The main reason for this trip was because Singapore Day was held on the 25th of April. We figured we might as well travel around London while we were at it. So, Damus, Angel and I decided to head down by bus to London. How wrong was I in thinking that it might not be as bad this time around. The key is getting a seat by the window. Epic fail in that regard. The whole freaking bus was packed so I had to sit beside the damn toilet and near the back where it was freaking hot and smelled really bad. Here goes the start of the journey.
Does this bring back memories, Amy?
After a torturous 8hrs(!), we arrived in London on a lovely sunny Friday morning where we were dropped off Victoria Station. We then headed to find the underground to catch the train to our hotel.
The London Underground.It's like a catacomb down there. So many entrances and exits with tunnels that lead you from platform to platform. You won't get lost that easily but it can get rather worrying wandering the tunnels. Felt that it was reasonably efficient although rather pricey even though it was the only mode of transportation we took in London.
We walked everywhere else...haha.The view from our hotel, Hotel Ibis. It was located more or less in the south-west corner of London, in an area called Earl's Court. Stamford Bridge (Chelsea FC) was located near-by.
The rooms were sparsely furnished but I was so tired after the bus ride down and all the walking on the other days that I just fell right asleep once my head hit the pillow every night.
The first order of business after dropping all our luggage at the hotel was getting some food and getting a head-start on completing our marathon first day of visiting all the important sites in London. We stopped at this organic/bakery place where they had this nice ham & cheese croissant. So nice I had two although I was starving having had nothing to eat on the bus ride. This was my first meal of the day!
First and foremost, I'd like to be thankful for the GLORIOUS days we had in London, with the exception of the temporary sprinkle on sat morning. The sun was out, shining in it's incandescent glory. Since we were staying on the west side of London, we decided to head east in order to cover everything. First stop, Kensington Park/Hyde Park. Oh ya, we met with a malaysian called Nick as well. He's an architecture student studying in Glasgow but came down to London to do an attachment I think. You won't really see him in the pictures. Mebbe in D&A's ones but not mine.
I could barely contain my excitement that it was such a nice sunny day. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the weather in Scotland as well, even the cold. But the warmth of the sun and the coolness of the air just made my day. Not to mention, it reminded me of home. Although, I don't miss the sweating so much.
Kensington House (or sth to that effect)
The happy couple. Haha, so good for each other.
This was a mini lake in the middle of the park. It's too big to be a pond yet too small to be a lake.
Loads of open-air space and greenery. You can't really compare it to the Botanical Gardens in Singapore because they just don't have the space. They tend to cram as much as they can in one place whereas everything here was spaced out and you could sit under your own tree and have a picnic or walk your dog or go for a run. There was this mother who had dressed her two wee daughters up in pretty dresses but kinda freaked out when Nick wanted to take a photo. Mother's instinct, I suppose. *shrug*
The park was huge!I believe it was probably bigger than the NUS campus, without the slopes and all, of course.
This was a river which ran through half the park. There were people paddling boats and those floating devices where you pedal your way around. Oh, there was ice-cream to be enjoyed as well. For dog-lovers (D&A in particular), it is a very nice place to bring your dog or just to admire other dogs.
A cafe across the river. 
The cute duck and her ducklings.
They must have hatched a couple of months ago, I think. Saw loads of lambs in the countryside as well. Not to mention, a friend of mine had a mare which just gave birth to a foal last month (Horses, in case you didn't know). Haha, all the little creatures coming into the world.
Now, I have no idea what this arch is supposed to represent or what it's name it. But Angel made a good point. There have been arches in Paris, Berlin and, now, London. What is their obsession with arches and statues on top? Should Singapore be looking to get an arch for themselves? :D
On exiting Hyde Park, we reached Buckingham Palace! Yes, this is the home of the Queen herself although we found out later that she only stays here on Tuesdays as she prefers Windsor Castle as her hideout. There will be more on that in the last part of the blog/report/post/update. Truth be told, it wasn't very spectacular although I suppose it is pretty old and we have been spoiled with pretty modern spectacular buildings. Aren't we lucky?
See? Not that impressive, is it? There was still alot of security though.
Similar story to the arch. A statue in the middle of a roundabout. What will they think of next? Surely not something that you can find somewhere else in Europe? Hahaha, again, didn't bother finding out the names but look at all the little kids sitting on the steps. They were there on some excursion, sitting facing Buckingham Palace and drawing it.
Onwards we went on our journey. A short walk ahead was Westminister Abbey. We were wondering what an abbey was and how it was different from a church. Apparently, it's where they used to store the remains of the dead. Underneath the building, of course. It's not a mausoleum but that would make it an ossuary. My, aren't you learning something new today.
Woke up to this. This is the front side of Westminister Abbey. Turns out you can't take pictures inside the Abbey so D&A were rather disappointed with that.
From Westminister, we headed in the direction of Big Ben and the Parliament House. And on the other side of the river, the London Eye.
Big Ben. 
Hey, hey. That's me! In front of the London Eye. 
Right, I have no idea why this picture is blue(it is blue, isn't it?). I think it's probably the angle that the sun was at that affected the shot.
This was a river which ran through half the park. There were people paddling boats and those floating devices where you pedal your way around. Oh, there was ice-cream to be enjoyed as well. For dog-lovers (D&A in particular), it is a very nice place to bring your dog or just to admire other dogs.
A cafe across the river. Very picturesque
The cute duck and her ducklings.
They must have hatched a couple of months ago, I think. Saw loads of lambs in the countryside as well. Not to mention, a friend of mine had a mare which just gave birth to a foal last month (Horses, in case you didn't know). Haha, all the little creatures coming into the world.
