Day 4 - Westminster Church , Green Park

          I would like to introduce to you a little bunny. She's is adorable for a black bunny.   She is an adult bunny and she's sooooooo tiny!   

          Due to poor genetics, she has no front teeth :(  When she licks my finger I kinda wonder if she likes me or it's a sign that she is actually trying to bite me.  

          Today, Susan's mummy created some Hungarian treats called “túró” It's basically a cottage cheese dumpling that has been baked or fried with butter and served with sour cream or icing sugar.  They are so delicious.

          I went to Westminster Cathedral in the morning.  It is the mother church of the Catholic community in England and Wales.   It's located in the city.  It is rather different looking from most churches but I think it still looks nice.  It has bricks that contrast each other.  

          The contrasting bricks or bands are Portland stones.  The exterior of the church kinda reminds me of a gingerbread house with lots of piped icing.

 

          No photography was allowed inside :'( which is a shame.  I think this church as very unique and is still worth seeing though.  It is larger than how it looks.  There are various sectioned areas 4-5 rooms to the right and 4-5 rooms to the left for prayer.  There are many mosaic pictures and a room with treasures to look at.  

 Why must everyone looks so darn serious?

           It's a few hours pass noon in front of Buckingham Palace.  The flag is up!  And if the flag is up, it means that the queen is home.   I wonder what she is doing today.

This place oddly isn't so crowded today which means...I can take a break from walking and sit around the fountains before I head to Green Park.

Ta-da. The entrance gates to Green Park.  Isn't it so grand?

Green Park is quite big ...

 and has lovely trails for pedestrians.

          I was able to find the monument for the Canadian troops that fought to defend England in WW2 in this park.   The monument was a fountain with maple leaves on the surface where the water falls.  I think it's cute that all the children try to touch the leaves but they won't move!

  "From Danger Shared Our Friendship"

Day 3: Camden Town

          I went to Camden Town today.  There are hundreds of shops here but it’s really popular for its market place.   It is here when you can find true London spirit. You can waste hours exploring the area from Camden Lock Market , Buck Street, Stables Market, and the indoor market known as the Electric Ballroom or just have awesome quick eats at the food market.   This place is so lovely.  It has this vibrant and young feel to it. 

         There was one really unique shop called Cyberdog.  We waited outside for a wee bit in a lineup and when we went downstairs it was dark, the place had it's own DJ blaring music and the place sold clubbing clothes.  Most of the clothes that look futuristic (think of the Jetsons) and they glow!

  

Susan got some Colossal donuts from this kiosk.

 Now that's what a call a donut!!! Mmmm.... donuts.

We ate along the river, sitting on one of these motorcycle halves of seats that were everywhere. 

I had a crepe at one of the stalls.

           It’s not the usual sugar and lemon but it’s darn tasty!  Pears and cinnamon can be great too.   A lot of people were getting savory crepes and it’s called a “country crepe” here with ham,eggs and cheese O_O omg, it’s practically a meal.  Then we wandered around the shopping area.  I don’t know why but I was really hoping to hear people bargain for stuff and say “quid” like on those British antique shows.  Noone says quid :'( only pounds I guess. 

There were some houses nearby that lined the streets.  

  They were just as quirky and vibrant as the market place. 

I think these row houses are quite cute.

Day 2: Stonehenge and Sheeps?

          Most of my day was spent at Stonehenge.  The trip to Wiltshire took hours but it was worth the trip.  Stonehenge is one of Britain's most known monuments for its beauty and mystical past.

 During my tour I had to carry this audio guide.  

       

          I learnt that Stonehenge was built around 2000 BC.  The outside circle of Stonehenge have 17 big upright stones made out of hard sandstone.  People are unsure of what it's purpose is but Susan and I think it's a calendar or ritual area of some sort.

          There's one stone that isn't made of sandstone and it's known as the slaughter stone which has a reddish tint to it.  It was rumored that sacrifices took place at Stonehenge on that very stone that is half buried in the ground where victims were butchered under moonlight back in the olden times.  O_O Oh  my!

This is the healing stone.  It's kinda left to the side.

     One of the most amazing things I saw opposite of Stonehenge were....sheeps.  I never saw some many little beasts in my life. There were HUNDREDS of them everywhere!

<3 Stonehenge.  

Day 1: London - Oh Belgravia

         I'm very fortunate to be staying at one of the Embassys in Belgravia.  It is located in central London in the City of Westminster and is known has one of the wealthiest districts in the world.  
         On my way to Susan's place I was so pleased to see that many of the attractions I wanted to see were so close by to where I'm staying.  Everything is at walking distance like Hyde Park, Green Park, Buckingham Palace, Oxford street, Big Ben, the London Eye and what not.  

     
          The area is so posh that it's constantly kept clean around the clock. The neighborhood is painted all white.  The three little parks are gated with peeps on patrol and this area is super quiet during the day and night despite it being so close to attractions. 

        Everything around this area looks so similar that it's very easy for me to get lost. Those that know me know that I have clueless when it comes to direction.  It doesn't help that the house is tucked away.  To find my way home,I don't go by numbers or street names but follow the flags of each embassy home.  

     The closest station is Victoria Station.  It's a convenient location to get money exchanged with underground shops, trains, a metro and a bus station.  It's also near a few theaters and nice restaurants. I really like this place, it's bustling with people all the time.  

          For the next few days I will post more pics of my adventures in London but for the first day I'm just going relax and get catch some zzz's.  My trip from Toronto to London was brutal one because there was a very loudest girl snoring the whole flight across the Atlantic ocean.  Thank goodness she didn't sit beside me but she was so loud that I didn't get a wink of sleep!

