Route

22 Jun 2010 - eternity London

Once the train from Edinburgh passed the Arsenal Museum (old and new), you know that the King's X station is just minutes away.

London is a city with charm, I must say.

Reached the London King's X Station in the afternoon and hurried to get my travelcard from St Pancras. Took the overground train to the hotel near London Bridge. Shower and quickly walked to the Tower of London.



We saw the yeoman warders in the tower.



Saw the crown jewel.



They have quite a number of torturing gadgets inside and they looked quite fun.



Traitors' Gate

You can take pretty good pictures of Tower Bridge from the Tower of London.



Took the bus 15 from Tower Hill, passed St Paul's Cathedral to Trafalgar Square.

The authetic 15


St Paul's Cathedral


Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery is next to the square.

Saw the Malaysian Tourism Office there haha. Just opposite the Trafalgar Square.


The Admiralty Arch near Trafalgar Square.

Then we walked down to White Hall to see the cavalry guards. The guards looked so smart! Lastly we went to Piccadily Circus to have our meal together in the China Town.



The next day went to Buckingham Palace and St James Park - for the change of guard at 1130am.





Quite majestic. The tourists actually followed the guards when they marched down to the Buckingham Palace from the St James' Palace. The marching guards were playing "it is the final count down to remind us that 1130am soon and better get ready for your best spot to witness the change of guard. The whole place is so full of people! The youtube vid below capture the guards marching past.



After the whole ceremony, we walked the Birdcage Walk to see the Westminster and the Westminster Abbey.

Westminster's Abbey


Big Ben


Big Ben by the Thames


London Eye

Rushed to Marble Arch cos they would like to do some shopping in the Regent Street.



I was happy to spend the afternoon in Hyde Park tho. The Serpentine looked so scenic. Really envy London people - so many green and blue spaces in the city!



The sun is relentless tho I must say. I really dont know how the Londoner cramped inside a tube that has no airconditioner, with tie and suits on. I nearly suffocated in the tubes! We rushed to the Harrods to see the Diana Memorial. Finally it is time to part way as they have a flight to catch while I will be staying on in London. Sayonara!

Harrod's Bear



I called my distant relative 珍 out for dinner. We met at Piccadilly Circus and had a meal together. She brought me to her fav chinese restaurant to have duck rice. Then we walked down to Leichester Square, National Opera House and finally the Covent Garden. There were Apple Store and Ferrari Store in London. So many people were inside ...



and outside the Apple Store.



Those camping outside said they were waiting for the release of iphone4 tomorrow haha. She suggested to bring me to Cambridge the next day. I was eager to say yes.

Tudor style shop front


Oldest toy store in London - Hamsley's toys


Ferrari shop


Les Mis


Where the celebrities ae seen hanging out


Covent Garden Station - one of the busiest - there are actually instructions that teach you how to get here if you cant get down at this station due to too many commuters in the weekend!


Covent Garden - where the movie My Fair Lady was shot.


Jubilee Market hall. Notice the grill door.

After that i went back to the hotel. In the evening we walked to the Embankment and have the night walk. He was totally paranoid - will someone rob us? Will we get boxed up by the drunk? We walked from London Bridge to the Milleannium Bridge, then took Bus 11 down to Trafalgar Square and walked down to White hall, and Big Ben to see these buildings at night. They looked really different with the lightings on. Plus the full moon. Perfect. Back to the hotel at 1120pm. My first night walk after so many days.

Full moon

Tower Bridge seen at night.

St Paul's

Trafalgar at night

London Eye

Big Ben

Woke up late the next day. Quickly rushed to Walthamtrow Central. We drove to Cambridge. Nice university with river flowing through. We tasted the delicious Cornwall Pastry. Nice. So many people graduating from Cambridge on that day, the whole place was abuzz. I like the shopping atmosphere in Cambridge. The shops are so close together unlike in London. They have Blacks, Millet, TK Maxx, Primark, H&M - not crowded as well.

King's College

Willow trees in Cambridge

Bridge near the Queen's College. It has a story.

Punting at the river

Famous Cornwall pastries in Cambridge. Beware of the man at 2nd floor!

Graduation season for Cambridge

Cambridge University Press, sound familiar?

Greek collection

Rushed back to town to have a meal with my friend and his wife. They brought me around the city (where the financial hub of London actually is) and we had a wonderful mediterranean dinner together. He was telling me that the gardener charged him for 2 hours, 35 quids per hour. The wife actually timed the gardener - he never stayed for the full 2 hours. We all started laughing. Then the wife cheekily asked why never go to Paris, which is supposedly even closer than Scotland, then we burst out laughing again. We walked back to London Bridge together after the dinner since he is going to take the overground train back home as well.

