Sorry for such a late entry! It’s been a while since I felt like updating this blog. Perhaps I wouldn’t characterize it as a writer’s block, but I needed some time after the last entry to get myself back into writing. And now is the perfect time because I need to catalogue another vacation! Yah!!

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First to start, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was suppose to expect out of this European adventure. Europe to me seemed so foreign. Traveling to Asia, even to places I’ve never been before, never seemed as foreign because it was easier to adapt to the culture. But with Europe, everywhere I went I stuck out like a sore thumb. Nevertheless, I can finally say I step foot on another continent!

Our first stop on the tour was London. The flight this time felt like a piece of cake – I flew 15 hours + 1.5 hours last time to Taipei, so the 7 hour flight was such a breeze. After a quick nap, a movie and a meal, we were already there! It was late when we arrived at Heathrow, plus with the flight delay it was nearly 10pm when we got our bags and left the airport. King’s Cross was also an hour away, so it was really late when we made it to the station.

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I realized immediately stepping off the subway that it would be impossible to travel in Europe with a lot of luggage. Granted, there were escalators and lifts at Heathrow Terminal, but it was an entirely different story at King’s Cross. I mean, there were still escalators for the main stretch between the platforms and the station, but there were only stairs between the station and the exits at street level. It was sooooooooo painful dragging my luggage up step by step (and it only got worse the more we bought along the trip).

[Another subway/luggage fiasco story will came in the later Paris entry]

The hotel itself was easy to find after getting out of the subway. After getting checked-in at the front, we were directed to our room which was on the first floor. It seemed quite manageable even with our heavy luggage, so I didn’t think I would have complaints like I did with the subway. But we soon found out that the hotel was very small and hallways were extremely short. So even though our room was on the first floor, there were a lot of smaller staircases that went up 5-6 steps before wrapping back around a corner to the next set of rooms on the ‘first floor’. It might be hard to visualize unless you’re actually there, but for sure it wasn”t built correctly, since there were FOUR sets of firedoors we had to pass through to get to our rooms.

FOUR!

Not to mention the hassle it was each morning going downstairs for breakfast. It was so disorienting because we would take a certain set of firedoors downstairs, then come up from an entirely different set! And we”re only talking about two floors here! Anyway, even though the room was small and the navigation a bit of a mess, it was still reasonable for the 5 nights we were staying.

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The next morning we ate a quick English breakfast downstairs (which consists of eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato and beans), then we were off towards Big Ben. We got off the subway with time to spare, so we took some photos of the clock and the Thames River. Afterwards, we set off for Westminster Abbey as we reserved a tour for 10:30 that morning. Westminster was quite impressive inside. It was a pity that there were no photos allowed, because there were such unique tombs and monuments. Luckily the tour guide was very thorough, so even though we couldn”t document it all on camera, we were able to keep up with the information in real time as we explored Westminster. It was really neat!

Our next stop was towards the Queen’s residence at Buckingham Palace. We didn’t make it for the changing of the guards, so there was absolutely no activity in the palace except for the two guards standing watch behind the gates. The building itself wasn”t really that appealing to be honest, so we left pretty quickly.

We walked from Buckingham Palace till we reach Hyde Park Corner, then caught the tube towards Harrod’s for lunch. We had originally assumed we could afford something to eat at Harrod’s, but that was totally not the case since everything was super expensive! So we beelined for the stores across the street which was like the fast food chain of Harrod’s. With our tummies filled we headed back inside the store to pick up some gifts in the food section.

Harrod’s reminded me of the department stores in Asia, where the atmosphere of the store actually made you want to shop there. There was a pizzeria with the chefs tossing pizza and belting out tunes; the old-fashion gelato place with an incredible selection of desserts; the seafood place where all the fresh catch was laid out for customers to choose. Although the prices were hefty, the aroma itself was enough to make you want to linger inside the food section a little longer. =)

Later on the day we headed towards Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown. I think we ended walking quite a bit since the two areas weren’t exactly right by each other. We had dinner in Chinatown, which was quite nice, then walked towards Trafalgar Square. It was raining when we made it there, but we dried up inside the National Gallery, taking in some fine art pieces to end the night. Overall a great first day out!

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Day 2 was an early start and we had a bit of a dilemma in the morning trying to get out the door by 8:00am. We first had to grab breakfast downstairs, then because we were moving to another room, it meant dragging all our luggage back down to the reception area. So tedious!

We made it out on time and got picked up for our bus tour at another hotel in the neighbourhood. After switching at the main bus terminal, we divided up to our respective buses and then headed off for Bath! The bus ride going there was extra bumpy and the large portion of (free) breakfast I ate that morning was just a catalyst for car sickness. It was horrible! Nevertheless, I toughed it out and we made it to Bath earlier than expected.

Bath was really cool. The tour guide told us quite a bit of background information while we were on the bus, so everything made sense when got into the city. I’m still amazed at how advanced the Roman engineers were. To build such an intricate bathhouse with the technology they had in their days was just remarkable. The town itself was also thriving on the weekend, so it made it an enjoyable experience. After the self-guided tour inside, we explored the streets ourselves, trying to hunt down a good place to eat. The baguettes we got were the freshest I’ve ever tasted, but it was kind of messy trying to eat and walk at the same time. Hehehe.

