Harlow Everyone
I am back from my trip and now it is time for me to review about the places that we have went. It is our first time travel so far and also to Europe. We follow travel agency - Chan Brothers. We signed our package at Natas Fair in end of Feb 2013. $5k plus per person. 16 days and 14 nights trip to Europe - From England to Italy. Sounded tiring but it was alright. The longest journey is around 5 hrs and we do stop every 11/2 hr or 2 hrs for a coffee or toilet break. Throughout the journey, we were traveling in a coach and the only time we took a train ( Eurostar ) was from England to Paris. We took SQ airline to and fro.
Day 1: 12th April 2013 Friday .
We start off our journey by having a good burger king breakfast at the airport. He always love to eat bk breakfast and as for me I am a mac lover. Haha.!
After having breakfast, we are almost time for our boarding. Our flight is 905am in the morning . London is 7 hrs behind Singapore time. It is a 13 hrs flight., so we will reach London at S Time Estimate 1005pm. L Time is 305pm in the afternoon. Even though it is spring, spring comes late this year. The weather is 10-20 Degree. See my boots. I am ready to be in London !
It is a double-deck airplane, carries about 500 passengers. Kinda cool to fly on such a big plane. It is very stable throughout the flight. They serve very good lunch and dinner. In between, very good snack and services are good. I am proud to be a Singaporean !
As amazing as always, my dear fall asleep before the plane takes off. As for me, it is morning to noon timing, everyone is watching movies. I am doing my fav part time job. MAHJONG in the plane. I remember I sit beside Uncle Joe and Aunt Cecelia in the plane. They are around 50 plus in age. Very friendly and chatty couple. Realize Aunt Cecelia laughter is very addicted , first impression she is a happy lady.
After a long flight of 13 hrs, we are finally at England - London. Each of us brings a large luggage. Already 15 kg each, no choice we have to bring our weather clothing. As of course, never fail to take a picture.
Weather is 12 degree and I am happily playing blowing cold air out from my mouth. Haha. Feel so Taiwan. Miss this kinda of weather. We, a group of 24 people, board our coach and head to our first hotel to check in. Novotel London West. We request for queen size bed and they give us so many beds. Lol. The hotel is clean and good. We gonna stay here for 2 nights. Yeah !
Novotel London West - London
1 Shortlands, Hammersmith , London
w6 8Dr Lodon
After getting ready, we are ready to go to Chinatown to have our dinner. Today is just half a day and dinner is on our own. I am surprised that for their spring. Their nightfall is around 8 plus 9 pm. Kinda weird to see the sky is so bright at 7 plus. I am totally in love with their trees because they are all leaves-less. Haha. It is our first day and we do nothing but keep taking pictures even while we are walking to the train station.
We have arrived at our nearby hotel station - Hammersmith Station. Busy station and there is this chap selling flowers inside the station. Due to the cold weather, the flowers look so fresh. I guess even I buy, it can last quite sometime. Of course our dear tour guide - Alvin, busy queuing and helping us to buy tickets to take train to Chinatown. It is a to and fro ticket. If I never remember wrongly is around 4 pounds per ticket. As i am wearing my boots and not my high heels. Even though London people are not that tall, average 1.75 cm, their gals are tall. Compare to them, I feel so short. Haha. I remember vividly a conversation I heard in the train. A group of 3 were talking about us. They were saying I am so short and so cute. After that the two guys start to kiss each other on the cheers several times. Trying my best not to look at them. Hehe. We never fail to take picture again in the train. Haha.
After a few stops, we have reached our destination - Chinatown. Alvin brings us around to introduce to us what is good here. Kyo and me as usual, our eyes open wide when we see casino. It is a must to take a picture outside the Casino.
Alvin told us the lobster noodle is good but kinda expensive. The mac here is not cheap as well and nothing special. In the end we have decided to go to this resturant to have our dinner. Together with another couple, Joyceline and Jimmy, we have our first dinner at London and it is chinese food. My god. I thought we gonna have local food and no chinese food all the way. Not a very rice person, but the food is really good. The weather is cold and I wonder it will be good if there is a hot bb tea selling around here. YES THEY HAVE ! Bb tea is everywhere. Haha. After the dinner, I am too full to have bb tea. So I drop that idea.
This is not a normal bar. It is a gay bar. After dinner, the weather turns bad. It starts to rain quite heavily. Luckily I bring my umbrella out. After that we take a train back to our cosy hotel.
Day 2 : 13th April 2013 Saturday .
Before we head off to our city tour in London, we are told that London Hotel has the best breakfast compare to other countries we are heading to. They have huge varieties and I miss their chocolate croissant is duper duper GOOD !
Our shag morning faces, but we are totally in love with the breakfast !
Today we embark on a city tour to the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and Bucklingham Palace, No. 10 Downing Street, Trafalgar Square, London Bridge,Tower Bridge and Tower of London. Late noon, we have our dim sum lunch at Chinatown. Next, we have our free time. We choose to go into the Tower of London to explore. Others can go to shop at London's West End stores in Oxford Street , Regent Street or Knightsbridge.
We start to snap here and there in the coach. Everywhere looks so nice and to me, all photo turn out to be beautiful no matter how you snap. So beautiful that most of them can be postcards. I believe you people agree with me too right? Hehe.
