London, 5-17 December 2013
Day 1: we settled in, and had the most gorgeous sticky toffee pudding for tea in a local pub.
Day 2: Covent Gardens Markets is rather touristy, but I must say the disco balls hanging around were rather fun.
Day 3: Portobello Market & Camden Lock Market
Portobello had such a delightful conglomeration of vintage wares and was an absolute delight - if you only visit one market, visit this one. Camden is somewhat like a British Bugis, selling teenagery clothes, plenty of steam punk, and such lovely painted sneakers.
Day 5: We saw a glorious collection of mummies at the British Museum and I marvelled at how wonderfully huge the museums in London can get.
Day 6: Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery (right beside each other)
Day 8: Oxford Street
Day 9: The Natural History Museum and The Victoria & Albert Museum (right beside each other)
Day 10: Buckingham Palace
Day 10: The Tower of London
Day 11: St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey
Prince Charles and Princess Diana married in St Paul's, while Prince William and Kate Middleton married in Westminster.
Day 11: Night shopping
As I had written in my journal on the first day:
At times I felt like I could live in London forever, if just for the tea (I know you can just buy the tea in Singapore, but do indulge my fantasies). This was mainly a trip for musicals, museums and markets, with some shopping squeezed in between. But there was hardly enough time to do everything we wanted, simply because there is so much to do. We had pre-booked tickets for the 4 shows we watched, but I had hoped to get some The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Leicester Square booths - unfortunately all were sold out. Two days later the theatre collapsed; that was quite a shock.
In any case, London is the sort of place that will call me to return. I feel like I barely scraped the surface of what it had to offer, and now I must look forward to the next time I get to explore this city.
We touched down at 7.30am London Time and it was 2 degrees Celcius, which left my spine tingling from the sudden chill and the excitement of finally being in a city I'd been dreaming of visiting for a long time now. I don't know what exactly I was expecting of this city. I'd formed different images in my head from a conglomeration of British stories and films, and more recently, my impressions of one of the best theatre scenes in the world, and yet I still felt I knew little of the city that was unfurling before me.
At times I felt like I could live in London forever, if just for the tea (I know you can just buy the tea in Singapore, but do indulge my fantasies). This was mainly a trip for musicals, museums and markets, with some shopping squeezed in between. But there was hardly enough time to do everything we wanted, simply because there is so much to do. We had pre-booked tickets for the 4 shows we watched, but I had hoped to get some The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime at the Leicester Square booths - unfortunately all were sold out. Two days later the theatre collapsed; that was quite a shock.
In any case, London is the sort of place that will call me to return. I feel like I barely scraped the surface of what it had to offer, and now I must look forward to the next time I get to explore this city.
Photos taken with Sony RX100 ii
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