London was our last stop of the 2-weeks Europe trip. We arrived on 26 Sept and had our fun-filled 4 days in London! Actually...on 26th which was the day when we touched down, it wasnt as fun-filled coz both hubby & I were exhausted from the travelling, so we just settled ourselves into the hotel we booked in King's Cross, and then came out for a nice fish & chips dinner early, and rested the whole night so we can enjoy the rest of the days in London. BTW I must also say, the weather in London is pretty cold!
On 27th, we started our day with a great English Big Breakfast, then we took the Underground to our first destination - Big Ben & Houses of Parliament. It was AWESOME! And apparently "Big Ben" does not refer to the whole clocktower, but to the huge thirteen ton bell that strikes the hour. Attached with the clocktower is The Houses of Parliament which incorporates The House of Commons and The House of Lords & Westminster Hall. And this whole place including the Big Ben is also known as The Palace of Westminster.
Opposite the road not too far away from Big Ben is the famous British Airways London Eye! It was opened to public since March 2000, rising high above London's skyline at 135 metres, making it one of the tallest observation wheels in the world. I'll leave the pic to the end since we went back for the ride on 3rd day night and took some awesome pics of its night view...Then we went on to visit the Tower Bridge, stood over the River Thames in London since 1894. It has become an iconic symbol of London and is sometimes mistakenly called London Bridge, though London Bridge is in fact the next bridge upstream and it's really very "normal" looking! haha! Tower Bridge is a combined bascule and suspension bridge, and I must say this is really a magnificent architecture.
After that, we walked to the Tower of London which has lots of hystory behind it and I'm not gonna put them down here...On the same day, we also visited the National Art Gallery and took some pictures at the Nelson's Column.
On 28th, we first went to the elegant buildings of Horse Guards, which were built in 1755 and was the original main entrance to the Buckingham Palace. The Changing of Guard took place at 10.30am that morning and those guards with their uniform riding on the horses were truely gorgeous! But we did not manage to watch the entire exchange process coz we rushed over to the Buckingham Palace through the famous St. Jame's Park, to witness the Changing of Guard parade over there at 11am!
Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of The Queen. During the Change of Guard parade, The New Guard marches to the Palace from Wellington Barracks with a Guards band, the Old Guard hands over in a ceremony during which the sentries are changed and then returns to barracks. The New Guard then marches to St James's Palace leaving the detachment at Buckingham Palace.
By the time we finished witnessing the awesome parade, it was drizzling...dem! So we have to take a bus to somewhere indoor, which we decided on Harrods! When we got there, the splendid appearance of this luxury shopping mall really amazed me! And one thing I must mention about Harrods is its "BY APPOINTMENT" shopping experience - a truly bespoke Personal Shopping heaven offering an unrivalled luxurious service that is rare, stylish and indulgent.
After Harrods, the rain stopped, we then went to the Chinatown, close to Leicester Square. Frankly there was really nothing much there and I just cant wait for our flight on London Eye which we planned for that night. After dinner, we went to get our tickets & there we went on the last flight, enjoyed the beautiful night view of London city!
On 29th which was the our last full-day in London, we did only 1 thing - SHOPPING & SHOPPING! We were mainly shopping at Bond Street, Oxford Circus & Regent Street. The shopping experience was just amazing! I was overwhelmed by the sales going on in NEXT, Dorothy Perkins etc, and baby clothings in Mothercare, Marks & Spencers were just so much cheaper than here! **I definitely look forward to another trip to Europe!
7 comments:
How was the london eye? wonder will it be the same as the one in singapore. So of the all places that u visited, which is ur fav.
I thought you go to Europe again! Nice pictures. And especially that London Eye is awesome!
dio - london eye was awesome! but i havent been on the one in SG so i cant possibly compare lor...As to which is my fav, err...each of them has its own specialty, in a way...so i love the hystorical sites in rome, the romance in paris, and the shopping in london, haha!
hcfoo - thx dude! I was using the camera stand & took the pic without flash, otherwise it wont turn out with this quality...I really like them too!
haha, i notice that the sky was cloudy also. kinda gloomy right? :P
din try london eye b4. wonder how is it like during winter :>
alvin - ya on the second day it was abit gloomy, but later in the afternoon the sky got brighten up again...Overall weather was quite oklar, except it was raining for half a day on 28th...
U'r still in london now right? U shud really go on London Eye, the experience was wonderful!
Wow! Those are some awesome pictures! I'm glad that you had so much fun and a great experience. (^-^)
sakura - yes, and i think i'll go back to london coz both hubby & i love the place!
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