Innerpeace

Eurotrip 2006

Day 3 - London

As we missed out many of the attractions on Day 2 because of my camera and getting tickets for Les Mis, our final day in London was reserved for the top few tourist attractions in London. We attempted to wake up early again to make it at Westminster Abbey at 8.30am which is the time it opens but of course, knowing Tian - who sleeps like a log and doesn’t wake up even though the sound from the alarm clock is so piercing, and me – who’s so good at turning off the alarm clock, oh and not forgetting the nice breakfast that my cousin makes us, together with tea and fruits! It’s no wonder why we are always behind schedule and ended up at Westminster at 9.30am. There was already a queue outside the Abbey but thankfully the queue moves quickly and we were in after snapping a few shots outside. Entrance tickets were at 6 pounds each, remember, always flash your international student card and ask for student discount! Not too useful in Italy but ohh..Tian and I marveled at how much we saved with our student card! You’ll see.



The Abbey is nothing like what I expected from a church, actually, I had no idea what to expect! I didn’t know what an abbey was, I only knew that I should look out for Sir Issac Newton’s memorial which was featured in The Da Vinci Code. And yes we saw it, the altar-like thing in this huge hall near the exit. But before that, we walked into so many tombs, stepped over many buried coffins perhaps, and with every step we take, there was just so much to see, it’s so overwhelming. And yes, many statues in white, many effigies of royalties like Elizabeth I and Henry VII. After a while, I had to admit that my eyes were rather tired because I was busy absorbing as much as I can see with my two little eyes. The pitiful thing is that I was not good with the history of kings and other famous poets and artists, nonetheless Tian and I did recognize some familiar names like Charles Darwin and Shakespeare. So I can only admire at how the whole church is done up, from each memorial to the next monument, then learnt a little more about coronations. All in all, we understand that this is the place where most of Britain’s rulers were crowned and where many lie buried.




The exit of Westminster Abbey. When we first reached there, I thought this was the entrance to the Abbey. Then I wondered where the queue was.


After snapping some pictures at the Big Ben, we walked over to the London Eye!! Along the way, Tian and I bought our very first panini for lunch! Oh it was so damn good I tell you, especially the melted cheese and crispy bread. Having a pipping hot panini in your hands when the weather is cold is a very good thing. This was the start on our hunt for paninis around Europe but hmm, we did not get to eat many in the end, the rest were just normal sandwiches. Anyway it cost us 3.35 pounds so as this was supposed to be a budget trip, Tian and I shard a panini. (Arghhh..we could easily gobble up one each =p)

The London Eye was gigantic. It was just so so hugeee, and of course, having to be motivated by the London Eye during the first few lectures in Engineering (not just by one lecturer), I took some time to marvel at the structure and how that heavy ferry’s wheel is able to stand over River Thames on basically two supports! Yea my lecturers said it is ingenious, and Singapore engineers should be inspired to work towards producing something of that scale.

Yes the tickets cost 13 pounds = S$39 but I didn’t care very much, I am in London and I have to fly on the London Eye! How could I have not! Tian nearly wanted to walk away, yea there was a queue again, but good thing I insisted as usual. Oh I’m sure he enjoyed the experience. The view was amazing. From the ground, it looks as if the wheel is not moving at all and upon a closer look, you see that it’s moving at a slow pace to pick up passengers but when I was in the capsule, I was so thankful it moves slowly, so that I can cope with the increase in height slowly. We were very high alright, overlooking London and we thought we saw Eiffel Tower. Haha that was nonsense of course. I heard some people pointing out the Shakespeare Globe Theatre but I’m still not sure how it looks like. Standing over the tip of the ground and leaning over the glass panel overlooking the River does make your legs shiver a little. And of course Tian was making fun of me.

Part of the structure of the famous ferry's wheel.

Beautiful view from the eye. I don't know the name of this bridge near the Eye.

Just one capsule of the London Eye. This capsule is right at the top of the Eye, the highest point.

Bird's eye view of the entire Big Ben. I wonder what the Big Ben is used for, think it's a parlimentary house or sth is it? The whole architecture is beautiful.

And now's our capsule's turn to be right at the top.

After the flight, Tian and I grabbed some McDonalds before rushing down to St Paul’s. Of course we’re not full after a panini. Why McDonalds? Because we realized that McDonalds is the cheapest thing you can get from London, something like a cheeseburger for 1 pound! Trust me, that’s freaking cheap so we spent 2 pounds at Macs and got ourselves a burger and a toast-like thing with melted cheese oozing out (again). So poor thing right, the next time we tour Europe again, we shall be working adults with loads of money so that we can have proper lunches!

There was a need to rush to St Paul’s Cathedral because we checked that it closes at 4.30pm. It is quite irritating that everything closes so early in London and that is why 2.5 days in London is not enough. You’ll find that your day-time is so short!



St Paul’s Cathedral is a gorgeous building, from the outside, to the inside and all around it. There are again, memorials, tombs and monuments, the interior is very beautiful, with the classical columns joined by arches with baroque decorations and adornments, the windows, the ceiling, many paintings illustrating scenes from the Bible, very very beautiful. And it makes me wonder what the cathedral is made up of, real gold somewhere? Precious stones? I really don’t know how to describe the place anymore, and you guys obviously can’t imagine a picture of it because it is magnificent beyond words. You’ll know what I mean when you’re seeing it for yourself.

After the tour around the cathedral, we made our way up the dome. The very first dome we conquered in Europe. Oh yes, we were not only on a panini quest, we were on a dome quest too! It was a good ascend, 530 steps up to the Golden Gallery, the highest gallery you can go up to. And on the way up there, you’ll first come to the Whispering Gallery, where Tian whistled a note and got scolded. Here, the faintest whisper can be heard clearly on the opposite side, too bad Tian and I didn’t try whispering to each other.

