London 19 - 23 Jan (Part 2)

Back trek again to London to complete my trip there..

Day 2: 20 Jan

Open Bus Tour
Went down to Picadilly Circus to buy tickets for the Open Bus Tour, it was a hop-on/hop-off thing, and they gave earphones to be plugged in to listen to the commentries along the way. We braved the cold and the wind to sit on the upper deck (otherwise it would have defeated the purpose of it being an open bus tour).

Frozen Smiles

So we passed the Courts of Justice, St Paul's Cathedral, City Hall, Big Ben, the London Eye..etc, and travelled across the famous Tower Bridge. Learnt that there was this Great Fire in London too. We alighted where Tower of London was, but we didn't enter because admission was quite costly. Instead, we went into the museum shop to defrost ourselves from the freezing bus ride.. haha.

Tower of London

And I didn't charge my camera battery, so by that time my camera battery was dying! :(

Greenwich

From there, we took a river cruise (just a ride on the boat along River Thames) to Greenwich. I enjoyed the ride just looking out, and not doing anything :) And I love Greenwich!!

We went into the Discover Greenwich Vistor Centre, which highlighted architecture. I fixed a floor pattern puzzle and learnt about the different types of columns too!

Then we headed to Greenwich Market to have our lunch.. I had Spanish Paello - rice with vegetable spices, chicken and seafood..

And then to the most awesome place (according to me) - the Royal Observatory! It was on top of a hill in the middle of a park - the park was so tranquil and beautiful! Explored Flamsteed's house (an astronomer) and learnt about Longtitudes, Lattitudes and the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) that gives us the different time zones. There was the Meridian Line, the Prime Meridian of the World = Longtitude oo'o" for GMT!

Prime Meridian of the World!

We didn't have time to go to the other part of the Royal Observatory where the astronomy section was though..

Headed down to the National Maritime Museum, to see a Toy Boats exhibition and a few other highlights - Maritime London (about Nelson and other marine battles), and the stained glass from the old Baltic Exchange.

By that time it was 4plus, and the sun was setting.. we took the last boat back towards Westminster, where Big Ben is.

Big Ben looked just as spectucular in the night as it was in the day! In the day it was beaming in the sunlight, and at night the lights made the tower glow. But my camera had no battery so I couldn't take a good picture of it. Anyhow, seeing it LIVE is better. haha.

Wicked!
From Westminster we took the bus to Victoria station - and that's where the theatre for the musical Wicked was held! Musicals somewhat have their permanent venues at specific theatres, since they are like performed regularly.

Yes, Wicked was wicked! First musical ever watched overseas, and in London! All the other musicals I have watched were in Esplanade.. But even though it was really nice, I was so somewhat super tired that my eyes just wanted to close even though I badly wanted them opened! hahaha.

But when we returned to the hostel I somehow couldn't fall asleep with "Defying Gravity" playing in my head.. and just thinking about the musical. :P

Day 3: 21 Jan

Not-so-open Bus Tour

Checked out a super large Sainsbury (like Giant!) and then continued with the Open Bus tour - but this time, we weren't brave enough to sit upstairs for long - we went down halfway because it was too cold! Took the bus to Marble Arch, and visited Primark for some shopping. Supposedly Primark sells cheaper stuff of everything! LY bought gloves and I bought a hat - cos it was sooooo cold and my ears were freezing off! But the hat is lousy because it was too big.

4 Pounds Oversized Hat :(

Took the bus again (sat downstairs immediately upon boarding, haha) down to Spitalfields Market for lunch and to look-see.. We were like "high" walking to the market cos it was really so cold (what's new!) that we chionged all the way there. Haha!

Spitafields Market

Science Museum
Went to the Science Museum - again, it was super huge that we didnt have time to see everything! There was a section on Space Travel, and on inventions, and airplanes.. and like a LaunchPad thing that was like Singapore Science Centre.. then wanted to go to this section "Who am I?" about like genes and stuff like that, but the museum was closing by then.. Too much to see already heh!

Airplane wheel taller than me

So we walked back to the hostel.. and we were supposed to meet Jinwen and LY's other friends for dinner.. But while waiting I was so tired (again!) that I fell asleep on the couch at the common area in the hostel. So embarrassing! But I really couldn't get up when it was time to go, so I didn't eat dinner that night.. Spend like the next 15mins still sleeping on the couch before I gathered enough energy to go back up, bathe and I fell slept immediately..

Day 4: 22 Jan


Buckingham Palace
Took the open bus tour hoping to get down in time for the changing of the guards (at 1130am), but the tour ride was taking too long a route that we had to hop off and take the tube.. And the train had to have some service failure that we had to take another train to get there!! Rushed to the palace, but by the time we arrived, it was super crowded that we didn't really get a good view of it. Was supposed to meet Joel to watch it together, but we were late - so we met only after!

Watching the guards through the gates

Couldn't see much because there was so many people.. There was this man who was running on the road - and he got scolded by a policeman on a horse! Haha.. Just spammed photos.. I remember it was so crowded that I was completely not cold at all, cos the people around just generated enough heat and blocked off the wind! But when everyone all left.. Hello winter not wonderland. HAHA. (I know I keep talking about the weather but cos it REALLY is ultra cold!!!)


British Museum
After finding Joel, we went to visit the British Museum together. BIG BIG BIG Museum again.. Saw the Assyria exhibit (hoping to see if I could link Nenevah and Jonah together!!) and the Eygptian exhibit. Then we went of a guided tour on the Predynastic Eygptian Period.. The concept of after-life plays a big part in their lives that they really put alot of emphasis on it..
There was this Bible Tour (but I think it's some special group?) where the guide was going through the history parallel to the bible timeline.. All the people were carrying bibles.
I wished I could be one of them too! It was so difficult to catch all the information in the museum, cos there is no head or tail about all the ancient stuff.. and it would have been nice if there was meaning and relevance to it for me!

Outside British Museum

We had time to kill, so we walked along the streets.. Went into a super huge Marks & Spencer.. Saw all the yummy goodies that were much cheaper than in Singapore.. and then we walked further and went into Lilywhites - a super huge sportswear shop selling items at cheap prices.. and the City was really crowded (it was a Saturday Night)

Chinatown Dinner
Met Melissa Woo (my crescent partner for half a year in sec3!) for dinner at Covent Garden.. Chinatown was nearby, but we went to Covent Garden Square to look around first. It's abit like Holland Village! But of course the atmosphere was wayyy livelier and more relaxed. There were street buskers and people having their meals around.

Convent Garden Square

Ate at Four Seasons in Chinatown.. they are famous for their duck, but I didn't eat that - had beef brisket soup noodles which was super MSG-fied! Then Melissa did some shopping in Chinatown - went into a chinese bakery and a few shops selling all the chinese stuff.
Then it was back to the hostel.. packed up my luggage and stuff, ready to check out of the hostel the next day for the next phase - Nottingham! (which I am in already! hahaha)

Day 5: 23 Jan

To Nottingham
Back to Heathrow Airport for the free coach pickup to London..
Met a girl from South Korea, some Malaysians from the Nottingham Malaysia Campus, and some girls from China on the bus..
and it's:
THE END OF LONDON 101. :P