Destination: London

I've juz got back from London. Staying there 2 days and discovered almost everything. I was amazed to find that London is even more beautiful than I had thought, despite all the crowded hordes of people, traffic jams, etc. What can I say? Well, a picture paints thousand words. Let them talk ^^

Buckingham Palace - Popularly known as "Buck House", has served as the monarch`s permanent London residence only since the accession of Victoria.







Westminster Abbey is famous throughout the world as one of the greatest churches in Christendom





St Paul's Cathedral - The weddings of the Prince and Princess of Wales, the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill and many other occasions have graced this spiritual centre. Unfortunately, when I arrived there, it's under renovation that makes its front site ugly!



This is the Cathedral viewed from Millenium Bridge

View from Millenium Bridge over River Thames


Golden Jubilee Bridge



London Eye - view from Golden Jubilee Bridge






Monument - Sir Christopher Wren`s spectacular column symbolising the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666





When darkness falled, some was nice , some was not :(

Tower Bridge - one of the most famous landmarks in London and just over a hundred years old, the Tower Bridge with its twin drawbridges, or bascules, each weighing about 1,000 tons have been raised more then half a million times since it was built



I spoiled the photo ^^


HMS Belfast - an 11,500-ton cruiser that opened the bombardment of the Normandy coast on D-Day

Can u see it? :(


Regent Street - Orchard Road of London?


Piccadilly Circus


Trafalgar Square

Can't hardly see anything :(


The Houses of Parliament are the place where laws governing British life are debated and enacted. Begun in 1840 after a fire destroyed the previous building, the Gothic style was designed by Sir Charles Barry with aid from A.W. Pugin. It contains the bell Big Ben that is struck each quarter hour. A light in the clock tower tells when the House of Commons is in session. Its grandeur stunned me man!





Big Ben



I took the bus head to South-East of London to Greenwich, where prime meridian line lies ^^. And here it is, I was standing on that ^^





:D




Greenwich Park - can see London from here


Cutty Sark - the world`s last surviving tea clipper




Again, more photos can be found in My photos . Have funs and merry Xmas!


Carpe diem

Now playing list:

Burn the sun - Ark ( progressive metal )
Electric rendezvous - Al Di Meola ( jazz/rock fusion )
One second - Paradise Lost ( gothic/doom/alternative )
The window purpose ( re-release ) - Wolverine ( progressive metal )
A blessing in disguise - Green Carnation ( dark melodic progressive rock )

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Destination: Bath & Stonehenge

Today I took a trip to Bath & Stonehenge, juz to escape from Birmingham and enjoy the air at another city ^^ . Bath & Stonehenge are located at South-West of England, at the closest part to Wales. Bath, London and Birmingham form a balanced-triangle with London as one vertex as u can see in the map below:



About 30' away by coach to the South-East of Bath is Stonehenge - the infamous megalithic ruin that now is a heritage of England. For those who don't know what Stonehenge is, u better off dead! ( j/k ^^ ) . Here are some info about Stonehenge:

Stonehenge is not a single structure but consists of a series of earth, timber, and stone structures that were revised and re-modelled over a period of more than 1400 years including 3 phases. At phase III ( that u will be able to see in my photos), it was first built with Sarsen Circle and Trilithon Horseshoe:




Subsequently, a Bluestone Oval added within Trilithon Horseshoe and a Bluestone Circle added outside the Trilithon Horseshoe but inside the Sarsen Circle.


Then, an arc of stone was removed from the Bluestone Oval to form a Bluestone Horseshoe. Finally, two circles, one inside the other, known as the Y and Z Holes were dug for the placement of stones but were never filled.


Stonehenge is believed to be built by either Romans or Druids ( which is still a debate until now ) . Enough of background knowledge , here are some photos that I took:




Been there, done that ^^


After Stonehenge, I departed to Bath - a city that reflects Roman architecture deeply. Bath is a spectacularly beautiful city with a history dating back to the Roman times. Standing on the River Avon, Bath is a recognised worldwide as a World Heritage Site. In ancient times, the warm waters of the Bath springs were thought to be sacred, and when the Romans built a famous temple on the famous spring, the famous city of Bath was born.

