Busy City of London: Day 3

After the extreme exploration the day before, I decided to sleep in a little. By the time I woke up it was nearly 10:00am. For my last day in London, I planned only to visit Buckingham Palace for the changing guard ceremony then to Harrods for window shopping and perhaps if time permits, just a walk along the many parks or gardens that London has, before taking the train back to Swindon again.

Picture (Left) - Wellington Arch; (Right) - Constitution Hill leading to Buckingham Palace

Green Park by the Constitution Hill

Picture (Left) - Changing guards ceremony; (Right) - Crowds witnessing the ceremony

Guard on horse

Picture (Left & Right) - Harrods Egyption style stairway

 Harrods, luxury department store

 

Souvenirs from Harrods Arcade

 

Mouth watering desserts

 

Beautiful day for walk in park

 

Flowers are blooming too

 

Picture (Left & Right) - Blooming tulips

 

 

 Speaker Corner at Hyde Park

The many activities at Hyde Park

What a beautiful day for outing...

Busy City of London: Day 2

Day two started with quick breakfast then straight on to the busy Oxford St. where I purchased myself a hop-on hop-off sightseeing bus. The Big Bus Tours not only covers sightseeing tours from the open top double decked bus but it also include free walking tours and river cruises. Certainly a great way to discover the big city for few attractions I had listed out: London Eye, Tower Bridge (known more by London Bridge), Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral, Hyde Park, Harrods….opps, my list seems to be getting longer.

As soon as the bus in motion, my hands and camera had been busy throughout the whole sightseeing journey. Started from the Marble Arch to along the Regent Street then passing trough Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral and across the London Bridge to Tower Bridge before I decided to hop-off at the stop in front of Tower of London.

Marble Arch

Every girls' heaven

Picture (Left) - Shopping along Regent Street; (Right) - Trafalgar Square

Picture (Left) - Busy street of London; (Right) - St. Paul's Cathedral

Picture (Left) - London Eye; (Right) - Big Ben

 The Big Ben with House of Parliament

 

Tower Bridge

 

 Tower of London

After a little stroll along the famous attractions, I hop-on the river cruise along River Thames passing by some of the famous bridges to the finally stop at the Westminster Pier for the ride up in the London Eye.

Tower Bridge from River Thames

City Hall building that were made to look like a cyclist helmet

HMS Belfast, the Royal Navy light cruiser that served during the Second World War and Korean War, now a ship museum

Millennium Footbridge a.k.a Wobbly Bridge by the Londoners

London Eye and London Aquarium by the River Thames

Picture (Left) - London Eye by the River Thames; (Right) - At the peak in the eye bubble

And finally…I hop-on the tour bus for other attractions that London has to offer.

Wesminster Abbey

Cute 'couple' Double Decker bus

Busy City of London: Day 1

It has been more than two months since I return from my trip to UK, yet I am still far from completing my updates of this solo trip...

Into the second weekend of the voyage…where I had it all planned out from the start. I am heading to London for the weekend. I am all psyche of being in a city that I have heard about from a very young age. Perhaps it was made famous by the nursery rhyme/song “London Bridge is Falling Down”.

So, I left Swindon on Friday evening conveniently via First Great Western train. The journey that took an hour fifteen minutes arrived in the heart of London at Paddington Station. My accommodation for the next two nights is just walking distance from the train station. Hence I took out the little map of the city and started walking towards the direction of my hotel.

I was so proud of myself when I managed to locate the hotel and I went straight on to the reception counter to check-in. But to my astonishment, I was told that my reservation was not to be found and I left my reservation confirmation number in Swindon. To make the matter worst, it was the weekend of madness for the closing of British airways due to the ash formed from the eruption of volcano Eyjafjallajoekull in Iceland. Hotels were fully booked with most extending their stays. Oh no, what am I supposed to do now? I gave them the every possible names that my reservation could be mix up with, but still to no avail. After nearly an hour of panic, a nice lady from the hotel came to assist, and then checked me in with new reservation. Phewww….what a relief!

I rested a while before I head out to start exploring this busy city. I had a few places in mind but that will be for the day after. So I spend the night with little shopping spree along Oxford St. not far from the hotel and called it day for an early start the next day.

Picture (Left & Right) - Path along Kensington Garden heading to Hyde Park

Greeted with serene beauty along the walk towards Oxford St.

Blooming Cherry Blossom

Busy street along Oxford St. - greast place for shopping spree  before calling it a day!