London Central
12 Feb 2018
It was a short trip to London, a 3 night stopover before we proceeded to Iceland in our mission to catch the ever elusive aurora borealis. Since this was Partner In Crime's first time in London, a visit to the places of interest in London is necessary.
We started our 1 day itinerary of London from St Paul's cathedral, taking the tube from Hammersmith to Mansion House via the District line. We paid for our fare using our credit cards with the pay wave logo (a contactless option) by tapping on the Oyster card reader. You will be charged the same as an Oyster card, but overseas charge apply if your credit card is issued outside the UK.
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| St Paul's cathedral |
From St Paul's cathedral, we walked across the street to Millenium Bridg, a pedestrian only bridge and took some pictures there. The River Thames flows here, in the cool February weather. The art museum Tate Modern is located at the other end of the bridge, entry is free of charge. We had limited time today, so we didn't visit the museum. I've visited it before in
2007, but I guess it was catered more to those with an acquired taste, who could appreciate the arts on display better.
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| Millenium bridge |
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| River Thames view from Millenium Bridge |
Next we walked from Millenium Bridge to the Bank of England as I had to exchange some GBP notes from my last visit in 2007 as they are no longer legal tender. We just had to walk in and mention our purpose, then the guard guided us to the counter. We needed to scan our bags first. No photography is allowed. There is also a museum at the Bank of England for the public, but we didn't go here this time.
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| Bank of England |
Done with exchanging notes, we walked towards the Tower of London, not too far from the Bank of England. It is a
Unesco Heritage Site, which served as a royal residence and a fort, sometimes as a prison, treasury and office too. Read more
here.
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| Tower of London |
We didn't enter the Towers, just taking pictures. Next to the Tower of London is the Tower Bridge which crosses across the River Thames. The Tower Bridge was built between 1886 - 1894 and still serves as a means to connect vehicles across the River Thames in modern times. The often confused London Bridge is not too far away from Tower Bridge. The original stone bridge (of London Bridge ) was built more than 600 years ago by its Roman founders. More on Tower Bridge
here and London Bridge
here.
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| Tower bridge |
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| River Thames. That's Tower Bridge behind |
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| Tower of London and Tower Bridge by the Thames river |
The next destination was Westminster Abbey, which is also a
Unesco Heritage site. We took the tube from Monument to Westminster station.
Big Ben was covered by scaffoldings as it is currently undergoing refurbishment works. We took pictures at Westminster Abbey, a church where coronation, wedding or funeral ceremonies for the British monarchs took place. It was first founded circa 960 to 970. More on Westminster Abbey
here
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| Eye of London captured from Westminster station |
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| Big Ben being covered |
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| North facade of Westminster abbey |
We then walked further towards
Buckingham Palace through the very pleasant St James' park (not to be confused to Newcastle's stadium) where wild animals such as ducks, swans, birds and squirrels roam and swim freely. We especially adored the chubby and bushy squirrels trying to collect nuts and bury them in the ground for safekeeping / later consumption.
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| St James park |
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| Buckingham Palace |
From Buckingham Palace, we walked back towards the park and headed to Trafalgar Square for a quick photo session. On the way, we passed by Winston Churchill's war room. Having just watched the film The Darkest Hour, it would have been great to pay a visit to the war room, but we were short for time. We also passed by Downing Street, where we captured the last few minutes of the changing of the horse guards.
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| entrance to Winston Churchill's war room |
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| changing of horse guard at Downing Street |
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| Trafalgar square |
We then made our way to the London Central mosque by taking the tube from
Charing Cross to Baker Street station. It took us about 10 min walking
from the station to reach the mosque.
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| London Central mosque near Baker Street station |
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| inside the mosque |
From the mosque, we walked back to Baker Street station, searching for halal food, not before stopping for a photo at the Sherlock Holmes museum. We then found a halal burger joint, Burgista and ordered a beef and beef with cheese burger each. It was okay, I think Fuel Shack burgers back home have a bigger portion and juicer beef.
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| Sherlock Holmes museum |
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| Burgista halal burger near Baker Street station |
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| Burgista's burger |
After refuelling, we bought some souvenirs at a shop next to Baker Street station, then made our way back to Hammersmith, stopping by at Marks & Spencer to buy some yummy sultana cakes and shortbread cookies.
Since we had an early morning flight to catch the next day, we stayed at Premier Inn Heathrow for tonight, which is connected to Terminal 4 of London Heathrow airport via a covered walkway. (RM 252 or GBP 46 per room per night via Booking.com) We took the tube from Hammersmith after collecting our backpacks to Heathrow Terminal 4 station.
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| Premier Inn hotel Heathrow T4 |
We had a whirlwind itinerary today, trying to squeeze as much of London as possible on a short daylight winter day (dusk at 5pm). We had to forego Hyde Park which was in our original plan as it was already dark, and after all, we already had an enjoyable stroll along St James park today.
Labels: Travelogue
