Well, since we’ve decided to skip the tour, we headed to The Tower of London ourselves.
Its pretty fun, they’ve got these big fat ravens (crows) the live there, because according to legend, if the ravens leave the tower, the London Kingdom would fall. Oh and not forgetting the Crown Jewels! If you love your bling blings, this would be a must-see! *drool*
After lunch we walked over to the Tower Bridge, one of the most beautiful and biggest draw bridge in London. You can get a ticket and see the inside of the bridge. Fun… Great views and picture taking opportunities too.
After that we ended on the other side of the river, so we headed to the HMS Belfast, an actual warship that was docked at the river and converted into a museum. The teachers in London were on strike, so there were a lot of youngsters wandering around, quite crowded. But it was quite interesting; they even fired a few blank rounds from their giant guns. Yah, was official deaf for 15mins after that as I was standing pretty close. I couldn’t cover my ears as I had to hold the camera.
We wanted to take a Thames River boat cruise, but the station was on the other side of the river, so we headed back to the bridge again. Lucky Lucky! As we were going back, a sail boat needed to pass so we actually witnessed the bridge open up! This doesn’t happen very frequently so we were quite lucky.
We have some time before the next boat arrives so we bought fish and chips to share! Very generous portions!
The fish was very fresh and yummy, a must try when you come to London! The camera went out of battery when we boarded the open air boat, so it was quite a bummer. But the boat ride was a great way to see London, just sit back, relax and enjoy the sights and the cool wind.
We got off the Westminister pier and saw Big Ben! We planned to come back tomorrow but we couldn’t resist taking some pictures, so… plan B! Hehe… took some pictures of the London Eye with my handphone camera. I don’t feel like going for the London Eye, so we didn’t. We then strolled around and came across this beautiful garden with pretty flowers everywhere!
By then it’s already pass 6.30pm and the last boat has left, so we took a train to a recommended restaurant, Porters English Restaurant. The London Pass offers a bottle of wine for two main courses, but apparently, a main course consist of appetizers, main course and dessert. We cannot possibly finish! So we just ordered a Sheppard’s pie and a Guinness and mushroom pie.
We were super full after that. The restaurant is located at Convent Garden, and there’re a lot of shops and pubs there, so it’s very lively at night. There was a soccer match that night, so the pubs were filled with fans in England soccer jersey, singing, dancing and laughing. Very passionate fans there! But it could get rowdy, so we went back to the hotel after dinner and rest. Tired!
The next day we found out that our train station also has a Pret cafe! Hoho, we had sausage soup with croissant, Oh baby… very good man… We then decided to explore the area around the hotel and found a little open air market. One of the stores sells all sorts of home-made cakes, pies and bread! So I can’t resist and bought a brownie. Heehee…
We went for our tour, which was the London Hop-on Hop-off tour. It was raining in the beginning, but it cleared up later and it was super shiok to sit at the open top of the bus, with the cold wind blowing on your face! Whoo hoo! We drop off and headed to Tate Modern, one of London’s top modern art museum. When the commentator on the bus said that the most recent exhibition at Tate Modern was a giant crack, I thought he was just joking. But when we got there, we realize that it was real!
There really was a HUGE crack on the exhibition floor that stretches all the way to the end of the hall. But the exhibition has ended so we only got to see the staff patching up the crack. So interesting right?! Got to see some really good art and even the famous Water Lily by Monet, so it was a really treat for me.
Had a really miserable lunch there though. I had to force down my yucky salmon curry as Cobby wolfed down his delicious cheeseburger. Disgusting man.
We crossed the beautiful Millennium Bridge and headed to St. Paul’s Cathedral, very beautiful place.
That’s where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married! For the more active people, head all the way up to the Golden Gallery. It’s a LONG climb up, but it’s fun.
Don’t miss the little hole on the floor when you’re near the top. It looks directly down to the main hall, VERY LONG DROP, yikes. I discovered it and took a picture. The other tourists saw that and soon everybody was crowding around the little hole, looking down and squealing in fear and taking pictures. Haha… The protective glass was a little cloudy though.
As planned, we headed back to Westminister and saw Big Ben again.
We wanted to visit the Westminister abbey, a very old church next door but it was already closed, so too bad.
As I was squatting down to take a picture of the church, a toddler suddenly ran towards me and I captured her in the picture instead.
So cute right? The girl’s parents and I shared a laugh when I showed them the picture. It’s still a little early, so we took a leisurely boat ride back to the Tower of London.
And hop-on the last London tour bus back to the city center. We ate at a fusion cuisine restaurant Wagamama that night. I wasn’t a fan of fusion food, but having hot soupy ramen was a great way to warm the body and soul after running around in the cold weather all day, so I was grateful as I slurped up the soup!
Tomorrow we’ll be going to Paris. We’ll been in London for only 3 days and it’s only the beginning of our trip! Feels kindda weird cuz I felt like I’m ready to go home. Nonetheless I was very excited.
What would Paris be like?
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