On the night of 20th March 2011, the four of us embarked on a journey of return to London, this time around, without our dad.
Frankly speaking, going on this trip was filled with a lot of apprehension as it was a short getaway and I had a lot to catch up on, academically when I return. But, if you read on, you'll realise that my worries were uncalled for.
My mood was instantly lifted when the A380 Jumbo appeared right in front of me. Just had to take a picture of it.
Just take a look at the smile! Felt really excited to visit Europe once again! Have I ever mentioned before that I love taking plane rides? It's like a hobby. XD
The journey on the plane was awesome. Watched The King's Speech and Black Swan. Two starkly different shows I would say, in terms of genre. I was pretty intrigued and disturbed at the same time, especially after watching the intense Black Swan. The rest of the time was spent listening to Bruno Mars, Black Eyed Peas, GLEE, Leehom... before I dozed off and slipped into a.. was it a 7 or 8-hour coma? Not forgetting the occasional meal times and alcohol indulgence. HAHA. The flight to London took about 14 hours.
Immigration clearence at the Heathrow Airport was pretty efficient, since we arrived early Monday Morning at about 6.45am. Made our way to the Tube station, yes, the Underground!
So we purchased our Oysters and I took the Tube for the first time in my entire life. Verdict? Nothing special. Haha. So our destination was Euston Station via the Picadilly Line with a transit via the Victoria Line, where my cousin is staying. Luggages were too heavy so didn't take any pictures haha.
First sight of the London buses!
Our Cuzzie had to go for class at 9am so we had about one hour to make our way to the British Museum and she'll meet us later. So what do you do on Monday mornings when you're bored and hungry? Yes, have a cuppa at Macs!! My sissy got hot choco while I got myself a nice and warm cup of cuppacino. Another person was munching on her McMuffin. The other sister.
Speaking of which, coffee is an essential especially when it's the first week of Spring. It helps to warm up the body. Temperature on that day was a good 3 Degrees. Yeah, Spring at 3 Degrees. Haha. And so we walked, and we walked and we continued walking. By the way, the best way to travel in Central London is definitely by foot. But you have to be prepared to walk A LOT. So meanwhile, we spotted this familiar phone booth and I decided to take a peep.
Hmm, I wonder who I was gonna call....
We finally arrived at the British Museum.
The exterior of the museum looks like any other European museums, but what took my breath away was the interior design!!
A tourist who sounded like an American, was standing nearby, did a huge exclamation, ' Wow, this is magnificent!' So you can imagine the fascination when we first got into the museum.
Other than this grand spectacular entrance, there were alot of cool exhibits around. We visited the Egypt and South-East Asian exhibitions etc. There was a clock exhibit which displayed many of the clocks from the A.D. times to the B.C. times and the clocks that we're using in this 21st century. I got to admit that I'm not an avid museum goer but to be horribly frank, I have to say the National Museum of Singapore is nowhere near what the British Museum has/had to offer.
So the trip to the museum was pretty boring, yet breath-taking at the same time. I would say it is worth going, especially since most of the entrance to the exhibits are free. Entry to the museum is free for the general public! Say YAY to that! :D
After the museum visit with the cousin, it was time for lunch at this recommended Chinese restaurant called Noodle Oodle at Oxford Street. We had pretty good XLBs=xiao long baos, noodles, which I totally forgot to take pictures of, cause I was starving. When our hunger was satisfied, it was time for some shopping. Suspicious word: Some. It's pretty impossible not to shop while you're at Oxford Street because they have all the brands along the street- River Island, New Look, Top Shop, Gap, M&S, H&M, Uniqlo(yes, it has gone Global. In fact, there were at least 2 outlets along Oxford Street)... you name it, they have it! There was even a MUJI near my hotel and yes, the Dominion Theatre, offical West End theatre for WE WILL ROCK YOU was very near my hotel. Didn't manage to catch the musical, but it has a really impressive entrance.
Please ignore that person on the phone. He was probably trying to pose for my camera while I took a quick snap at the theatre across the road.
So the rest of the afternoon was spent in the fitting rooms, shopping, walking, choosing, shopping, walking. There was alot of walking. The entire distance of Oxford Street is almost equivalent to walking from The Cathay to Wheelock Place along Orchard Road? Perhaps even longer than that. But we did had a lot of fun, soaking in the atmosphere, with cool and well dressed people around. No flip-flops, no shorts. haha.
Dinner was a visit to Sainsbury's, a supermarket, which was just across the street from our hotel. And that was the end of Day One for us. The following days were much more interesting. So till next time! : )
