Back from London.

My visit to London was mostly about travelling underground, walking on the sidewalks, sitting in open two-decker buses, roaming in the downtown and visiting various tourist attractions like Madame Tussauds, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge (popularly confused with the London Bridge), London Eye. In short, it was fun. I wish I could have stayed a few more days. The people there are courtous and nice and you can always expect a "Thank you" or "Have a nice day" from someone. Their good driving sense makes walking in the city hassle-free. If you want to cross the road, and you are standing at one end of the Zebra Crossing, an approaching car will most certainly come to a halt for you to cross the road. There is absolutely no honking on the roads. I didn't hear even a single horn going off, although I did hear many "Whoosh"s or "Varoom"s near a freeway. Yes, the cars drive very fast on those highways.

We travelled mostly by Underground Tube while going from one place to another in London. The Tube is spread across London and you can find a station in almost every part of the city. London Tube has evolved over the past 30 years and is very organized and efficient. Only New Yok Subways come near enough to it. Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Waterloo, Brent Cross, Golders Green, Charing Cross, are some of the names of the places/stations that got stuck in my head as I travelled there (or through them) almost everyday of my visit. Piccadilly Circus emulates the Times Square.

Inside the IMAX Cinema, just before the show started:

Central London houses the Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussads, Harrods and the other must-see places. While in C. London you will notice crowds of people commuting on foot. Almost every other girl I saw there was a pleasure to look at gawk at. You will also notice that almost every other person is listening to an iPod. iPod seems to be as popular in UK as it is in the USA.

The Buckingham Palace:

Aye, I bought an iPod from there too. Which iPod am I? iPod Shuffle, hands down. I have already loaded 3 of my Audio CDs onto it, in addition to a number of songs I downloaded. The battery life is very good. The sound quality is excellent. The design is very sleek and a pleasure to look at. I have nicknamed it, "Gods Own iPod".

I am standing behind Johnny Depp and that Chinese woman:

Bond, James Bond:

London's air is as fresh in the afternoon and evening as it is early morning here in Delhi. Also, there is good sunlight there till around 9 PM and it is as dark at 10 PM as it is here at 7 PM. And no, I did not have jet lag. Although I did spend the day before sleeping for 12-13 hrs .. what with all the walking and flying. More pictures soon.

The City of London (or a part of it) as seen from the London Eye. You can notice the latter's shadow if you have a keen eye:

Mind the Gap.

-| AG.

Going to the Land of Harry Potter.

No, I am not going to Hogwarts. Instead, I am going to the United Kingdom with my family. It's a 6 day trip and we will leave this Saturday morning by British Airways. 4 days will be spent roaming around London and admiring its beauty, and the last 2 days will be spent in Manchester, where my father has some business to take care of. We will most probably catch the 2 and half hour Piccadilly train (or Virgin Trains) from Lon to Man. The Holiday Inn Hotel in London seems to be particularly nice. I am also looking forward to watching Superman Returns or Pirates of the Carribean in London's most famous IMAX Theatre, London IMAX Cinema. Until all four of us got the Visas yesterday, it was all very volatile. I was apprehensive about the Visas. Anyway, we got them without any hassle. God Bless the UK Visa Officer.

I will post the pictures when I return.

-| AG.

@!*%$@!!

Outlook Express sucks! In preventing / blocking spam messages that is. Why, oh why, does MSOE need a separate utility (that is needed to be downloaded, and it is non-MS) to block Spam in Outlook Express? @!*%$@!! The Inbox is usually filled with E Mails about Viagara (however it is spelled) and well, some other things concerning a particular human anatomy. I am glad I don't have OE as my primary mail agent. I have G Mail ... which fortunately comes with an inate Spam-blocker. *strokes it fondly*

I will most probably visit Ramjas tommorrow (that is, if it is open tommorrow .. is it 2nd Saturday?) .. I have to collect my Rs. 500 and will most probably have a nice chat with the Principal about the future of computing at Ramjas. And I have to take care some other things in the DynamiX Lab.

Oh, and I saw Godfather Part III. Nice movie. Al Pacino is a great actor. And so is Andy Garcia.

-| AG.