Highlights of my London trip - P2

The parliament building and Big Ben (BB is the big clock tower)

We took the Hop On and Hop Off Bus Tour, which has a stop right in front of our hotel, and my goodness, what a great way to see London! 

The open top bus tour takes us to all of London's famous landmarks, best way to see London's colorful 2,000 year history.

You get to hop on and off anytime, anywhere, any frequently for 2 full days, it is really worth it, for London is simply too BIG to cover on foot or to be missed while taking the tube! And trust us, on the surface, London has got so much to see, what I am able to highlight here does not really do any justice to what we saw. We opted for a package that includes a day time River Thames Cruise plus entrance to a castle - The Tower of London.

The Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge

Nope, this is not the London Bridge. The actual London Bridge looks extremely simple and boring. The actual London Bridge is located not too far away and can be spotted easily. This Tower Bridge is newer and because it is beautiful and people can walk across it, it becomes more well known.

Tower of London (a pre-historic castle and fortress)

My first experience going into a real castle. The steps and old narrow plus winding staircase made of stones felt chilling cold to our fingertips. With it lies layers upon layers of history that begs to be unfolded.

The Tower of London dominated the city for nearly 1,000 years and has been a symbol of power and subjugation. In its history, The Tower has served many functions, it has been a place of imprisonment, home to royalty, the Royal Mint (the body permitted to manufacture coins in the UK) and an armoury.

Picture of the Tower Bridge taken from inside the castle

I remember that I used to own a little London toy soldier looking exactly this when I was very young. I cannot imagine that I will one day be standing here looking at a real one.. :)))

The London Eye

Picture taken from our river cruise ferry. It is humongous and awesome!

We did not get on the London Eye because the queue was like a mile long. It looked impressive and majestic enough from far, we weren't sure if we will be able to survive the view from the top. Anyway, there were just too many things to see & before we knew it, our attention were drawn to the site in the next sub topic of mine.

The Parliament Building and Big Ben

The parliament building, also known as the Palace of Westminster, is one massive and truly amazing building, built in neo Gothic style. You can stare at it whole day and still be overawed by the details and intricacies of the architecture.

Feel free to click on any picture for a clearer view

Royal Albert Hall

 At this stage, the sun was blinding bright, hence, the over exposed picture

This is a music and entertainment venue. Each year it hosts over 360 events which includes classical music, jazz, world music, circus, rock, pop, opera, dance, comedy, tennis, dinners, award ceremonies and The Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance.

 Night scene. The Royal Albert Hall is located just about 10 - 15 minutes walk from our hotel, past the Kensington Garden side, so we could walk there again at night for these night shots.

Les Miserables
We went to watch Les Mis, in London, something that I've always wanted to do.. :-D

My belated birthday present for this year.. :)))

Random Ramble

Love this few pictures below, as they are so English.. :-D

Stay tuned for my next up-dates on Kensington Garden and Hyde Park.

Oh, in case you wonder, this IS the actual London Bridge...

Note
1) For more spectacular pictures of Big Ben, please click here.
    Fine Art America
2) For more spectacular pictures of The Royal Albert Hall, click here.
    BBC



--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Highlights of my London trip - P1

Feel free to click on any picture for a clearer view

London's Taxis

My favorite London taxis. Don't think you'll find them anywhere else on earth.

Taken at Trafalgar Square

Taken from the lobby of our hotel. See the Starbucks & Crussh outlet in the background across the road? That's where we usually take our breakfast, if it's not at Wholefoods.

Our Hotel

Royal Garden Hotel on Kensington High Street

View from our room window on a rainy evening

This is the right side of the hotel (assuming I am standing in front of the hotel with my back towards it). This side is where you will find St Mary Abby's, Wholefoods Market (it's a supermarket), Zara, Marks & Spencer, H&M, Gaps, Uniqlo, antique shops, Kensington Highstreet tube station, high end boutiques some of which are Kate Middleton's favorite outlets (according to a "reliable source" of mine by the name of Christine Ong Li Fong - BBC news reporter from KL, bleck!), etc.. all within 5-8 minutes walking distance.