        Here's a peek at what the inside of the Embassy looks like. I don't know what this room is, maybe a meeting room?

       And here is Mums hopping around.  I just adore her.  She's almost like a doggie.
She blends with the carpet so it might be hard to see her but it doesn't make her any less cute!

I'm just super grateful that she didn't poop coco balls in any of these rooms.  

I'm sure we'd get into lots of trouble.

Finally..."Gidget Has a Glitch" is done.

        Tomorrow will be the release of "Gidget Has a Glitch".  I'm so relieved that everything is done.

        There were a lot of moments when I just wanted to roll in a ball and cry.  I'm not going to lie, this project was frustrating. To the very end, I was still thinking of things like "Oh, this could be a few pixels less or more" and I'm kinda embarrassed about the fact that I narrated the story (Gah! I sound like a kid!) 

         I think it's probably for the best though that Bright Bunny did spend more time on the book app.  If I had to released in July, only a few pages would have been interactive and now all the pages have some element of quirkiness for parents and kids to explore.  I just hope that the people that download my products enjoy it as much as I suffered to make it ;')

Oh Susan!

      I'm going to spend some time with Susan, hoorays!  We both graduated this year from university with matching commerce degrees but after graduation, she left Canada.  She swore that she was never going to come back.
        After a few weeks, she came back with her Persian prince for a short stay.  Oh Susan, she's so silly willies.

         Blah, Susan has a habit of being late.  I will record my boredom mmhmm and complain. I loooove her to death, but she takes a hella long time to get ready.  Susan is an wonderful though despite her lateness O.o She taught me tennis and she has the patience of an angel.  I, however, have the patience of a five year old or so I'm told.

        When Susan showed up, we walked to the Harbour Front to enjoy the lake. I also wanted to go to the Power House to look at some art and exhibits.  I love galleries, they're so fun and interesting.  Everyone has a slightly different and unique interpretation of what they see and it's usually better to go with friends.

This giant sculpture reminds me of a Halloween pumpkin.

There was enough seats inside to fit a tea party!

The blonde chika is Susan. I call this photograph...

Susan and cow.

          

Special Post - Hot Pot

         Every night that we wandered on the shores of Nha Trang, the beaches would be filled with families having hot pot.

Night view from our hotel

        Nha Trang has a few special dishes, one is known as seafood hot pot.  If you love seafood than  is something you definitely have to try. Hot pot consists of broth that simmers in a metal pot while various ingredients are placed into the pot in the center of the table and cooked.  The hot pot dishes in Nha Trang include mostly of fish, clams, shrimp and mussels with leafy greens.  They give you a side dish of noodles and fish sauce to dip and it's yummy.  Mind you, it's very hot in Nha Trang so you might have to sit under the ac or have four fans blowing at you.

Hot Pot

Day 14 : Hue - Imperial City (Hue Citadel)

        If you're in Hue you gotta go to the Imperial City.  It's a large place with many things to see and do. This place is massive. You will need a map and a lot of time to see everything. You can visit all the palaces with their many royal quarters.  The place built in 1804 and served as Vietnam's capital until  1945.  

Across from Hue's Citadel is Cot Co, also known as the big flag.

        When going to the entrance, there are large lily ponds.  A mote was built around the whole city and water comes from Hue's perfume river. 

We go in the side of the building to enter.

        We go inside the throne room.  Inside Tha'i Ho'a Palace everything is red and gold.  When I looked waaay up, I saw various poems on the wall.

Around the palace grounds I saw different statues of mystical creatures.  

The first one I saw was a dragon...

 and the second one is a...

hmm, I don't know what this is actually.  A doggy?

        In the Forbidden Purple City is where the emperor would do all his work.  It now looks like a large field of grass with  a few brick walls that survived the fire in 1947 and the fight during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Another wall.

        Although the Purple Forbidden City is in ruins, the rest of the citadel is really amazing.  Here's an example of what an internal gate to the main buildings would look like.  The are a few gates inside the citadel.

These are the gates to Hung Mieu, the temple dedicated to the parents of the Nguyen Emperor Gia Long.

The hallways in the citadel are very pretty.  They vary in styles too.

In one of the buildings we found a carriage.

 A noble would be carried in this by four servants.

Day 13 - Hue : On my way to Hue, eco-tourism, respecting the dead

        The drive from Hoi An and Hue was very scenic. The temperature was slightly cooler from other provinces we stayed.

Pictures of rice fields and mountains.

       I think that eco-tourism is a wonderful concept.  Eco-tourism by definition means creating responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.  

         However, just pass the billboard that promotes eco-tourism, I see this. As we continue to drive I see more areas like this with machines digging and cutting slabs of land.  Seeing something like this really stirs up all kinds of emotions.  At first I thought it's was funny because this is the total opposite of eco-tourism but then I feel kinda angry, kinda sad and a little disappointed inside.

A quick pic of the perfume river in Hue.

   We motorbiked it to our friends house.  We inter-weaved into traffic, dodging oncoming bikes left and right.  The worst was driving through the a round-about in the city.  I held my breath every time this happened because I was scared shitless.

        When we arrived, preparations were being prepared for the ceremony and feast.  Like other cultures of the world, festivals and events in Vietnam was dedicated to something or someone.  Today was a day to honor and respect our friend's ancestors.

This hanger for helmets is totally cool.

Everyone takes turn to bow in front of an alter to show respect for the deceased.

Outside, paper money is being burnt.  

          And then everyone gathers around the tables for a feast. Quite a few dishes were brought in.  Food was served with Huda beer and orange Fanta drinks.

Our starter was a salad.

It was made with so many things including mint, papaya, shrimp and peanuts.