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 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!

City of Bath: Aquae Sulis

Aquae Sulis ("the waters of Sulis"), the Latin name of a city that was first established by the Roman as a spa resort. This small town was located in the Roman province of Britannia, but today, it is known more as Bath, located in the English county of Somerset.

That was where I headed to, on the Sunday of my first week in this stranger country. As I have bought the train tickets the day earlier, I went straight on for my ride via the First Great Western train, a direct stop from Swindon to BathSpa.

Like always, I did some studies of the place I am visiting just couple days before and even managed to print out a little map of the city with some of famous attractions pointed out for my walking tours. Bath is just a small town and walking by far is the best option to enjoy the beautiful sceneries that this little town has to offer.

Directions for self guided walking tour

Upon arrival, I was welcome with a gorgeous sight of cherry blossom flowers. As the wind blows, tiny pinkish flower petals are scattered all over the walk way, making this the most composed image I have ever seen!

Picture (All Below) - Pretty sights of the cherry blossom flowers

As I walk along, I was greeted with more and more beautiful and colorful flowers accompanied with astonishing building architecture. The weather was a little chilly but somehow I enjoyed the cold wind blowing straight to my face throughout the whole walking trip.

 A public art called "King Bladud's Pigs in Bath"

Side view of Bath Abbey

Picture (Left) - Main entrance of Bath Abbey; (Right) - River Avon

The Circus - the best I could do for a 'panorama' view

The Royal Cresent - that's the furthest I can go to get this shot

Picture (Left) - Back alley; (Right) - Wild flowers by the wall fence

Again, time caught up with me without realizing especially when I was busy taking pictures at almost every corner of the town. My can feel my feet begin to sore and started to sense some hunger but I wanted to keep my tummy for tea time later, for a famous bun. So what is so special with this bun? Well, I had no clue either but all I know is that in all travel books I read, it is said that the visit to Bath is never complete without experiencing the world famous bun by Sally Lunn. Of course I would hate to miss the chance of tasting a famous bun!

 Bath's oldest house c.1482 - Home of the World famous Sally Lunn Bath Bun

Hence, I was in the hunt for something light to fill my hunger till I came across a small store selling tempting ice-creams. Oh….they all looks yummy. I definitely love to give this a try! And out I came with a two-scoop ice-cream wafer of Rasberry Pavlova and Turkish Delight flavor. They were extremely delicious but my delight was not for long. The wafer was so crispy that I somehow crushed them to pieces with just tiny squeeze and off they went down to ground *sob sob* There was a nice stranger that even offered to buy me a new cone, but I guessed I was too disappointed for a new one at that time. So all I did was to watch the pigeons enjoying my slowly melted ice-cream on the ground. The pigeons seems to be enjoying their dessert!

From David Thayer Ice-Cream shop

Ended to the ground

Enjoying some street performance while enjoying my ice-cream (not for long)

Still feeling a little down, I went on for the tour to Roman Bath Museum and it was an excellent choice that I never regretted. I did not anticipate such a small  place from outside would end up with such massive remains from the Romans down below the ground. All I could say is I was really impressed!

Picture (Left) - Roman Bath from
the outside; (Right) - A man from the Aquae Sulis, Roman Bath, lived and died nearly 2000 years ago. The tombstone shows him as he wished to be remembered, holding a scroll which reflect his learning and status in life

A light show on the ruins to recreate back the full picture of the olden days of Roman

The glittering in the pool are actually coins, the Romans makes wishes and threw coins and have their wish granted

Natural hot thermal out from the ground

The sacred pool used by the Romans

Ruins from the original building structure

After the tour, it was just the perfect time for tea break and none other than Sally Lunn I would want to be. I ordered the Sally Lunn's two course High Tea which comes with a thin round of Sally Lunn Bun topped with finest Scottish Smoked Salmon and half a toasted & buttered Sally Lunn Bun served with Tiptree Strawberry Jam and lots of local Clotted Cream, followed by world famous Sally Lunn Cream Tea…and mark my words, they were the best buns I ever tasted though I am not really the fans for the English version of cream tea (still prefer our Malaysian version of milk tea a.k.a teh tarik)

Sally Lunn Bun topped with finest Scottish Smoked Salmon

Sally Lunn Bun served with Tiptree Strawberry Jam and lots of local Clotted Cream

Cozy little place for dining

Sally Lunn's Museum with the original kitchen with its faggot oven, Georgian range and old baking utensils

With tummy filled, I took a stroll by the park namely Parade Garden overlooking to Pulteney Bridge that that crosses the River Avon. It is one of the most beautiful bridges with only four in the world lined by shops on both sides. Spectacular view!

 Pulteney Bridge

Parade Garden

Parade Garden

Finally, I ended my day trip to Bath with many great pictures and astonishing insight of the great Romans. What an experience!