THE WALK (Part 1)
It
was a fine Friday. Fine in terms that my regular official meeting was cancelled
due to some reasons and I had a whole day free. It was raining since morning
and it was getting cold and cold but I am a mad guy who loves rain. Also I had
to see my long distance beloveds, The Thames and The Tower Bridge.
I
left home at about 2 pm in the noon, and instead of taking the bus or the tube,
I decided to walk for as long as I can. I personally like walking for as long
distance as I can, not to keep me fit, not to save money but because I can
observe better while I am walking and I can easily get lost in the streets
which is what I want.
The
first stop I made was at the white chapel gallery. Frankly I had expected more
from this gallery, it was good but not as good as I expected. Another reason
can be that I do not know much about art. Well I liked their video gallery and
also the video which was being aired over there which was something like “Not
an Ordinary Protest”. It was about some kids talking about saving the
endangered species of animals and birds. Some science models were also over
there and yeah an abstract painting of the whole wall length which for me is
something like the paint spilled over the canvas :D.
I
left the gallery and continued towards The Gherkin, the building which I see
almost daily from far away. Suddenly on the way the clouds roared (for the
first time in the past month I heard them :p) and it was raining heavy
suddenly. So I had to get under the shade of a building for some time and when
after the rain (in 10 minutes) when I started again while crossing a road I ran
in to another man busy with his camera and in try to avoid it when I turned
there was this beautiful street the “Leadenhall Market” on my left side. It was
beautiful, the lights, the buildings (and the people too :p). just like a
tourist, I took some photos and just moved forward from there too.
At
that point I could hear some bells and they were ringing constantly, I moved
towards that sound just like a kid following the flute sound of the Pied Piper
and there was this tall, thin and old minaret with some sort of carved stories
on its base and some idols on the very top just like a golden crown. This
building broke the enchantment of those bells and that bell sound was coming
from somewhere even ahead. I was like I have to get up on this tower, I need to
see London from its top. I went ahead
and took the ticket, and now I had to climb 311 helical stairs to get to the
top.
I started it and frankly it was easier then climbing the stairs to get to
“Loe Dandi” behind the shrine of Bari Imam in Islamabad Pakistan.
When
I get to the top, the worth of the scene was much more than the £5 ticket cost.
I could see the London eye from over here, the London bridge, the tower bridge,
the shard and almost half of the London. I stayed, I watched, I relaxed for
like 45 minutes up there staring at the sky of this part of the world. Then I
started moving down the stairs, and that was the time I realized that I still
do not know anything about the history of this tower :D.
I came down and asked
the girl on the ticket counter about it and she gave me a pamphlet having the
whole history of this tower. It was constructed in 1677 in the memory of the
great fire of London which almost destroyed the whole city in September 1666.
My
day and my walk didn’t end here but the blog is getting lengthy so I am going
to tell rest of the story in part 2.
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