Sorry for the lack of update !
For those who've been following my Instagram/FB updates would already know that I've been away recently. As the title and pictures says it all, yes, I was in London recently with my mum and bro for a getaway and yes, it was my very first time in London.*Finally have the motivation to start writing about my London trip after a week of fighting jet lag and another week of on and off fever.
I'll try to summarize each day of my trip as short as possible !
Day 1
St. James' Park
Our first stop was St. James Park ! It is probably the only park in Central London that has many birds and ducks of different kinds roaming around freely. Not to mention the amount of duck/geese dropping near the river is alot too. Its also a park where there's more squirrels than any other parks. The squirrels here are much more daring in terms of taking offered food, so if you wanna feed them, feed them with nuts.
Since the park is near Buckingham palace, there'll be police patrolling around the area on horses (yeah the police force over there ride horses, how cool) so be sure to be on a lookout for horse shits in and outside of the park area. Idk why but the horses over there just shit too much.
Day 2
Kew Garden
Since the weather on our 2nd day was rather cooling (although it was really sunny), we decided to venture further out from town to Kew Garden on 2nd day. London's weather is really unpredictable during summer. One day it could be cold, the next day it could be very hot.
Kew Garden is a massively huge piece of land (300 acres) which serves as a royal botanical garden. I would say its a damn nice place for having a picnic, relaxing, running around freely and also getting lost easily. Spring/Summer would be the best time to visit Kew Garden, because many flowers would bloom in the area during these season. Many school kids would come here to do their field trips, I saw at least 8 groups of different school kids when I was there.
We didn't cover all the places in Kew Garden since the land itself is so huge. I suggest going there early in the morning if you wanna cover everything in Kew Garden.
Day 3
Tower Bridge
Next day we head off to one of the mandatory tourist attraction, Tower Bridge. Apparently many people have mistaken this bridge as London Bridge, sorry to say but London Bridge is just a normal bridge just before Tower Bridge along the River Thames. As usual, that area is full of tourist and local chilling nearby.
Tower of London is nearby the Tower Bridge, basically its a castle full of history. I didn't went in because.. I'm not the history type of person so I rather not spend my money entering it.
More info : here
Besides these two main attraction around that area, there isn't much to do around there so we headed back.
Day 4
Trooping the Colors
So happened that our 4th day was Trooping the Colors, also known as the Queen's birthday parade. The crowd was crazy ! People line up at the side of the road to catch a glimpse of the parade and also the royal family. I was able to see the royal family including The Queen !
Left : The Queen & Duke of Edinburgh / / Right : Prince Harry, Duchess of Cornwall, Kate Middleton.
Prince Charles, Princess Anne, and Prince William are all on horses behind The Queen's carriage.
Later that night, we went for a stroll along River Thames opposite The Parliament.
Day 5
Greenwich
While in Greenwich, there's a maritime museum, the royal observatory, the Greenwich Meridian line, Cutty Sark and tons of other stuff to do there. But what we like about Greenwich was the Greenwich market ! Is basically a food market and the food there is nice you should definitely try !
Day 6
Camden Town
Went scouting around Camden Town with my bro only to realize the shops are still not open at 10am. Until we found this shop called Cereal Killer, a sort of hipster cafe that sells different kinds of cereal from everywhere (probably all over the world).
I'd say is ok to just try it once, but sorry to say I wouldn't pay that much just for cereal?!
My first impression of Camden Town is creepy. Sorry locals ! But I saw many like piercing and tattoo shop, is it suppose to be like a punk/gothic kinda area? Plus the stable market feels creepy too.
In Camden Town there's a market selling food, can't remember why we didn't eat the food at the market, instead we head to Poppies Fish & Chips for lunch. Apparently Poppies is one of the famous Fish & Chips place. The fish is nice and fresh but the batter (the crispy outer layer) is very.. jelak (oily?).
Later in the evening, we took a relaxing stroll in St. James Park.
