Having mixed feelings while writing these post since I will be enlisting in the Army tomorrow and it might be quite some time before I will post another review, but I will definitely try my best and do stay tuned guys! I hope that you all will be patient and continue checking for updates! It has been and it will always be a joy to travel my travels here! Now back to the point, London! London is just such a magical place to me, I just felt do blessed and excited to finally step foot in London or in the United Kingdom of Britain. Being a Singaporean, this has an deeper impact to me. For those who didn’t know, the thriving Singapore that we seen now have it’s deepest roots embedded with the rise and fall of the British empire. Much of our success now have been kick started by the brits, being a crown colony in the past, the brits have helped us greatly, bringing in their western culture and influences, much of these have led us to be a successful and thriving port city. From the past, I have always learned about Singapore history in schools, from Sir Stanford Raffles to the world wars, hell yeah, even a large part of our central business district is called raffles place! To be able to finally see the lands of Britain was definitely a dream come true to me.
On a lengthy Europe trip, there will always be something that makes you look forward to London and the very first thing that I had in mind was being able to read and write! Seriously, I could never ever explain in words how great, happy and excited I am! It just feels like home to me, seeing the familiar words on signs, seeing the roads markings, the brands on the buildings and of course understanding what people are telling you. This definitely helps in making friends and striking up a conversation. One of my best delight would be impressing the brits, on the first look, they will think that I am from China, after I open my mouth, they starts to wonder. Why does this tourists from China speaks such great English?
I will be sharing with you some of the places I went in London throughout my short stay here, any day is a short day here and even a week isn’t enough for you to explore this large city. I will be sharing some of the highlights of my tour and of course, the MUST visit sites in London. The land of the English, follow through my adventures now.
First of all the key of the pinnacle, Buckingham Palace, this is a must visit for anyone, I mean like, come on, you can’t say that you have been to London without seeing this? It is just like the Statue of Liberty in New York and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. I came here for a short visit before going for lunch at the Ledbury. It was Easter, which means something special. Actually I didn’t really plan my visit, but getting seemingly curious when I was walking towards the palace since the crowd is amazingly huge! Wild thoughts just came running to me. I thought like the Queen was going to make an appearance or something and I was getting excited of perhaps seeing the Queen or the Prince George and also Middleton. Nah, I am definitely not that lucky. Although I managed to catch the guards doing some marching and also the parade. Something special I guess?
It is worth noting that the Buckingham Palace is opened for visits and tickets can also be bought online, however, they are only opened for a couple months during the summer and also then the Palace is not in use. Costing around 35 pounds and 32.50 for concession, it is super pricy, but definitely worth it.
Another gorgeous sites that I believe you all shouldn’t miss would be the St Paul Cathedral, although a bit out of the way as it is located in City of London, it is definitely worth a visit, the gorgeous Baroque style Cathedral is definitely worth a visit, simply for a postcard like picture will be enough reason for you to go. It is also well accessible through the tube with the St Paul station close by. It is located right next to Bread Street which makes it perfect for a visit to Gordon Ramsey Bread Street Kitchen.
I case that I forget about it, London is probably more commonly known for in the past for the clock. I personally believe that Big Ben is more of the London icon for the last decade, currently I would say that there are more iconic buildings and more common now that the Big Ben. Although I will definitely say that you have to visit the Big Ben and the palace of Westminster, the aura and panorama there is totally amazing with the view of the Thames too and also the London eye. Just look at these! Speechless I would say
Then you can make your way up, a short walk away would be the Trafalgar Square, although I might have stopped for some ice cream at MacDonald’s, it is actually pretty interesting to visit all the MacDonald’s in the world, different countries have their unique stuff and sells different items, like beer in Germany and croissants in France. I also hadn’t had the chance to visit the most “Original” ones in the States! Hoping that I will have the chance to do so soon!
Finally shopping! Although London and the UK aren’t on the same page as the amazing shopping galore like in Paris or Milan, it still has its own charm, especially the British brands like Primark and Marks and Spencer. I mean with probably bottomless full of pounds or a black card, anyone could go crazy here, be it small and classy boutiques for leather shoes and making a hand tailored suit or to large departments stalls. Besides these, there are also large stores like H&M and Topshop, you will also definitely not have an issue in finding most of the branded shops, I mean even without proper English language knowledge, you could definitely find Louis Vuitton or Channel! Then we also have Harrods, probably the most well known department store worldwide, here you could find anything, from wines, fruits to luxury brands, you can even buy a house or a yacht here. It is once said that if you can’t find it in Harrods, it means that the thing does not exist in this world! I think that you look at the tiny little footnote that says “*If you have the money” !
There are actually many more other stuff to be seen in London, I mean like it is a huge city, blame on me having too little too less time in this great city. I would love to come here again and visit some other places and shop too. You may realise why is my shopping introduction so short, cause I didn’t really have the time to shop! Some of the places I would love to visit would include Borough Market, Stanford Bridge and also Hyde Park. Yes! There are many restaurants that I would like to visit too! Too Engrosed!
Have you guys been to London? Do share with me some of the stuff ! It might be some time before I will post another review since I will be enlisting in the army! I do hope that I can minimum post a review every week. To all my readers, I hope that you guys will be patient and I will try my very best to update this blog!
Seeing The World In Steps 