1. UK 1995 Diary - London
The next day, July 20, I boarded the bus at 8am, threw up 3x
at the onset of our journey, until I finally got a front seat
beside the driver by the time we arrived at Wolverhampton.
At Birmingham, I had biscuits and diet Coke for lunch. We
arrived at London, Victoria Station at 4:20pm. I left my
luggage at the Left Luggage area for 2.50 pounds, and took a
taxi to King’s College Hall (University of London) at
Champion Hill, which I found in the Internet while at Aber.
The room was small but I had my own bathroom, and cost
only 11.50
pounds per night
(including breakfast). On the way
back to Victoria Station, I took the
British Rail from Denmark Hill
Station. At Victoria Place, I ate
chicken with cashew nuts. Then I
decided to leave the luggage until
tomorrow, and went back to King’s
College, tired and lonely.
Friday, July 21, I woke up early for breakfast at 7:30 and took the train to Black
Friar’s, walked past the St.
Paul Cathedral, to be at the
office of IME for a meeting on TINLIB with Ray Dyke and
Steve Chapman. After the meeting, I walked to Farrington
Station, took the train to Tower Hill to see the Tower of
London. The Tower is the oldest of all royal residences,
built in 1078 by William the
Conqueror, and used as prison
for Lady Jane Grey and Rudolf
Hess. The queue was long, so
I decided to see the Windsor
instead. AT 1pm, after eating
pizza in a Lebanese restaurant
near the bus station, I took a
Green Line bus to the Castle
for 5.50 pounds and paid the
entrance fee of 8 pounds at
Windsor gate. The Castle, built by William the Conqueror, serves as the
official residence of the Queen. The tour took us to the State Apartments, to
view the formal rooms for ceremonial occasions, and St. George’s Chapel,
built by King Edward IV in 1475, and completed by Henry XVIII in 1528
(resting place of 10 sovereigns). Back to Kensington Palace and a long walk to
Victoria Station, where I picked up my
luggage, and went straight to Denmark
Hill to King’s College.
The next day, I took the bus to Victoria
for a visit to Westminster Cathedral (the
principal Roman Catholic Church in
England, the largest, built in 1895, with a
campanile 273 ft. high), walked along
Victoria Street, ending at Westminster
Abbey (founded in 1050 by Edward the
Confessor as a Benedictine monastery).
Then I went inside St. Margaret’s Church,

2. took photos of the Big Ben, the House of Parliament, the statues of Oliver
Cromwell and Richard the Lion-
Hearted, No. 10 Downing
Street, the Horses’ Guard,
and Trafalgar Square,
dominated by Nelson’s
Column. Then I entered
the National Gallery and
the Portrait Gallery. After
eating at Soho Square, I
walked towards Piccadilly
Circus and Pall Mall. The
Mall is the famous route for many historic processions. I
took photos of the Crimean Monument (the statues of
Florence Nightingale and other heroes of the Crimean
War), the tree-lined Admiralty Arch (which is at the end of
The Mall), strolled past the Marlborough House, the
Clarence House (home of the Queen Mother),

3. Queen Victoria Memorial (unveiled only in
1911 by George V), and Buckingham Palace,
the official royal residence, bought by King
George IV,
and first
occupied by
Queen
Victoria in
1837. The
ceremony of
the changing
of the guards
takes place at
11:30 am, but
I never got
around to watching such pomp and pageantry. Too many tourists!!! I
took a bus (No. 185) back to Denmark Hill. Passed by a grocery store
to buy coke and sandwiches for dinner.
I woke up late. Arrived at the Tower of London at 10am, and since there was
a long queue, I decided to just walk thru the bridge and back, then walked
thru London Bridge towards Southwark Cathedral (which contains a chapel in
memory of John Harvard, the first
benefactor of the American University)
to catch the mass service at 11. By 12nn, I was walking towards St. Paul’s
Cathedral (London’s crowning glory, another Wren masterpiece, with the
largest dome in the world after St. Peter’s). Stopped by for coke at Le
Grand St. and had lunch
at a bench on the Bastion
Wall (built by the Romans, and situated behind the
Museum of London) before I paid the Museum a 3-hour
visit. The Museum of London is the largest and most
comprehensive city museum. The galleries show what
London was like since it was founded by the Romans in
AD 50. At 4pm, I took a walk to the British Museum via
Great Russell St. One of the world’s greatest, the British
Museum houses a fantastic collection of antiquities and
rare specimens of human achievement. The Manuscript

4. Saloon contained the original King John’s MagnaCharta, Handel’s Messiah, and the Gutenberg Bible. I left the
museum after 6pm, stopped by for coke again at
Bloomsbury and New Oxford St.. Then I took the tube
to change at Oxford Circus for Victoria. Walked again
around Buckingham Palace towards St. James Park
(which stands on one side of The Mall), and
watched the ducks swim along the lake. At
Victoria St., I walked to a travel bureau and bought
a ticket for Leeds Castle, a must-see for the next day’s sight-seeing trip outside London, my last day. Supper
again at Victoria Place, and back to King’s College by 10pm.
July 24, Monday, I paid my bill after
the 7:30 breakfast, took my luggage
to Victoria Station. Waited at the
coach station for the bus until 10am,
only to find out that I should take the
railway. Walked back as fast I could to
the Railway station and reached
platform 8 in time (the train left at
10:18, arriving one hour later at Leeds
Castle). The castle, situated at Maidstone, Kent and one
of the loveliest in the world, is set on two islands in the
center of a motionless lake. Its first royal owners were
Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castille in 1278. It is
home to 6 medieval English queens. It was
converted by Henry XVIII into a royal palace in
early 1500s. The tour included lunch at the terrace
of the Fairfax Terrace. I walked around the garden
and the Maze (got lost for 30 minutes before I
found my
bearing). I
got back to
the coach
park at 4pm.
By 15:15, I was
back at Victoria St., took
the no. 52 bus to
Knightbridge, walked
past Harrods and into
Brompton Road to
enter the London
Oratory Catholic
Church, where I met Fr.
Peter Gee, a newly
ordained priest of the

5. Order of St. Peter, with mission in Kansas. He paid
2 pounds for the guidebook to the Oratory of St.
Philip Neri and gave it to me as souvenir. Walking
along this road, I stumbled onto the Victoria and
Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, the
Science Museum, and the British Library Sound
Archives. Also took photos of Albert Hall along the way
and walked towards the Kensington Palace, home of the
Princess Diana, to Victoria Railway Station, after taking
pictures of the Grosvenor Hotel along Buckingham St.
near the station, and the Royal Mews, home of the royal
carriages. Then I took bus no .185 to Denmark Hill. As
souvenir, I took photos
of Champion Hill St., the
Fox on the Hill Beer
Garden at the corner
along the way, the
entrance to King’s
College Hall, the
reception area, the gardens, and finally my bedroom.
Tuesday, July 25, after breakfast at 7:30 am, I left King’s College Hall to board
Gatwick Express at 9am. At 10, I was still negotiating to get a boarding ticket
(they
wouldn’t allow
me to check in
2 suitcases). At 11, I finally checked in and
boarded the plane. I arrived the next day at
2:00pm and was picked up by Daddy and Vic thirty
minutes later. I received a warm welcome on Monday, 1
August, by my staff, Amy and Tony, with Cres, Cynthia,
Cely, and Fe Sajulan.