London Bus
London Cab
Bucklingham Palace
Bucklingham Palace
The London Telephone Booth.
Houses of Parliament
Below are some of the random pictures I took in the bus. Arent they beautiful?
I love their outstanding exterior.
Trafalgar Square
We are at London Bridge !
Majority of the people will think of the London Bridge song when you see the London Bridge. After I google, I realised the actual " London Bridge" song is super long and quite interesting. If you guys are interested to know how and why this song came about, guess you may google online. The way the tour guide told us about the London Bridge is very funny and easy to remember. There was once a king who has a beautiful wife, the Queen ( My fair lady ). He gave a lump sum of money to the Queen to maintain the Bridge . However, the Queen spent away the money on shopping, cosmetics and others instead on maintaining the aBridge. Finally one day the Bridge collapsed. Hence the King was so disappointed and said to the Queen, why why my dear fair lady. Thus the people of London started to sing London Bridge is falling down and so on my fair lady.
There is considerable variation in the lyrics of the rhyme. The most frequently used first verse is:
London Bridge is falling down,Falling down, falling down.London Bridge is falling down,My fair lady.[1]
In the version quoted by Iona and Peter Opie in 1951 the full lyrics were:
London Bridge is broken down,Broken down, broken down.London Bridge is broken down,My fair lady.
Build it up with wood and clay,
Wood and clay, wood and clay,Build it up with wood and clay,My fair lady.
Wood and clay will wash away,
Wash away, wash away,Wood and clay will wash away,My fair lady.
Build it up with bricks and mortar,
Bricks and mortar, bricks and mortar,Build it up with bricks and mortar,My fair lady.
Bricks and mortar will not stay,
Will not stay, will not stay,Bricks and mortar will not stay,My fair lady.
Build it up with iron and steel,
Iron and steel, iron and steel,Build it up with iron and steel,My fair lady.
Iron and steel will bend and bow,
Bend and bow, bend and bow,Iron and steel will bend and bow,My fair lady.
Build it up with silver and gold,
Silver and gold, silver and gold,Build it up with silver and gold,My fair lady.
Silver and gold will be stolen away,
Stolen away, stolen away,Silver and gold will be stolen away,My fair lady.
Set a man to watch all night,
Watch all night, watch all night,Set a man to watch all night,My fair lady.
Suppose the man should fall asleep,
Fall asleep, fall asleep,Suppose the man should fall asleep?My fair lady.
Give him a pipe to smoke all night,
Smoke all night, smoke all night,Give him a pipe to smoke all night,My fair lady.[2]
Ferry Wheel Spotted
Here is the places where you can shop at London. Oxford Street , Regent Street or Knightsbridge. Before we start our shopping or free and easy time. We had a great dim sum lunch here. Yup is Chinese food. Haha.
We decided to take train train to near the London Bridge area. We are heading to London Tower ! Was told by the tour guide that it is worth visiting the London Tower. Their train is small but yet not crowded. Feel a bit like Singapore. Maybe like what my dear says, he says that because England rules Singapore before hence their transportation system is almost the same.
The ticketing area, as we have many people from our tour who are going to visit the London Tower. We can special group entrance price. Haha.
A bit misty, as it is drizzling and weather is quite cold . About 11 Degree.
Lucky us to spot the London Tower guards. They are very happy to take a picture with us.
You are able to see a more clear view of the London Bridge in the London Tower.
The main attraction to visit London Tower is to see the precious gems and different kind of crowns that the kings wore. No photography inside. Hence we only manage to take pictures outside. The gems are beautiful but we suspect they are not real because the security is not very strong.
This is the most interesting thing we spot at London. The souvenir coins machine. London is kinda special that they allow you to mould their coins into souvenir. A pound and 10 cents are needed. Of course, digging out all my coins and cant wait to make one home.
Haha we cant stop playing with this digital frame. We look so funny here. Haha.
Ice cream car
The fish and chips look good but we are too full .
Time for shopping.
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Guess where is here ? Mark and Spencer. The things are so cheap here compare to Singapore. I nearly grab all the sweets and chocolates home.
The first thing is to hunt for my fav sweet. This mint sweet used to sell in Spore and now they stop their exporting to Singapore. So sad. Manage to find here and of course, grabs a few packets.
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The Meji Milk is so cute. Got super big and small bottle.
Ice cream and frozen food are so cheap !
Hard to find a good dining place around that area. We are so happy to spot Subway. Btw the subway here is not cheap. Only us inside subway. Haha. Guess usually people will buy home to cook , cheaper this way.
Gonna show this pic. Pink Limo ...so fking cute la. Haha !
Our final shopping stop is at Knightbridge. For people who are heading now, the famous Harrods closes at 8pm and they do not open on Sunday. You can find all the branded things. Burberry brand is from London, you might consider purchasing your Burberry stuffs there.
Here is the link to the history of Harrods:
Our last picture to end our day at London. Overall experience in London, is 4 half stars / 5 stars.
To conclude, is kind of easy to travel around London. Buy a one day train pass at 4.5 pounds and take you to many places. If I have a chance I will visit London again and other parts of England.
