The Dreamer...: Europe trip

On the third day, which is 2nd June, Tuesday, it is the day that I planned for us to go into London city itself. I have been there and done all the touristy stuff. That means I've seen Westminster, Big Ben, Parliament House, London Eye, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, etc, etc, etc. But because it was the first time that WJ is in London, I had to bring her to see all these 'must-see' and 'must-do'. If I were alone, I would probably not make the trip into the city and thus saving the train fare.

Anyway, we took the 9.50am train into London city. Our first stop is the Palace on Westminster. From the guidebook and D's recommendation, we thought that there will be a changing of horse guards parade at 11.30, so we headed there, intending to see the parade. When we arrive there, we read from one of the boards that there is only a changing of guards instead of a changing of horse guard parade. The changing of guards parade took place at 11am and it was a very, very short one. Although we were there during the changing, we didn't realise that that was the only parade for that day, so we missed it. But we managed to take pictures with the guards and horses that were on duty there.

One of the horse and it's guard.

With one of the guards on duty

The palace where we saw the horse guards

After taking the necessary pictures, since we were already in the area, we walked over to the River Thames and took pictures of the Parliament House and Big Ben, London Eye and the River Thames itself. It was fun to show WJ all these famous things though I think she's not that overly interested in them also.

London Eye

Me and WJ with Parliament House and Big Ben as background

When we were done with all the photo taking, we headed over to Leicester Square to check out ticket prices for musical shows. London's West End is so famous so watching a musical is a 'must-do'. There were many choices, all falling within the budget that we set. WJ was very mindful of what A, my host mum, told us the night before and so decided to watch 'The Lion King'. According to A, the show has very good performance and props, so much so that K and B enjoyed the show thoroughly when they went to watch it, so we decided to take the safe route and watch it as well. It was time for lunch after buying the tickets, so we decided to look for a place to eat. I wanted WJ to try the Fish and Chips of UK but I've never actually ate it in London itself, so I'm not sure where to go for good F&C. The restaurants around Leicester Square serves them but they're quite upscale restaurants that we really can't afford them. We walked around a little, at the same time looking at souvenirs and after asking the owner of a souvenir shop, we headed down an alley and found a restaurant offering a 2-course meal for a reasonable price. It was not bad and a good deal, so we took the chance to have a good sit-down meal and also to rest our weary selves.

After that, we had intended to go for 'The London Experience' offered on the guidebook. It was supposed to be a tour where we were taken on London Bridge and to the London Dungeon where they claimed to be the 'scariest attraction' in London. When we got to the place where we had to get tickets for this, there were people dressed in their characters and the first person gave me a bad feeling and WJ didn't care for it either. So, we changed out minds and decided to head down to the Tower of London instead, although I did that before. I was very reluctant to pay to go in again but there was this 2-for-1 deal that comes with our train tickets so it makes it a little more affordable.

The walk from London Bridge station to the Tower of London brings us across the Tower Bridge and is some walking distance. It was the first time that I'm on Tower bridge itself, so it was quite cool but the walk really tires us out. Before we went to buy tickets for the Tower of London, we stopped to have a drink (the weather was surprisingly hot and sunny that day - not typical London weather) and have a look-see at the gift shop. By the time we went to buy the tickets, it was 3.40pm. I realised that the Tower (which is actually a castle) closed at 5pm and that the last tour given by the Yeoman guards was at 3.20pm, which we already missed. The Yeoman guards tell very good stories about the past of the castle, what happened in there and some sordid tales, so touring the Tower without the tour given by the guards really makes it very much less interesting, so we decided to not go into the Tower.

Tower Bridge

Tower of London

Since we have some time before the theatre show starts and before we need to have our dinner, I decided to bring WJ to Oxford Street to see the 'Orchard Road' of London. It was not as I remember it plus we had a long walk that day, so both of us were quite tired and not interested in shopping. We decided to have an early dinner and to give both of us plenty of time to enjoy our dinner, instead of rushing in the end. We consulted the guidebook that offers 2-for-1 meal deals and decided to go to one that doesn't look expensive and is near the theatre that we were going to watch the musical. It was a fantastic restaurant, with good food and great service. It was a nice meal and to end off the evening, 'The Lion King' is a very good show to watch. The opening was great and engaging. It kept the children (and adults alike) in the theatre occupied most of the time. We got back to my host family's place near to midnight.

WJ and her meal