My afternoon with Bond ... in Motion

I love London!

London is probably one of my favourite cities in the world. So much diversity, great food, lots of history, shops you can't find where I live and generally pretty affordable, if you know where to look. The one thing I don't like is the people, they're distant and do everything to avoid contact and are very rushed. As a tourist you might get the impression that you're an obstacle for everyone you encounter.

I had to go to London last week for a trade fair, but I arrived a day early. This gave me some time for myself and to try and relax in this stressed city, not an easy thing to do. My hotel was close to a famous landmark, of which I won't mention the slang word, but you'll recognise it in this picture:

_{Another name for this building is 'the Gerkhin'}

Having lived and worked in London for 6,5 years, my expectations of hotelrooms are very limited and the least you expect, the more surprised you'll be. Before entering my room, I thought to myself 'I wonder how small this room is'. What I found was something I couldn't have expected in my wildest dreams.

The double-bed ended against the wall on my right next to the door and started against the closet. Above the foot-end hung a TV screen, larger than the average computer screen. The closet could barely fit my suit and also had a safe and coffee and tea making facilities, without any coffee. Next to the closet and opposite the entrance was the door the the 'bathroom'. Although one should call it a showercloset with toilet. There was definitely no space for a bath in this room. Under the bed was space to store my suitcases and that was about it.

_{A picture of my room, taken from the door to the bathroom, with the closet on my left}

After I dropped my luggage I went into town and walked around the famous centre from Piccadilly Circus to Covent Garden, where I got theatre tickets for the evening. Occasionally I went into a store, but I ended up without making any purchases. I stumbled at the London Transport Museum where they happened to have an exhibition of James Bond vehicles and props that they used in making the Bond-films. As a Bond-fan I decided to pay the £14 and visit the Bond in Motion exhibition.

I absolutely loved the cars (mainly) and other props on display, but the fact that you can't touch anything makes the entrance fee seem very steep. Nonetheless a nice exhibition to visit for any Bond-fan out there. At the end of this post are a few pictures I took at the exhibition.

After the exhibition I went to Byron Hamburgers for dinner. Followed by a walk along the river Thames. I walked all the way into the City of London. A little known fact, but London as most people know it is many 'cities' in one large city, where the city of London is a part of. The entrance is very recognisable by 2 lions that guard the entrance as you can see in my picture below.

_{The 2 Lions guarding the entrance to the City of London}

I ended the day by going to the theatre where I sat front-row at 'the Play that goes Wrong a fantastic play about a theatre group that is performing a play and everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. If you like Fawlty Towers this is definitely your kind of play. One of the characters even reminds you (on-purpose) of Basil Fawlty.

I finished the day doing well over 16.000 steps.

_{the car that was made famous by probably my favourite Bond-villain Oddjob}

_{This car is fantastic, even more so with the customised options}

_{A gun that doesn't need an introduction}

_{The panoramic view over the river Thames on my evening stroll}

Doron