26/10/08
We wake up early today to start our DIY journey again… Quickly we finished off with breakfast at the café, no choice, food are expensive here…
It’s a rainy day today, we took the underground to Wesminster station. The moment you walk out from the station, you can see the famous tourist landmark, The Big Ben. And since we are at the Westminster Pier, London Eye is just across the river Thames..
The Big Ben and the Westminster palace is where the British Parliament Presides. Actually the name Big Ben is name after the first Commissioner, Sir Benjamin for the 13 ton bell hung within. It is not open for the public to visits, but you can walk around the parliament house and take unlimited photos outside. You can also have a walk at the Victoria Tower Garden at the backyard of the Parliament house. Its raining and its just so empty at the garden.
After that, we take a short walk to the Westminster Abbey. Before the Famous Westminster Abbey, there is another church call the St Magaret Abbey, Look At the cute clock hung on the tower of the Abbey…
The Westminster Abbey is from 1065 till today… OMG!! 900 over years and it still remain so beautiful. There is service going on the Sunday morning therefore we are not allow to visit. Just take some photographs around it…
We then walk back to take a train to the Victoria Station to Pay a visit to where the queen lives, Buckingham Palace. On the way walking to Buckingham Palace, we will pass through the Royal Mews, It is the Royal Garage for the British Royal Family, there is a horse drawn carriage made of gold exhibit in the Royal mews, it is under some renovation work, thus not open for visits.
Next to the Royal mews is the Queen’s Gallery, The Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace is a permanent space dedicated to changing exhibitions of items from the Royal Collection, the wide-ranging collection of art and treasures held in trust by The Queen for the Nation. I bet it is again not allow for photos, so, not worth to pay another £8.50 for seeing something similar to what I see in Windsor Castle.
By the time we reach to Buckingham Palace, there are a huge crowd there awaiting the next changing of guards. Since we have already viewed it, we are no more fancy about it anymore… We just toke photos outside the Palace, and at a fountain there… There are only certain season the Buckingham Palace opens some of its state rooms for public visits, now is not the season..
On the way back to the Tube stations, we stop by a rows of souvenir shops to get some souvenirs. I got a London t-shirts as souvenir. Mum of course wont give up her hobbies… It seems like souvenir shops here are mostly run by the Indians… but can bargain, not much.
We toke the tube to Waterloo for the British Airway London Eye. Its noon hours by the time we reach and just stop raining… We drop by at Restaurant opposites of London Eye for some lunch. I forgotten the name of the Restaurant but there is a slogan, “portion as big to feed elephants” Hahahahahaha… what a funny slogan.. means we can share the food.
We ordered a Southern Fried Chicken and Sets for sharing of 2 persons, as advertise, the portion big! While we are waiting for our food to be served, we are busy to observed the surrounding, the women next table to us ordered a large pizza just for her own, they really can eat!!! That pizza normally can feed 4 persons in Malaysia…
After the meal, we walk to the London eye, no need to queue again for ticket.. The queue at London eye doesn’t really takes long. One capsule can actually accommodate 10 – 15 persons. It is moving very slow, in a circle that takes about 15 minutes.. Here you can get a bird eye view of the London township along the Thames river… It city looks so congested and packed with building… While in the eye, BB give me a long distance call from KL, I somehow feel very “lum” hearing his voice and viewing the magnificent cityat the same time, as if he is right beside me…
We take a walk around the Waterloo pier… On the left side is the London Aquarium, Salvadore Dali Museum, and the County Hall
On the right is the way to walk back to the Waterloo station, along the way, there are so many of these dress up creature waiting for you for photo’s. They expect you to give some donations after the photos, but I did not give any after taken the photos… HAHAHAHAHA… typical Malaysia. They have one similarity with the Royal Guards, they can remain unmoved for a long period!
I didn’t have my pre-plan maps with me today, I mistakenly remember the wrong station to get down, we got down at Leicester square. Once get out from the Tube stations, Lily Whites just next to the station attracted me attention, because they are having sales. Lily Whites are a big 5 storey stores selling all sports gadgets at discounted price… you can get Nike or Adidas shoes at less that £20… It’s a great bargain but its not a common thing I will wear back in Malaysia, so I didn’t buy any… I just manage to buy a sets of top, jeans and shoe (Thomas the Train) for Howard at really cheap price.
I really mistaken that we are in Oxford street that are the shopping streets of London until China Town come into my sight.. We are at the wrong place!!!! Never mind, just swap the itinerary, we walk around China town.This is actually a town with a mixture of Chinese, Hongkee and Malaysian… I can see very familiar food in a grocery shop here, there have Twisties (Only for sale in Malaysia), preserve fruits with a man photo on the bottle, and also Maggie mee at very very expensive price. I truly think China town charge everything over priced, We see some Chinese Buffet ay £8.90 per person, peeking a closer look at the glass window, its exactly our mix rice dishes, served cold! And another more shocking thing is the Roast Chicken Set, a set for a person is £16.90….What????
I can’t convince myself to get any food from here because this thing is just so common in our place, under no choice, and tired of walking…. We have to settle down at Mcdonalds again for dinner…
Leicester Square besides famous for the China town, it is also a place for Casinos and Theater. I can see theatre showing the Famous Mamma Mia musical show… but, not my interest at all! We drop by Planet Hollywood of London and get myself a piece of T-shirt. Its cheap, £9.99 for a t-shirts.. Limited design only..
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