Day 7
Lyceum Theater
7th Day was theater day for us. Watched The Lion King musical at Lyceum Theater and it was so so good ! Now I know why it is called as the award winning musical. Because not only the actors are good, but the set up of the stage, the lighting effects and the props are the elements that makes the musical so nice ! Yes I was more fascinated about the props than anything else.
Before we went for the show, we had Burger & Lobster. It also another good restaurant to try out. They only have 3 main dishes available which is grill lobster, lobster roll, and burger. £20 flat rate each, trust me it is damn good (I meant the grill lobster).
Day 8
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a place where we can see many crowds of people gather around to see performers performing their stuff. A place where people showcase their talents and not to mention the market which is also fill with.. of course.. food !
This was one of the performers performing at Leicester Square. They're damn good at dancing and break dancing. Plus they're also a bunch of jokers. *Almost got pulled out to become like one of those victims.
Day 9
New Covent Garden Flower Market + Borough Market
Woke up early morning to visit the New Covent Garden Flower Market (Note: the flower market is not located at Covent Garden) and brought back a beautiful big bouquet of Hydrangea. The flower market sells loads of different types of flowers varying from species to colors, but mind you.. they sell in big bundle or in big bouquet, mostly cost around £12. I almost brought baby breath but ended up with my favorite Hydrangea instead.
Gorgeous isn't it?
Next stop, Borough market ! Also, another market where you can find good food and it's much more bigger compare to Greenwich market. If you're a foodie lover, you would love to visit Borough Market. *Scallop pic on the bottom right of the collage above is damn good but I forget the name of the shop ! The pie is not bad too (very long que), but the tart is deceiving.
Day 10
Windsor Castle
Windsor castle is known as the residence for The Queen. Tourist can go in for a tour but we didn't went in because we wanted to catch a glimpse of The Queen at The Long Walk while on her way out to the Royal Ascot.
Later that night, we went Royal Albert Memorial and London Eye for some night shot.
London Eye
Day 11
It was raining on the 11th day, so we didn't head out till evening where we had our dinner at Southbank Market (another market with food stalls around). We arrive a little late and it was still raining so there wasn't many stalls open left.
After dinner, we walk from Southbank market all the way to Millennium Bridge to St. Paul Cathedral. Apparently, there's a building call One New Change where there's a roof terrace for people to take a good shot of St. Paul Cathedral.
Day 12
There's nothing much on day 12, because we spend the whole day at my cousin's house catching up. So, no sightseeing on that day.
Day 13
Spent the morning taking last shots around Parliament Square, Horse Guard Parade and Buckingham Palace and went to Hammersmith in the afternoon to look around and do some shopping.
Day 14
We did some last minute shopping at Selfridges in Oxford St. For those who don't know, Selfridges is a departmental store, something like Isetan. Along Oxford St. there's many other retailer eg. F21, H&M, Zara etc. for people to shop.
Later on, we had high tea at The Wallace Collection restaurant. The Wallace Collection is actually an art gallery, but inside the gallery itself there's a courtyard which is utilized as a restaurant. Click here to browse image. So that's where I got my scones and tea cravings fixed.
Evening was spent having dinner with distance cousins at a Chinese restaurant (chinese restaurant there are usually famous for their crispy duck, and that's basically what we had) which I forget what's the name of the restaurant. Sorry but I had a tendency of forgetting restaurant names.
Ended the day by sitting near the Marble Arch people watching.
Day 15
Trafalgar Square
Our last day consist of last minute grocery shopping and last minute taking shots of landmarks that we haven't been yet. Trafalgar Square was one of them. Because few day's earlier there were some sort of activity going on, not sure if it's a rally or not, but there were railings surrounding the lion at Trafalgar Square, which.. forces me to come back another day for a better shot. Tips: If you wanna take a perfect picture of yourself with the lion without any crowd, I suggest going early in the morning say.. 9am. Because during the afternoon you'll see crowds of tourist lingering around the lions, which makes it hard for you to take a perfect picture without getting photobomb.
So that sums up my trip to London !
Will I go back again ? Definitely ! Although it's kinda heartbreaking to see my money flying away.
Till then,
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