so we walked about the palace grounds, asked the many security officials if it was true that the event had been cancelled. and every single one of them confirmed it. oh well, we decided to check out the palace of the guards nearby. and lo and behold, just as we were approaching, the furry-headgeared guards were marching out. it was exciting, to say the least. well truthfully, for a moment or two, i was squealing with joy. they marched right by me. hehe. we followed them as they marched past the palace and ermm to some building. damn, i don't remember it's name. anyway, a few minutes later, another group of guards marched out. towards the end of the group, they were really young boys. like teenagers. ohhh so cute. some smiling and some grouchy as can be. :) yeah, i know that wasn't the changing of guards but nonetheless, i was thrilled. a wave of luck was coming my way. we then headed down to the london eye, as we had booked a flight for 1130. yeah, a flight on the london eye on a rainy and foggy day doesnt sound like the best of ideas does it? but i was cheery anyway. i didnt want to let a lil thing like the rain ruin the entire day. making our way through the snake like queue took us about 45 minutes. it didnt feel that long though. so all was good. the flight was pretty. it was rather surreal. and although many have told me that it is rather slow and gets a lil boring after a bit, i totally disagree. i really liked the bird's eye view of big ben and the houses of parliament. i liked the eye flight. one of those things you do once. big ben & lil' big ben-heh.

then it was off to oxford street. the shopping heaven. although i didnt plan to shop, i didnt want to miss out on checking out the scene. hee. oxford street & piccadilly circus

we made a stop at hamleys, the greatest toy store ever. i want the giant giraffe. as you can imagine, any toy store is buzzing with kids. happy ones and well, not so happy ones. there were the brats too, "NO i don't want this one. i want the bratz jet plane and i want it now." no seriously, i actually heard a girl say that. kids nowadays. on the other hand, a lil girl was totally excited as her mum had initially agreed to get her a toy but then when she noticed the queues, she changed her mind. you could see the kid's face totally change. she sulked and then burst into tears. she had the sweetest blonde curls and pink cheeks. awww. as for myself, i braved the queue and got myself a funky pen thingamajic. will show u the wonders it can do someday. heehee. from oxford street to covent gardens. no doubt that it is famous for shopping. but i love covent gardens more for its characteristic atmosphere. the random buskers. some funny. some horribly bad! some amusingly delightful. cafe and krispy! - a trip down to krispy kreme was a daily affair. we got our dosage for the day from selfridge's food hall along oxford street! {pic=the lucky few which followed me back to leicester=)}

there are also some pretty good cafes in covent gardens. me and sumi found one which was really cool. it was an italian cafe thingamajic. the food was rather delish but i was tempted to order the waiter. esp when he repeated my order to someone else in italian. heehee. as you head downstairs for seating, you are welcomed by an unexpected awesome ambience. seating is available on the ground level as well. but it had a normal cafe setting. the basement however teleports you to a whole different place. dim yellow lights reflecting off the stone walls. it was like having a meal in a cave of somewhat. but not in a scary way. more romantic. we chose a perfect table at the corner and ate away as we eavesdropped on our neighbours conversations. we were totally all walked out and needed to recharge. so we sat and listened and laughed. the couple on my right were on a first date. found out that he was muslim, working in some finance related stint and boring as hell. and then there was the we-are-so-in-love couple. french dude who was constanly kissing his lil brit miss. not just on her lips mind you, her neck, her hands. he would schpeeel away in french and she would reply in english and be all giggly. a vege lasagne and yummy hot choc later, we were back to being chatty and enjoyed the pretty cafe for a bit before deciding, onwards we should go. next! we had gotten ourselves tickets to watch FAME! yippeee. i was really looking forward to it and enjoyed it very very much. it was full of energy. sent out happy vibes. made you feel like jumping up and dancing as well. and one of the backup dancers was well fit. yum. check it out though, when we initially got to aldwych theatre, we were scared out of our wits because the seat numbers printed on our tickets did not exist. seriously, initially i thought i had overlooked it because i was well tired but they were just not there. well we got it sorted and then FAME! i'm gonna live forever.... the song was stuck in my head for days after. :)

boy. that was one day in london. one rather touristy day indeed. palace, eye, oxford, covent and FAME! london was a 6 days, 5 nights affair. some days touristy, some days just simply enjoying london. weeee. and this time around, although i would have loved to stay at the generator hostel as before, it was well expensive. so we found ourselves at St. Christopher's Village. When we arrived on the first day, we found the area rather dodgy and was a lil apprehensive about the whole thing. oh well, everything worked out fine. Location wise, St. Christopher's was rockin'. well nothing compared to being in the middle of piccadilly circus but i wasn't willing to pay that much! great thing is that there is a sainsbury's just across the road! satsumas and chunky galore! our lil room had 4 bunk beds=8 people. the sheets were blue and the pillowcase, yellow. (first thing i thought was crescent colours!) well some random person was sleeping on the bed originally assigned to me but i didnt mind much becoz i hate climbing to the upper bunk anyway. haha. overall, i guess the room was rather alright except for the fact that guys snore (well actually, a girl from aussie grabbed the snoring trophy on the first night) and it was really noisy being so close to the main road. the toilets and shower alike deserve a whole new entry but i shall not complain much. they claimed to clean the toilets like 3 times a day. though i dont see how it is possible for the toilet to be in such a state if it was cleaned so damn often. whateva the situation was, you still need to shower and what not. be brave. hee hee.

oh by the way, exams start tomorrow. yeah the 16th of january. pray for me. pls. it is rather annoying that my exam starts at like 4.30pm. meaning that before i even enter the hall, it would be dark. urgh. wrap warm. be positive. smile a pretty smile:)