Now, I have no idea what this arch is supposed to represent or what it's name it. But Angel made a good point. There have been arches in Paris, Berlin and, now, London. What is their obsession with arches and statues on top? Should Singapore be looking to get an arch for themselves? :D
On exiting Hyde Park, we reached Buckingham Palace! Yes, this is the home of the Queen herself although we found out later that she only stays here on Tuesdays as she prefers Windsor Castle as her hideout. There will be more on that in the last part of the blog/report/post/update. Truth be told, it wasn't very spectacular although I suppose it is pretty old and we have been spoiled with pretty modern spectacular buildings. Aren't we lucky?
See? Not that impressive, is it? There was still alot of security though.
Similar story to the arch. A statue in the middle of a roundabout. What will they think of next? Surely not something that you can find somewhere else in Europe? Hahaha, again, didn't bother finding out the names but look at all the little kids sitting on the steps. They were there on some excursion, sitting facing Buckingham Palace and drawing it.
Onwards we went on our journey. A short walk ahead was Westminister Abbey. We were wondering what an abbey was and how it was different from a church. Apparently, it's where they used to store the remains of the dead. Underneath the building, of course. It's not a mausoleum but that would make it an ossuary. My, aren't you learning something new today.Entry was 9pounds and I wasn't interested in paying so D&A went in while I got another ice-cream and sat down on the grass outside the abbey with Nick. We talked for a while before the warmth and the damn bus ride got to me and I took a nap in the sun.
Woke up to this. This is the front side of Westminister Abbey. Turns out you can't take pictures inside the Abbey so D&A were rather disappointed with that.
From Westminister, we headed in the direction of Big Ben and the Parliament House. And on the other side of the river, the London Eye.
Big Ben. One thing I've noticed in Glasgow and London is the amount of planes that fly across the sky. These are not commercial planes but private jets, I think, streaking across the sky. I just really notice them alot, probably because I love looking up at the bright blue sky.
Hey, hey. That's me! In front of the London Eye. And warm enough not to need a jacket.
Am loving the shades I bought from you, Amy!
Right, I have no idea why this picture is blue(it is blue, isn't it?). I think it's probably the angle that the sun was at that affected the shot.I guess?
The London Eye had a really long queue and we didn't want to take it that badly anyway so we walked right past it and loads of street entertainers to Shakespeare's theatre. Taking Romeo and Juliet for Literature in secondary school was one of the best things that I enjoyed (the result still pissed me off) and I would have loved nothing more than to see the theatre. However, there were actors inside rehearsing for the play so we weren't allowed to take pictures. We decided to pass on it and headed on towards the Tower Bridge.
Hey, hey. Me again!
The London Eye had a really long queue and we didn't want to take it that badly anyway so we walked right past it and loads of street entertainers to Shakespeare's theatre. Taking Romeo and Juliet for Literature in secondary school was one of the best things that I enjoyed (the result still pissed me off) and I would have loved nothing more than to see the theatre. However, there were actors inside rehearsing for the play so we weren't allowed to take pictures. We decided to pass on it and headed on towards the Tower Bridge.
Hey, hey. Me again! Must have me in some pictures or else will kenna scolding :D
Was wondering what that pointy building was. 
Actually on the Tower Bridge. 
This was St Paul's Cathedral. Another lovely garden. At this point in time, I was getting tired so that's the end of my photo-taking for the day. Hope you had fun looking at them. It's time for the words to fill up the rest of the post. Take one last look. Ready?
After St Paul's cathedral, we headed to London's Chinatown. We had heard of this place called the Four Seasons which had really good roast duck. So we went there for dinner. And what a coincidence it was to meet Xiuli in the same restuarant. The food wasn't spectacular but it was still good. Loved the chilli!! It's the first time I've had it since I've been overseas. Haha, hogged the whole bowl to myself in the end. We went for a small walk around after that but decided to head back once it turned dark (which was at 9pm at night, btw) as we were still pretty tired by the bus ride down and needing to wake up at 6.30am the next morning in order to make it on time to Singapore Day (3ppl, 1 room, 1 toilet = rotation required). Once we were back in the hotel, we met with San Chu who is a Singaporean who has been living in London for the better part of 40 years. He was one of the organizers of Singapore Day in London and helped us with the arrangements of getting there.
Was wondering what that pointy building was. Seen it on tv a couple of times. It's really weird, no?
Actually on the Tower Bridge. Ok, I kinda insisted on coming here because, come one, it's an iconic place.
Although I don't know why I was so adamant...
This was St Paul's Cathedral. Another lovely garden. At this point in time, I was getting tired so that's the end of my photo-taking for the day. Hope you had fun looking at them. It's time for the words to fill up the rest of the post. Take one last look. Ready?
After St Paul's cathedral, we headed to London's Chinatown. We had heard of this place called the Four Seasons which had really good roast duck. So we went there for dinner. And what a coincidence it was to meet Xiuli in the same restuarant. The food wasn't spectacular but it was still good. Loved the chilli!! It's the first time I've had it since I've been overseas. Haha, hogged the whole bowl to myself in the end. We went for a small walk around after that but decided to head back once it turned dark (which was at 9pm at night, btw) as we were still pretty tired by the bus ride down and needing to wake up at 6.30am the next morning in order to make it on time to Singapore Day (3ppl, 1 room, 1 toilet = rotation required). Once we were back in the hotel, we met with San Chu who is a Singaporean who has been living in London for the better part of 40 years. He was one of the organizers of Singapore Day in London and helped us with the arrangements of getting there.
That concludes the first day of our trip to London. Glad to say, we managed to hit almost all the touristy spots. The others just weren't as important or attractive to attempt. It was a good day to walk around all day and I really enjoyed myself seeing everything. Stay tuned for how Singapore Day turned out...
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