P and CY arrive in London!

Day 1 (5/5) - The quintessential free London walk

After a 13-hour flight on Qantas, we arrived in London early morning and decided to save a few pounds by taking the tube to our 1st hotel - The Marylebone Hotel. Despite the many warnings and scares about Qantas, we found the journey to be smooth and comfortable. Qantas even upgraded us to super-economy, with larger seats and more space - we could stretch out our legs easily.

Before I got to London, I'd thought Marylebone was pronounced "Meh-Ree-Ler-Bone". However, the moment my good friend heard it, she giggled and told me that the correct pronounciation is "Mar-Le-Bon". Oh well, that was quite an ear-opener haha.

After an early check in, we showered and embarked on our 1st activity - to join a free walk with New Europe tours around the Westminster area. The tour was fun, informative and took us to most of the main sights we intended to visit. The tour guide did a good job of filling us in on the history of these places, things we wouldn't have known if we had done our own walk. Some of these places included the Buckingham Palace and Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, Horseguards, Trafalgar Square, etc.

Our starting point was near the Wellington statue at Hyde Park Corner.

Our tour guide - I forget her name now, but she's ironically American!

Changing of the Guards at the Buckingham Palace...

...which is such an overhyped affair in my opinion - too many people everywhere.

A close up shot of a London guard.

Our walk led us to Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery resides. I loved the Impressionist paintings in here and wished I had more time to explore the entire collection. Next time perhaps! :)

Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

A large group of Tamil protestors demonstrating outside the houses of parliament.


Day 2 (6/5) - P and CY go mad shopping + Les Miserables

Not that many pictures as we were too busy shopping. We absolutely loved Primark, which was just a stone's throw away from our hotel. Bought duvet covers for 10GBP, underwear, tops, socks, etc etc all at ridiculous prices.

P with our big bags of Primark purchases. As we were staying nearby, we were able to walk back to our hotel, drop off our stuff and continue with the shopping madness.

Where to go? Obviously, Oxford Circus for shopping! The Topshop there is HUGE and there were lots of bargains in the basement.

We ended the day at West End catching Les Miserables. I've always wanted to watch this musical and despite feeling damn tired after a full day of walking, I managed to keep awake 90% of the time. The performance was excellent and this is definitely the best musical I've seen.


Day 3 (7/5) - Lunch at Fifteen + stroll along the South Bank

We were really looking forward to Fifteen, Jamie Oliver's restaurant at the East End. The food did not disappoint, but it was a half an hour wait between P's starter and main course and I thought that was wayyy too long. I'm not sure if the exorbitant amount we paid was worth it, to be honest.

Baby Elton John is part of the decor in Fifteen.

Only managed to snap a photo of the dessert - Chocolate mousse I think. Was too busy gobbling up the rest.

The East End shows a very different side of London. It was trendy, edgy and felt slightly dangerous (though it was perfectly safe both in the day and night). There were lots of clubs/pubs and the area certainly came to life at night.

Posing with Oscar the grouch, which somebody has cleverly graffitied alongside some recycling containers.


After lunch, we headed to London Bridge and strolled along the River Thames before heading for dinner with Cheng Li, Jin Wee and Maesy at the Royal Festival Hall.

First stop, Borough market. When we arrived, the stalls were in the midst of closing. It did seem like a pleasant and pretty market that would make for an interesting browse.

Bet no one pitied the poor ol' swine.

We managed to grab the last cheese sandwich from the raclette guy. The cheese sandwich came highly recommended on Tripadvisor. It cost us 4GBP, but tasted so divine it was worth every penny.

Southwark cathedral opposite London Bridge tube station.

A view of St Paul's cathedral from across the River Thames.

London Eye up close.

A better view of Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament from across the river.


Day 4 (8/5) - St Paul's cathedral + Portobello market

Early morning stroll to Tower of London and Tower Bridge for pictures. We were glad we weren't joining the queue to get into the Tower of London! I love the Tower Bridge, just find it so pretty - I've got more pictures of it taken at night that I'll post later.

P pretending to make a call (at my insistence) in a classic London phone booth.


We explored the North Bank and financial district, which had some beautiful buildings and monuments but on the whole was not particularly interesting.

This is P, hiding from the chilly wind at Change Alley!

Something we did enjoy on the North Bank was St Paul's cathedral. It was majestic and left us gaping in awe. The whispering gallery at the top (I think we had to climb 347 (?) steps) made P dizzy.

Bird's eye view from the Stone Gallery of the Millenium bridge linking the North Bank and South Bank.

Clock tower at the west end of St Paul's.

Somewhere in between, it started to rain hail!


Moving on, we headed to Portobello market which was definitely one of my favourite places on this trip. I enjoyed gawking at the quaint houses along Nottinghill, I loved exploring the vintage shops selling antiques, quirky art, brass plates, retro clothes and accessories etc. Sadly, we did not manage to cover the whole market as it was huge, and I really hope to be back again someday.


Everyone was snapping photos at the psychedelic mini so I did too.

P wandering into a shop selling silly looking tees.

I bought some retro metal plates here...not sure what I'll do with them actually - perhaps use them to decorate my new pad :)


4 days came and flew past so quickly. London was amazing. There was just so much to see, eat and buy! Needless to say, we were having so much fun and doing so much walking that my legs started to give way...