After Bath we loaded on the bus again and headed for Stonehenge. The ride was a lot nicer in the afternoon and our bus driver was very kind as he would slow down to let us take pictures of the scenery. When we finally got to Stonehenge, it seemed like we drove out to the middle of nowhere. At first glance, it was kind of like, ‘Oh, these are just a couple of rocks.’ I think that was the only thing that registered in my head the entire time we were there. Well, that and the fact it was super windy outside! LOL.

The last stop on our tour was Salisbury Cathedral. I think this was my favourite spot that day, simply because of its beauty. The tour guide explained how the construction of the cathedral took only 38 years, which was almost unheard of when it was built in 1258. We toured a bit of the inside before heading to see the Magna Carta, which was kept in the Chapter House. Overall a very good tour.

I think that pretty much marked the end of the day for us. The only thing left on our list was to grab dinner at a pub, which we gladly did. =)

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Back in London again for Day 3. Spent the first part of the day touring the British Museum. There was quite a lot to see inside so I”m glad we scheduled the whole morning for it. It was a little busy on the weekend, but we managed to see all the main attractions. After grabbing a small lunch, we decided to hit another museum to take advantage of the time.

Voila! We made it to the Natural History Museum. The Natural History Museum was actually one of my favourite museums on our trip. It was unfortunate that I didn”t know in advance how much I would enjoy it, since we had less than 2 hours to go through the whole thing. We began with the dinosaur exhibit, which was really neat. I loved how they organized the space within it. We started by walking up a ramp which overlooked the entire exhibit. The sides of the ramps had skeletons hanging from the ceiling. Later on we saw some ‘live’ dinosaurs before winding down to the ground floor for the main exhibit. I had lots of fun inside – it was kind of like the ROM and the Science Centre put together!

When we got out of the museum, we realized that the nearest subway line to Kensington Palace happened to be undergoing repairs that weekend. That meant walking more than 3 subway stops to get there by foot! It was painful, that”s for sure.

When we finally got there, we waited in line for about half an hour to get seated. It was well worth the wait as we got to experience what real ‘high tea’ was all about. It would have been a lot nicer if I wasn”t preoccupied by the shrinking size of my wallet, but it was enjoyable pretending to be tea connoisseurs. =)

There wasn’t much to do after we left. We ended up walking towards Oxford Street but a lot of shops were closed already. We thought about seeing a movie at Leicester Square, but we found out that the ticket prices were the exact numerical value in Canada – except they were charging in pounds! Scraping that idea, we called it an early night and picked up some Chinese takeout on the way back. Thumbs up for spending only 4.25£ for dinner!

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Day 4 was our last full day in London, so there was a lot of pack in. We decided the night before we would try to get tickets to a musical, so we went back to Leicester Square in the morning and waited in line at the half-price ticket booth. Timing was kind of tight, since the ticket booth opens at 10:00am and we needed to be at St. Paul’s Cathedral for a tour at 10:45am. Luckily we were among the first in line, so we got tickets to Hairspray (although Les Mis was our first choice). After grabbing our tickets in a hurry, we dashed off towards St. Paul’s. St. Paul’s was quite similar to Westminster. The construction of the cathedral was amazing, especially with the intricate ornaments and the design of the dome in the centre. We found the tour to be very beneficial because to got to see some rooms which were closed to the public.

After we finished, we had lunch on the go and headed towards the Tower of London. It was quite neat approaching the fortress from the outside, especially with the view of the Tower Bridge beside it. The first thing we did was join a Yeoman Warder’s tour (the Beefeaters!). We heard some cool stories about the buildings and the occupants within the towers. Then we had free time to explore on our own. Saw Traitor’s Gate, the Bloody Tower and the Crown Jewels. We later went inside the White Tower for an exhibit on King Henry VIII. I was pretty impressed by it all!

We were on the move once again – this time towards the London Eye. It was a little out of the way, but it was the last attraction on our list of places to go to. Fortunately there was no lineups when we got there around 6pm, so we boarded really quickly. The weather was cooperating nicely, so we got some great shots from above. It was also a good way to relax for 30 minutes and take in the view of London.

The last attraction of the night was Hairspray. I wasn’t entirey thrilled with the overly sappy storyline, but the musical itself was entertaining to watch and it seemed like money well spent. The only thing that irked me was the lead actor who kept singing with a British accent, even though the story was based in Baltimore! I forgive him though, he was cute. =)

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There wasn’t a lot we could do for the morning of Day 5. After getting packed, we headed towards Piccadilly one last time to Japan Centre to stock up on magazines and snacks. It was painful buying Onigiris for 2£ EACH, but at least we were able to use up the rest of our pound. When we returned, we checked out of the hotel and headed towards St. Pancras. We had a lot of extra time to spare, so we leisurely walked around the terminal figuring out how to use up the rest of our change. I found out that they actually sell the Paris Museum Pass inside, so I had to pool all of leftover money to buy the tickets. It was a little bit of a hassle towards the end, but we made it on the train on time with the passes in hand.

The train ride itself was really comfortable, which easily lulled me to sleep. I caught my last few glances of London before passing out. I had no idea how the ‘underwater’ part went, because when I woke up we were already in Paris!