The day started much earlier than it would usually otherwise. We left my cousin Ben’s place in Elephant & Castle nice and early at 7:30am. We arrived into Waterloo Train Station where I introduced Emma to Cornish Pasties & Walkers Crisps. Yum!
We headed straight for the London Eye, but after we discovered it didn’t open till 10am, we walked over the Westminster Bridge and down along the Thames River and just went exploring.
We stumbled upon a Vodafone shop, where I picked up a UK sim for my iPhone so I can keep connected while here, and roaming around Europe. We then made our way to pickup our London Passes, which gives you free access to nearly everything the city has to offer, and queue jumping at the attractions that usually interest a lot of tourists.
Emma has an obsession (to put it lightly) with macaroons, and when we happened upon this amazing store she had no choice but to buy some. Much cheaper than home, and heaps more tastier too! Although I’m sure the ones in France will be the winners, hands down.
Besides having a great taste for men and food, Emma also has great taste in fashion. Somehow she managed to home in on Bond Street, like a carrier pigeon heading home. Bond Street is home to YSL, Gucci, Chanel and Tiffany’s. And yes, it is the same Bond Street from Monopoly.
We then continued roaming the streets, which we favoured more than the great tube system, as we kept discovering things that were completely by chance. The next such case was a tiny little Piccadilly Market, outside the St James Church.
After a quick stop here, we ended up in Green Park, which wasn’t really a park at the time, as they were in the process of laying new grass. Probably in preparation for the influx of tourists for the Olympic Games in a few weeks time.
Green Park backs onto Buckingham Palace, so before we knew it we were there watching the changing of the guards. I’m still sure if we had planned to get there in time to watch this take place, we would never have made it. Once again chance was on our side and was amazing to watch.
On the opposite side of Buckingham Palace is St James Park. We made our way through this park which is home to squirrels, ravens, mullet ducks (really! a duck had this sweet mullet half way down his head) and pelicans. Besides being a shortcut through to our next stop, St James Park really has to be seen to be appreciate.
Right opposite the exit of St James Park is the Churchill’s War Rooms. Deep beneath the bustle of London lie the original Cabinet War Rooms which sheltered the people at the heart of Britain’s wartime government during the Blitz. In 1940, shortly after becoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill stood in the War Cabinet Room and declared: ‘This is the room from which I will direct the war’. Today, you can step back in time to explore the secret headquarters where Churchill and his staff changed the course of history.
Apart from being a very informative & educational attraction there was also opportunity to dress up in his famous boiler suits and don a bowler hat and cigar. No one else seemed to be playing with them so of course we didn’t think twice about partaking and entertaining the friendly staff stationed in this area.
A quick stroll away is Westminster Abbey, which up until now I thought was just an amazing church used for the coronation of Kings and Queens, Lady Diana’s funeral, and of course Prince Williams recent wedding to Catherine Middleton. However inside Westminster Abbey is also where many of the nation’s Kings and Queens are actually buried. Principal among them is St Edward the Confessor, King of England from 1042 to 1066, whose shrine is at the heart of the Abbey. Also buried or memorialised here are over 3,000 great men and women including Queen Elizabeth the first, Queen Mary of Scots, Shakespeare, and Sir Isaac Newton. Sadly we weren’t allowed to take any photos inside.
On the way to Westminster Abbey, we passed the ANZAC memorial. It was recently covered in poppies after ANZAC day last week.
We also passed 10 Downing Street which is David Cameron’s office is (UK Prime Minister). A friend and fellow photographer is based there, so were lucky enough to grab this quick photo with him.
Finally it was time to give our feet a rest, as we jumped aboard the tube to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Will let the photos do the talking here.
After a good few hours it was time to jump back on the tube and head for the London Eye which we had previously missed out on for being too early (first time in my life). However, now the time was in the middle of peak hour, and the tube system turned into this manic intertwined regime for most people on their way home from work. For those not familiar with the tube system, it’s a huge network of 11 underground train lines totally 400km’s. A casual 3.4 million people use the system any given day! To get from A to B, you usually have to catch a tube to one station, get off, walk through some tunnels, up some stairs, and get onto another line before heading off in another direction. All while still underground. You don’t usually surface till you arrive at your final destination.
Asides from the London Eye itself, there is also a great 4D attraction which has you flying over London with a friendly seagull showing you all the sights and sounds. 4D is an ellaboration on 3D, where you wear 3D glasses, but your other senses are subject to falling snow, gusts of wind, bubbles and even splashes of water.
After spending far too much money on our first day we opted to try English McDonalds for dinner, before catching the tube home where we literally crashed.
9 hours later we have woke up ready to start round two! I could tell you everything we’re about to do, but as we are opting for chance a lot is unknown, and besides, it would ruin the surprise wouldn’t it.