City of Bath








Bath Abbey—Standing in the heart of Bath, the Bath Abbey has been built and ruined three times in the last twelve hundred years. The present building was finished in 1499, this unique building is the last of the great medieval English churches

Outside:


Inside:




At night ( very impressive! )




Bath is a small city therefore places of interests are within walking distance. After visiting Bath Abbey church, I walked to Royal Crescent which is one of the most distinctive parts of Bath, and almost unique in the UK, Royal Crescent is a semi circular building built by the famous John Wood the Younger in 1774. It consists of 30 magnificent houses, supported by 118 grand columns. Unfortunately, fog became so dense at that time that I couldn't hardly see the overall structure of Royal Crescent:



( been there, done that! )


Nearby Royal Crescent is The Circus - built in the eighteenth century by the famous architect John Wood the Elder and his son John Wood the Younger, the Circus is a very distinctive and beautiful garden surrounded by a row of circular buildings. Its three tiers of columns was described as 'the Colosseum turned outside in'. The acorns decorating the parapets reflect the Celtic legend of King Bladud, the founder of Bath. I could only took a photo of a part of it. The circle itself is so huge!



After patrolling around downtown of Bath, feeling tired and numb ( weather is getting cold in England, it's becoming like a place where the sun never shine through the dense fog that dub England the name: Kingdom of fog ( or smth like that ) ) , I got back to the coach station back to Birmingham. Had a fun and nice day!

Last photo: ( with some local crazyyy friendlyyy fellows that passed by ^^ )


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"Alone"

A heart-melting ballad song from the up-coming album "Acoustic Verses" - Green Carnation. Listen ... and feel ...

Alone


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My grand father has passed away...

Rest in peace...


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A gig in the sky: Dance of fire!

Today - 3 Nov is the day when fireworks are set up all over UK. It's some kinds of traditional customs. Luckily I stay in one of the closest parts to The Vale where they set up the fireworks so I managed to come down and took a few photos. This is also the first time I saw a fireworks this near. Enjoyable!




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Update 'bout football matches

For the last 2 weeks, we played 2 matches against Civil Engineering football team. Why two? Because they was interested in our team and after the 1st match, they proposed to have a second match with us. Sadly ( for them ), they were crushed on the 2nd match so we're gonna have a 3rd match for them to take revenge ^^ . Gonna see what will happen...

1st match: Vietnamese Students in Birmingham (VSB) 6 - 5 Civil Engineering
2nd match: VSB 7 - 4 Civil Engineering



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Some little things that can make me happy

A cup of hot tea in a cold winter day

A message from a friend

A short story of life

A chocolate bar

A beautiful scenery

A short conversation with the one I do adore

... there are so many things ...




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Good day after a series of bad days

I got 95 marks for Java exercise 2. I am back on track!
Nothing but the best!


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New stuff!

I have been recording my music for entertaining purposes ^^ . Feel free to download them and have fun, destrees ^^ . I will be storing them in my gmail account:
Account: myownrecord
Pw: whoknows
^^
First song recorded: If - Bread cover
Have a nice day!


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Scene from a memory

Digging up my own assets and I found this. This website was created 2,3 years ago when I was in 1st year at SP. It's an photoshop assignment and it's the best website I have created ever, lol ^^ . Time flies!


Metal Zone!



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She dumped me.

As title said...


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Now playing list:

The quiet offspring - Green Carnation
Deadwing - Porcupine Tree
Suspended Animation - John Petrucci
Ghost reveries - Opeth
Octavarium - Dream Theater


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Birmingham 4:4 Aston

The result reflects a friendly game but both sides played with all they have ^^ . The weather was very bad... raining quite hard but nothing can stop us from playing ^^ . I got my knees injured, damn :(

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Nothing much...

I have just finished 1 exercise today on Software System Components. Got only 40 marks :( I have abandoned Java for too long, man! Can't blame me about that, I tried my best...
Graeam was fucking drunk today! ( one of my flat mate, big and friendly ). He talked a lot, sitting on the sink and doing crazy things even though he is quite silent in nature. Alcohol makes u reveal your true self, or does it make u lose yourself? ... Food for thought :)
Going to play football tomorrow ^^ : Birmingham vs Aston ( friendly match ) . Erhhm, this is the match between Vietnamese students from that 2 universities, not an EPL match, lol...


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Some other photos

Victoria hall






Symphony hall


Canal... surprisingly Birmingham even has more miles of canal than Venice! Here is a part of it


Broad street ... made up with pubs, clubs and bars, familiar place with students


Central library


Scottish street busker


Artistic shot! lol




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