 Kensington Garden on the immediate left of our hotel, where Kensington Palace is located (the late Princess Diana's residence & future residence of Prince William and Kate Middleton) and Hyde Park is adjacent to it.

Royal Garden Hotel on the left (grey building) and Kensington Palace on the right (brown building). *wink, wink*, get it? get it?

Same as above, except that in here, the pointy building in the center that looks like a pencil tip, that is St Mary Abby's.

St Mary Abby's

Behind the church there is a little beautiful garden! Quiet & peaceful.

 And we love the flowers that were in full bloom around it..!!

 Picture taken from the front, at the main road

We were most fortunate to encounter 2-3 days of bright sunshine and mild temperature, out of the 9 days we were there. For those remaining days, it was usually bright sunshine in the morning (though it's still freezing cold), by 11 am, the cloud will start to gather, but the strong wind will blow it away before the next group of cloud gathers again. So you can have cloudy and grey afternoon one minute and bright sunshine the next minute. 



Whole Foods Market

This is Whole Foods Market

See the grey building on the left? That's our hotel! And once you step into Whole Foods, oh my gawd..!!!!!! You will go crazy with the variety of food selections they have, whether it is for eat-in or for their groceries. Their food variety covers cheeses, hand-made chocolates, meat & fish, etc. I believe ST must have taken hundreds of pictures of all the food he saw in there. We drop by this place everyday, without fail. 

The reason why this outlet plays such a crucial and important role in our stay here is because, it doesn't matter where we went everyday, we must stop by Whole Foods to touch base, for the great view (see below pic), the free WiFi, the soup (ST's favorite) and bread (my favorite), the glorious FOOD, and whatever.

This is how it looks like upstairs where customers dine. And we always sit at the same place (around this section). And there is also a food court on the other side.

The hot soup that ST begs to have everyday (6-8 different types) while I beg for coffee every afternoon.. :-D

 Needless to say, the bread that drives me crazee...!!

Random Ramble

It is supposed to be spring in London. Hence the sun is up, sunny and BRIGHT by 5 am (and I mean blinding bright if you do not have a sun glass on) and sets only around 8.30 - 9 pm. So we have lots of opportunity to explore London the whole day, get back to our strategically located hotel around 5 pm to take a short nap (by then we will be so dead tired..!!), and still get to go out to continue walking in broad day light at around 7.30 pm.. :-D

Due to the cold weather, everyday I was drinking 2 cups of steaming hot tea (1 cup of English Breakfast tea in the morning immediately after we wake up, to keep warm & 1 cup of Earl Gray tea in the evening after our nap) and a cup of hot chocolate as a treat at night just before bed, all complimentary from Royal Garden Hotel. Thanks to London, I have now acquired the passion for tea drinking.. :)))

That's it for today, folks! Stay tuned for my next postings on The Tower of London (a historic castle), parliament building and Big Ben, London Eye, Westminster area and Royal Albert Hall! 

Cheerios!


--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Just two more steps..!!

Picture taken from here

Yup! Just two more steps from completion, yet these are the hardest two steps..!!!

Just two steps, that's all..!!

--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint

London here we come!

Picture taken from here

--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint

Off for work and vacation!

I will be away for a few days for work and holiday starting from tonight.

Feel free to follow my journey in my blog and on Twitter.

Cheers!


--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint

I can see the lights at the end of the tunnel..!!!

I can see it! I can finally see the lights at the end of the tunnel...!!!

I've finally completed my research project (the last 2 chapters being first drafts), and will be sending it out to my supervisors tomorrow.

Yaabaa daabaa dooo....!!! This is it!

Thereafter, I will be focusing 200% on my packing. Time to chill out!

Oh yeah!

--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint

The last league

I can't believe it! I am now officially on the last league of my MBA journey.

I have just concluded the interview and survey, and tabulated the figures, now going into the last chapter, the presentation and interpretation. After which it will be the analysis, conclusion and recommendations.


Unbelievable! Truly unbelievable!

Add oil, Moon! Add oil..!! You can do it..!!!!

Picture taken from here

Picture taken from here 

Picture taken from here

Go, go, go..!!!!


--moon

Blog name - carrot head and applemint