disapprovingly...
Haha :)
And last but not least, seeing as we were in his neck of the woods Cass and I stopped for a quick chat with Sherlock Holmes. He gave me some excellent tips on avoiding crime and debauchery in this sordid capital city...
Elementary my dear Emily... The actual Sherlock Holmes (from the books) has himself a very nice statue just outside the building and his silhouette is also on all the wall tiles in the Baker Street underground station. Turns out quite a few people make the pilgrimage to see these two things.
Before finishing our tour through the wax museum Cass and I stumbled into the museums horror house which is one of the only ways to get out of the place. Turns out you have to fake heart problems or be a small child to be allowed to leave the building like a normal person. Cass and I didn't qualify for either of those and so naturally we were lead through a very realistic underground dungeon with hum entrails, skeletons and the like dangling from the walls. Each time something jumped out and I screamed the tour guide would yell "its ok, company policy is that they wont touch you" like that made it all ok... Glad to finally emerge and giggling at my silliness Cass and i re- boarded the bus and were off towards Regent street and Trafalgar square (thankfully no wax figures insight).
In the dark you could be forgiven thinking this thing is real, especially with all the sound effects and twitching mechanisms surrounding it. nice way to thank the patrons for visiting i guess..."thanks for coming, have a scream and shout, go on get out" sort of thing. (i do not own this photo. blah blah blah.)
Sitting in the sun on top of the bus was wonderful after emerging from the scary exhibit, we were able to relax and chat as we sped past lots of great sights. Taking it all in and working on our tans as well.
Down Regent Street and through Theater Land, past Trafalgar square and towards St Pauls. No time to pay another 16 quid (stupid churches) to walk around inside. And towards my beloved Tower Bridge, but first a quick trip over the river into my now home borough London Bridge. Naturally at the time I didn't know i would live here and because of all the zigging and zagging that we did on the bus I actually thought we were in the north of London and not the south east. It took me weeks of dumb questions like. "which side of the Thames do i live on" and "that's on the Oxford circus side right". Eventually though I figured it all out. You see when i finally started working at the Marylebone I was a little inexperienced with the tube, so i used to catch the only tube line i knew of (central line- stops no where near where i live) jump off at St Pauls cathedral (also not very close to me) and walk along the Thames until i got home (a good 1.30 half trek).
Happy snaps of St Paul's as we zoomed on past and Cass and i strike a pose because who wants to look at photos of scenery from their holidays haha. Ive been trying in vain to figure out which building is behind us in this photo... looks like it will just have to remain a mystery for now...
That's all for now, i shall write more about getting off at London Bridge and heading into the London Dungeon at a later date...
