If you haven't been to London, you are never in the UK. London is the capital city of the UK, home to hundreds of attractions and historical architectures (that's why there will be a total of 4 blog posts solely for London). For the first time, we planned our itinerary all by ourselves. Booked the bus and accommodation ourselves, where to visit, where to take the Tube, how much time to spend at one attraction etc. So this is considered as our first backpacking trip!
The journey by bus from Sheffield to London took about 4 hours, train should take an hour less. Why bus? It is because we got the tickets at promotional price of 10 Pounds, to and fro. We got to save as much money as possible because London is a big city, inevitably with higher cost of living. More expensive food and accommodation.
The bus dropped us at London Victoria Station and our journey begins! Firstly, we bought an Oyster Card at more than 10 Pounds to travel around the city using London Tube, where you can use it infinitely during off-peak time! It was so useful as we get to travel from one side of London to another just by London Tube.
The Underground Tube is a complex yet user friendly public metro system where one line intercepts another line by going deeper and deeper into the ground! You can basically travel to every corner of London by changing lines of the Tube. Some stations might look old because some are dated hundred years back!
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| Confusing yet crucial for London! |
We headed to Pimlico by Tube as our accommodation for 3 nights are in the Pimlico region. After checking into our hostel, we went out in search for lunch. As we are account holders of Barclay's, we can use our card to pay for the bicycle rental where its stations are available across London. Another great way to explore the big London without having the need to walk (which we did) while exploring the beautiful city.
From Pimlico Station, we took the Victoria Line and Bakerloo Line to Baker Street Station. Baker Street is home to Sherlock Holmes' Musuem and Madame Tussauds wax musuem. We bought tickets via online for Madame Tussauds wax museum prior our visit to London. It was a combo ticket of Madame Tussauds and London Eye at 30 something Pounds.
Look who's the President now!!
I met so many superstars in one day! Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Pitt to be exact), Robert Downey Jr., Adele and the bootylicious Beyonce Knowles! The entrance ticket for Madame Tussauds also included a Marvel Super Heroes 4D Experience movie where you can literally feel the saliva of some monsters and 'creatures' running over your legs! Sad case was my friend lost his Rayban sunglasses in the cinema hall...
After reporting about the lost to the security counter, we moved on The Sherlock Holmes Museum located not far away. We didn't enter the museum though, as a small fee is needed upon entering. Sherlock Holmes, one of the world's greatest detective (fictional, that is), is said to live here by its creator. 221B Baker Street...
The streets of London was not exactly as clean as I imagined...
We hopped on to Tube again to High Street Kensington Station, where Kensington Palace is located just a stone throw away (well, more like few stones throw away). Residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century, it was once the residence of Princess Diana. It has very beautiful environment and garden, and a huge green land nearby for the public to have exercises on.
The first day in London doesn't end yet! We travelled all the way to King Cross Station (all thanks to Oyster Card!) where the story of the very famous Harry Potter begins! Unique architecture which hides the traditionally-built walls behind.
Platform 9 3/4, this is where Harry Potter zooms through the wall with his trolley and hopped onto the Hogwarts Express! The employees of the station were very helpful in taking photos for us here!
Just opposite of King Cross Station is the St. Pancras Station, which houses a bronze statue named 'The Meeting Place'. This is the location where it is filmed in a popular Hong Kong drama called '冲上云霄2'. We tried to imitate the scene... But it doesn't turn out well xD
NEXT - London: Day 2!
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