2019 was a glorious year of travel and the first time I've ever visited Europe. Who would have thought that barely a year later, the COVID-19 pandemic would hit us and this would have been one of my last trips.
I'm missing travelling tremendously, as would most people. Prior to the pandemic, I would probably travel at least 6 times a year. Being stuck here in Singapore for almost 2 years now, I feel like I'm living in a dream and any moment now, I would wake up and life goes back to normal-- pre-COVID 19 normal.
And of course, this blog died for a while and I have tons of beautiful photos from my many trips, unshared and stowed away. But wanting to see the photos up somewhere on a much larger screen than my phone and urged me to resume my travel photo book here.
Enter London 2019.
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| Buckingham Palace |
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| Westminister Abbey |
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| Palace of Westminister |
Big Ben was under construction back when I visited summer of 2019, so no pictures there.
London is such a walkable city-- at least for these few sights which are just next to each other. You can walk further down from Big Ben to the river where you'll be able to see the London Eye and the Tower Bridge.
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| Make sure you savour some teacakes and scones when in London. |
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| Hyde Park |
When I visited, I was really lucky to have experienced very good weather (for London standards). I did not experience a single day of rain, which is a huge blessing. On some days, it was even bright and sunny! The weather was just glorious and it made exploring London on foot even more enjoyable.
I really love their parks and I have to say if walking is your thing, just explore London on foot. Everything is walking distance-ish. Forget expensive cabs. Also, you get to clock about 16,000 to 20,000 steps each day! If you do get tired, just stop at a cute cafe or a public house (i.e. pub) for a refreshing (and cheap!) beer.
I did Hyde Park and Kensington Park + Palace which took up 1 entire day. I sat down quite a bit to take in the sights & enjoyed a packed (and cheap) lunch which you can just grab at the supermarket for just about 5 pounds.
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| Beautiful Kesington Palace where you can pay to enter and they have free guided tours inside |
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| The Shakespeare's Globe- home of Shakespeare's plays |
London was magical to me-- my artistic side was just absorbing all that theatric atmosphere and drowning delightfully in musicals after musicals. One nifty trick to get tickets at really cheap prices is to buy them on the day itself at the ticket stand outside. They're usually single seat tickets. Caught Phantom, Les Miserables and Aladdin-- so good, it made me so sad that I have to pay an arm and a leg to catch a travelling cast perform in Singapore.
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| The iconic and very grand St Paul's Cathedral |
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Food in London is also amazing. You get a good variety of food ranging from all cultures. Everyone knows about the marvellous Dishoom which serves one of the best Indian cuisine (please queue before it opens); there's also Four Seasons which serves very good chinese roasted duck (but also very expensive...); your usual Sunday's Roast at any public house, which is very English; very good steak at Flat Iron; everyone's favourite Burger & Lobster (slightly cheaper in the UK) ; delicious Spanish tapas fare at Barrafina (please queue before it opens or reserve); and the list goes on and on.
Below are pictures from my meal at Barrafina; everything on the menu is good. Just order what you like!
Enter: Burger & Lobster. Have you ever been to UK if you've never tried it?
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| I think this was grilled lobster (or was it steamed...?) |
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| Yes to lobster roll |
Four Seasons serving up comforting Chinese cuisine for the homesick asian, at a huge price tag because it's so much cheaper eating roast meat in Singapore ok. But what to do, everyone says the roast duck damn nice.
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| Roasted char siew and pork belly |
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| The famed roast duck- it's good la but I won't eat it again when I return back to London unless anyone is feeling home sick, or has not given this a try. Because expensive and... I think the ones in Singapore are good enough for me. |
Museum hopping is also a must in London. I didn't manage to do any during my first trip to London and was lucky enough to visit a second time one month later on a business trip. I flew in a day earlier and museum hopped a little. I was also lucky enough to catch a special Van Gogh exhibition where they flew in many of his pieces. Saves me the time to travel to various parts of Europe just to see his paintings.
And yes Van Gogh is probably my favourite artist because I feel a sense of sadness/melancholy looking at his paintings. Even starry night makes me feel sad and lonely. Which was probably how he felt while painting that. Van Gogh was such an interesting person (not because I know him, I clearly don't), but read books & memoirs on him and you would get a sense of how (heart)broken and sad he was most of the time.
And while I was drafting this post, Singapore has announced new VTL lanes which includes UK! Typing this post brings back to many good memories of London. Please share your experience if you intend to visit UK on the VTL!