The metal steps near the top of the dome. This has got to be the scariest steps among all because you can look all the way down and it might be a bit intimidating if one is afraid of heights. Also, the metal structure can shake when you have a few big guys running and stomping their way down the stairs.

Not all the way up yet, this is at the Stone Gallery.

The highest point of the dome we could climb up to, the Golden Gallery. As you can see, it's very windy and sunny, I can't even open my eyes. Oh yes, I don't own a pair of good and pretty shades, how sad is that =(.

Thinking that it was still bright, we thought we had time for one more attraction on our last day in London, and that would be the Tower of London. We reached there at 5.30pm when it closes at 6pm, and we were told that the tour around the fortress would require about 3 hours. We were quite upset that we didn’t manage to go in. It is very cool, almost like a real fortress without a moat. And it looks like a castle too. Supposed to be a spooky place where legendary figures are imprisoned or executed here. I would have liked to see the headless bodies, phantom soldiers with clanking chains.

After taking a rest and reading up a little on the history of the Tower of London, we walked around it, admiring the vast fortress till we came to the Tower Bridge. Before this, I kept thinking that London Bridge was the famous bridge in London and thought it was a tourist attraction, but it turned out that Tower Bridge was the one with more history and beauty than the London Bridge. The Tower Bridge not only served to be an important route for transportation between the islands, it was designed in the style of the Tower of London.

My poseur boyfriend, the guy who makes me smile everyday.

Tower Bridge was pretty in blue, but when I went up close, I couldn’t figure out why the bridge was ornamented in things shaped like bolts. Then Tian and I paid 4.25 pounds each for the Tower Bridge Experience. Yea, a lot of money went to entrance fees. So then, we climbed some stairs again, came to a room where we viewed a short video on the history of Tower Bridge before heading to the viewing gallery, from which is yet another magnificent view of London, at a lower height as compared to The London Eye but from here, we could see the whole area that Tower of London covered, and then have a good view of River Thames.


We then proceed to the exhibition hall where things got technical and I was reminded of my engineering education. Basically what is fascinating about Tower Bridge is how the bridge can split into half to accommodate taller ships. So of course London has to show off their brilliant innovation and engineering knowledge which involves the use of hydraulics and weights to work the Tower Bridge. The exhibition hall was a cool place. Too bad my memory card ran out of space or else I would have taken pictures of the machinery.




Tower Bridge concluded our sightseeing experience in London. It was close to evening by the time I could bear to leave and we still had to grab dinner and rush back to my cousin’s place to do some last minute packing before we head for the bus station. This was the start to a very miserable night. To leave London after 3 days was a very sad thing because I really liked London. I did not have the time to finish sightseeing and also I would love to have more time to soak in the local culture and atmosphere, especially at night. Nonetheless, I guess I have to be reminded of how expensive everything is in London. Oh i forgot to mention our dinner, kick-ass kebab wraps from a small turkish restaurant near by cousin's place. I was so tempted to sit down for a proper dinner at the restaurant ok, seeing all the food on other tables which looked so damn good (though expensive). We walked into the restaurant because there was a queue for take-away kebabs. The size of the wrap and the tastiness of the kebabs easily win those that we have in Singapore, hands down. I'll definitely go back to the restaurant if I have the chance to visit London again.

My cousin bought Eurolines tickets for us, which is a coach from London to Paris. Tian and I had to settle for Eurolines because by the time we decided to buy Eurostar tickets from STA (NUS) which were on offer for students at S$95 (that’s very cheap for Eurostar tickets), there were no more tickets left. This caused us quite a bit of headache but thanks to my cousin, we found an alternative form of transport to Paris. Do I recommend Eurolines? I’m sorry I have to say no. My experience with Eurolines was bad. Firstly, it was really messy at the bus station. The queues were so long and hardly moving, there were people leaving for Amsterdam and other places who got mixed up in the queues for tickets. The whole place was so crowded, nobody knows where we should be queuing. In the end, we ended up being the last ones to get onto the coach and by that time, 2 Eurolines coaches had already left for Paris. The second dreadful thing is that there is no allocated seating on Eurolines. Like hello, even on local coaches like Grassland which travels to Malaysia, there is allocated seating though it is only a 6-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur. The journey on Eurolines from London to Paris is 9 hours and Tian and I obviously did not get to seat together, being the last ones to board the coach. I had to seat with a man for whole 9 hours, which I was supposed to have a good sleep but obviously I did not, and Tian was seating so far from me, in between 2 couples. Oh yea, beside me was another couple who was snuggling up to each other so comfortably, it only added to my misery. Say I’m childish or whatever, but I was so upset. Comparing Grassland to Eurolines, think our very own Grassland wins hands down. Seats are better cushioned and wider, hence more comfortable. And there is allocated seating and tickets are way cheaper! Haiz everything in Europe is expensive, period.

We were supposed to take a ferry over to Paris but halfway through the journey, the bus driver told us that because of our coach delays, we would be going under the tunnel instead as we had missed the ferry. But the next morning when we finally reached Paris, Tian said we actually went on a ferry because sometime during the journey, while I was fast asleep, he realized that the coach was stationary for quite a long time, so we most probably had gone onto a ferry but I missed it! I always thought vehicles going onto a ship or ferry to get across the sea is very cool. I shall leave you with our last photo from London, with River Thames and the Tower of London behind us. Gosh I miss London so much.