Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Footprints in London - River Thames, London Eye, Phantom of the Opera

London Day 4 (14 Nov '07)


Rise and shine, we ordered breakfast again. Today, I wanted to try something new, hence I ordered their continental breakfast (the one on top) while Love-hate partner tried the English Breakfast today. Quite disappointed at my order cos it is all bread, but the croissant was very nice. Ham and cheese is just normal.


Seventeenth Stop : Marble Arch

Today's agenda was suggested by the romantic Me. The original plan was to go to Hyde's Park, one of the famous parks in London, for a paddle boat ride on the lake. However, during the journey, we saw Marble Arch highlighted on the tourist map, hence decide to pay a visit.

Ended up the marble arch is just this white marble gate behind us with nothing else in the surrondings. Quite off if u ask me. Wasted precious time, we decided to hurry to the park.







Eighteenth Stop : Hyde's Park

Once we entered the park, we saw this:
Wow! A horse carriage in the middle of modern central London?? Blamer seems overcame with happiness and did the jumping thingy again.

We trudged on trying to locate the lake but it was nowhere to be found. As it was very early in the morning, I was too cold to take any pics, but Blamer seems very comfortable with the weather and started running around.


Notice the dog at the bottom right hand corner. Now lesson to be learnt: DO NOT RUN IN FRONT OF A DOG! Blamer got chased by the small doggy as a result & she totally freaked out. Wa ha ha ha... Shld have taken a photo but I was too busy trying to rescue her from the cute doggy. Hee hee.


Nineteenth Stop : Cruise Down River Thames


After Hyde's Park, we proceed to Waterloo Station for our river cruise,


Our Boat

Some pictures of us on the deck b4 the boat leaves the dock.

But once the engines are ignited, it started to rain. Almost all the tourists decided to shelter from the rain and went into the boat. All except us, cos Blamer whipped out her small purple foldable umbrella and declared that we stay on the deck.


On hindsight, it was a pretty good idea, if not we wouldn't be able to take the pics below. I'll try to name the landmarks but some I really can't remember.


House of Parliament and Big Ben

This I have forgotten, hee

Of cos, the London Eye which we are going on our "Flight" later on...

Can't remember this too, but the Cruise guide told us that a kid once said this looks like Batman's head. Wot do u think?

This is the Royal Festival Hall.

Going under the Waterloo Bridge...

This is the OXO Building. If u look closely at the tower like structure in the middle, u'll be able to see it.

This used to be a warship that has been one of the world wars, can't remember which. Now it has been converted to British Navy Museum. Heard from the guide that it has been to Singapore for exhibition before.

This is St Paul's Cathedral and Blackfriars Bridge. The Guide told us that friars actually means monks and some monks were wearing black hence Blackfriars, there's a Whitefriars Bridge as well, but we didn't cruise past it.

This is the Tate Museum.

This is Shakespeare's Globe. According to guide, the last building in London to preserve its flamable roof. After the Great Fire of London, most buildings are not allowed to be build with this type of roof anymore.


The Tower Bridge

Lastly, Traitor's Gate. This is the place where they drown murderers and other criminals I heard.


It's time for a break from the cold weather before we go on our "flight" on the London Eye. Visited an All You Can Eat chinese food restaurant. Not cheap though, about 7 pounds per person. But I think I needed a break from all the bread, sausages and beans I have been eating.

Think we went of at least three rounds each. Must make our money worth it right? Our spread:


Twentifieth Stop : London Eye

At long last, we are on top of the world! Or shld I day London? Hmm... Biggest observatory wheel in the world right now, quite scared initially, but after a while, we were taking photos like crazy again.


Didn't post a lot of photos cos I think the view is around the same just tat it is from the above. However, u may want to see how the capsule we're in looks like upclose.

Twenty First Stop : Her Majesty Theater --- Phantom of the Opera

We bought the best seats at 55 pounds each. Blamer thinks this is a once in a lifetime thing and dun mind spending a bit more which I totally agreed but Ouch!* still feel the pinch. Went and grab a quick dinner at the nearby Pizza Express cos we actually missed the play yesterday, was just 5 mins late or so cos kena fakey by two ladies who pointed us in the wrong direction.

Our pizza and drinks:

Couldn't really take pics inside the theater, b'cos of copyright issues, but blamer still manages to steal a couple of shots of the stage before and during the interval break. We were shacked out at the end of the day, but highly satisfied that we managed to catch the play. Highly recommended to those who are planning to go to London to go watch it too.




Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Footprints in London - Stonehedge

London Day 3 (13 Nov '07)

Fourteen Stop : Salisbury Cathedral

Woke up after a cold cold night, early in the morning, I think Blamer is trying to prove something... Wot u think?

aniwaz, our breakfast menu. quite interesting on the first day, but soon u'll realise tat it's the same everyday... We ordered English Breakfast and Scambled Eggs on Toast. The Jam is really nice though, the way they present it is very appetising.

After breakfast, we rushed down to Buckingham Palace Rd where our tour agency is situated. Golden Tours the name of the agency and we managed to get a discount for our one day tour thru the Britain Card. Reached the place at 0830 in the morning, it's so cold that we tried to capture our breathe, but I dun think u can see it.
It was a pretty long wait, hence we continue to take pics in the cold.
Finally the bus came but we still have to wait for late comers to board the bus, hence took pics of the bus as well.
After nearly an hour of bus ride, Salisbury came into sight.

Salisbury Cathedral is an international symbol of Christianality and it houses one of the four remaining copies of the Magna Carta which explains why it is consider one of the must visit places either for tourism or pilgrim.

More pics in the cathedral. We went to the Chapter House, but unfortunately, no pictures are allowed.

After visiting the cathedral, it's time for local English lunch at the nearby pub. There are 3 choices to choose from, beef stew, cold chicken salad and sausage & mash. I ordered the beef stew while Blamer ordered the sausage & mash.
Fifteenth Stop : Stonehedge

The main attraction of the day is Stonehedge, one of the 7 wonders of the world, according the tour guide, it's a wonder because the stones that made up the structure came from different parts of England like Wales, and blah blah blah, (can't really remember so much) and given their level of technology then, it is just amazing that they can transport all those stones thru such great distance and stack them up to form the structure. Supposedly, the structure is use for some early days worshipping.


We tried to help them hold up the stones a bit. Hee hee
Now the following few pics of zi pai is of great importance, cos after this sequence, Blamer got her name of Blamer and Kao Pei all at the same time and we oso ended up SGD500 poorer.

As u can see, we tried to adjust the camera angle till it... ... But "dent dent" (new name for camera) is still working fine and we tried to swallow Stonehedge to revenge for "dent dent".


Sixteenth Stop : Roman Bath


This is the last stop of the day, according to our tour guide, the bath is built around the only hot spring in Britain. However, the water is really dirty and I can't imagine anyone being able to bath inside.





A cute little push cart sold selling hotdogs, I think it gives off the Old England kind of feel dun u agree?

After Roman bath we went back to our cosy little house for supper. Bought the supper at a Indian stall, really like their chunky soup. Although they served the same soup everyday, we still went back for it almost every night.

End of Day 3
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