I went to the British Museum the next day. I must say I couldnt understand a bit of what was going on for the first 2 hours. Had my sandwich and then I walked back to the Museum, something caught my attention - guided tour. Hey, there are guided tours and I didnt know!?



I managed to follow the one on Egypt and on Roman. My eyes started to open. The free guided tours were so good. The volunteers literally made all the displays came alive! They were no longer static - all of them has so much information enshrined in them that they were just waiting to be introduced by the volunteers and appreciated by all of us. I took my hats off to these volunteers, without which my trip to the museum would have been a futile one.



Why is there a hole at the chest?

From the East Asia Gallery - 乾隆 conquering Vietnam.

Predynastic burial by the Egytians - mummy was not yet the style.

The volunteer explaining the demand made by the mummy stated on his tombstone. You wouldnt believe the 1001 things that he has asked for before his final days!!

Bath tub?

I brought him to try the KFC. KFC in UK is supposedly known to be better than the KFC in Singapore and many people actually like the KFC in UK. We both found them so so tho. When i surfed the net in the evening, saw that Daysoutuk offered cheap return fares to the Greater London for Oyster card holders starting 26 June. Hey thats music to my ears!

It is the weekend - and what greeted us were all the improvement works that grounded the tube to a halt. Bus is the only way to get around if you dont want to change from tube to tube just to get to your destination. So we did the usual Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, St James Park. Afternoon we went to the British Musuem, Millennium Bridge, Tate Modern, Shakespear Globe Theatre, Borough Market for dinner and finally ended the day in bar. Nothing beat a pint of beer after a long day.

Cavalry guards galloping past Buckingham Palace at around 11am.

St Paul's as seen from the end of Millennium Bridge

St Paul's and Thames as seen from Tate Modern

We pounced on the offer and took the train to Cambridge. 1 hour and we were there. Since he has a list and I have mine, we parted ways and got our sightseeing and shopping done. I bought a couple of jeans, t shirts and a trolley back, which i need. Also bought some Cambridge sweets to motivate the kids to work harder. We took the afternoon train back to London and realised that all the tickets for the shows were sold. We then queued for quite awhile outside a chinese restaurant since it has so good business. London lost in the match earlier. The TV screen in the restaurant were showing Argentine vs Mexico and all the people around us were eager to become instant commentators to explain to us how come this match is much better than the one England had with Germany. Cantonese and all, feel so at home. The waiters worked with eyes glued to the screen. Saw the lobster noodle promotion on the menu and ordered one. OMG. According to him, that was the best meal he had had for days. The lobster noodle is so out of this world. Salivating. We were so full that we had to push the lobster to each other to finish the dish. I can see that he has truly enjoyed the meal. So both of us were happy to walk back to London Bridge. Saw the dusk colour on Tower Bridge and the vapour trails left on the London sky crissed-crossed by so many planes from all over the world. The full moon is already hanging behind the hotel even though the sun havnt set.

Long queue outside this restaurant on Sunday. Many chinese locals came here to tapao.

Lobster noodles - we took photo halfway thru the dinner so it looked a bit erm...

Bought a 5 pound to and fro tix to Brighton.



Quite fascinated with the white cliff that extend from Brighton all the way to the Seven Sisters. The guy that I met in Brighton Yatch Marina told me that I could cycle for a long way to the Seven Sisters but I guess I cant do it by foot.



So many people. When I went to Tesco to get a meal deal, the shelve is practically empty. Not any sandwiches left! The lady explained to me that they had a very busy day yesterday and therefore no top up today means no sandwiches to sell.



Brighton Pier is quite fun - they even have roller coaster on the pier.




Cloudless sunny day so the beach is practically boiling. I later found out that London had a very hot day as well.

I still have not seen the change of guard at Household Cavalry Museum therefore I decided to go back to and see the cavalry guards. The frequency of 15 is bad today. I waited for 30 mins before a 15 come finally.





After that I went to British Museum and follow the last guided tour I wanted to join - The Greek Civilisation. The tour never fail to impress. Then rushed to National Gallery for another guided tour at 2pm. The tour guide explained to us the interpretations for 3 drawings and I must say he is good. I could never had deciphered so much out of a drawing. I again waited for 15 to go back, the wait was not as bad this time.

Took a London cab and we were off to the Paddington Station for the Heathrow Connect. It was kinda strange. You put your luggage in front of your legs. There is no separate luggage compartment.



We drove past the Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Westminster Abbey, St James Park, Marble Arch and Hyde Park. Very different when we were in the cab looking out to all these attractions. Hopped onto the train and off to Heathrow we go. Heathrow Airport is crowded as usual. The gate number will only be shown at the very last minute. I decided to follow the SQ crew that sat very near to me. They somehow managed to find out the gate number so I just duck tailed behind and voila, the familiar A380 is there! Singapore here I come!