London was pretty much how I imagined it would be; gloomy weather, posh streets and alleys, chic boutiques, gardens and parks in amidst the bustling city, royal palaces, double-decker buses, throngs of people just rushing about as if they were off to accomplish something mightily important, while some leisurely sipped their favorite beverages in the many quaint cafes, like they have all the time in the world, and again, there are some, who are just curious about London. What does London has to offer? Sure it is more than just the infamous London Bridge is falling down rhyme (it never was in the first place) and of course, there is Prince William.
It was my first time in London and second for Oliver. So, equipped with a map, a helpful device that shows how to get from one place to another, and an Oyster Prepaid Card for the buses and tubes, all courtesy of Aunt Pat, we were ready to explore London on our own.
London city- the series of cobbled streets were busy, the air; murky and almost filthy, but other than that, in all earnestness, one cannot help but feel alive just being in London. There are just so many things to see, experience and get excited for. Walking down the streets of London felt surreal. All those times spent digging my nose on the many Little Black Dress book that I loved so much, where the settings almost always took place in London, I remember thinking, “Hey, that’s Oxford Street, I’ve read somewhere about Oxford Street. It must be in one of the book I read.” Definitely.
Anyway, pictures from the two days we spent in London! (You know, it’s kind of hard to pick a few pictures from the many pictures we took. Always leave me in dilemma. : P. Oh well)
It was my first time in London and second for Oliver. So, equipped with a map, a helpful device that shows how to get from one place to another, and an Oyster Prepaid Card for the buses and tubes, all courtesy of Aunt Pat, we were ready to explore London on our own.
London city- the series of cobbled streets were busy, the air; murky and almost filthy, but other than that, in all earnestness, one cannot help but feel alive just being in London. There are just so many things to see, experience and get excited for. Walking down the streets of London felt surreal. All those times spent digging my nose on the many Little Black Dress book that I loved so much, where the settings almost always took place in London, I remember thinking, “Hey, that’s Oxford Street, I’ve read somewhere about Oxford Street. It must be in one of the book I read.” Definitely.
Anyway, pictures from the two days we spent in London! (You know, it’s kind of hard to pick a few pictures from the many pictures we took. Always leave me in dilemma. : P. Oh well)
1st Day
Places we went: London City, British Museum, National History Museum, Victoria Museum, Kensington Garden, Kensington Palace, Picadilly Circus, London Chinatown and of course, countless of tube stations! Oh, just a piece of advice, don't and I mean, Don't visit three museums in a day. One is good, two is still okay but three is a big No, no which we did anyway.
The frontier of British Museum. It's really Huge! and quite interesting really. In it, it has like several sections e.g. Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Asia, China, Renaissance et cetera.
Admiring the headless statues. You'll see abundant of these in all the museums. Marbled and ceramic statues of all sorts. It gets tiring. :)
Ain't hard to guess which part you'll see this.
Some fancy-schmancy artworks on the wall
Souvenir Shop! Didn't get much because it's expensive. And I was quite a cheapo when in London. Whenever I wanted to buy something, I'll convert it first in my head, and then, almost always, I ended up not buying it. :(
National Art & History Museum
The Centerpiece
Some ancient miniature wall
Us. :) We had less picture together in London because we were on our own. So, this was the least we could do. And I wanted more pictures of us together while Oli kept saying, "Wherever you are in the picture, I'm there."
Oh swans, pigeons and duck galore!
That's Kensington Palace behind me. It was quite funny looking for Kensington Palace. We were walking around the whole park looking for it. We kept expecting to see like this humangous palace with big royal gates and all until we asked some patron, and this friendly guy was laughing and telling us, " Well, it's just right over there and yeah, it's not what you think it is." So he was pointing to this brown building and we saw it and thought, "Oh, we passed through that and paid no attention to it because it didn't look like a palace." More like a huge mansion..
Picadilly Circus! I love Picadilly! It's so lively here. And here is where I was supposed to meet up with Li Min, my good friend, former room-mate back when I was studying in KL.
Finally! I have to travel half the world just to see this girl!
This is London Chinatown.
Fourseason Restarant, famous for its Roasted duck which was really, really good. I kept begging Oli to go back there and he insisted that we try something else. :(
Oh my goodness, this was really, really good. I can eat the whole thing!
After dinner, we went to watch a Musical 'Grease'. My first musical and I love it so much! I was like smiling throughout the musical. The cast were good, the music and the band were awesome and it really made my day!
2nd day
Buckingham Palace, London Eye, Tower Bridge (Also known as London Bridge), Camden Street, back to London China Town and all around London.
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Royal guards
The front of Buckingham Palace was overcrowded. So, we could hardly see the changing of guards that was going on at that time.
Buckingham Garden
Obligatory picture of us 1#
And another one
:)
A bit of London Eye and Westminster Abbey
:)
Westminster Abbey.
London Eye
With the Tower Bridge behind us
I love this picture. It's so candid
Street Performances
Camden Street
That's for London. To say that I miss London, well, not really. If it wasn't for Li Min, I might have skipped London. But, I don't mind going to London again. I have yet to fully explore and immerse myself in London. So London, till we meet again. :)
