Sally #1
1 week flew by already but I don't think it is too late to wish Happy New Year, is it?
Happy New Year, guys :) New year, new resolutions, fresh starts. What not to love about that.
So anyway, I just wanna share with you guys a bit of my recent travels to London & Istanbul.
I have seen so much of London on TV that at one point, when I look at a picture of it, I know that place is London.
It has been an old (but not yet lost) dream of mine to go to London. And I did (many thanks to my parents for that), and it met my expectations.
It took approximately 14 hours to reach London from KL, exclude the transit in Dubai (cause the tickets would be cheaper as compared to direct flight).
Dubai's airport is the largest (or so?) in the world, so I can cross "visiting the world's largest airport" from my list. We only stayed for 4 hours before continuing our journey to London.
It was winter in London when we went there, thus the day is shorter than night. The degree varied from 0 degree till 9 degree Celsius.
It was 0 degree when we reached London, and it was 10-11 am local time. We stayed at Grand Plaza Serviced Apartment at Bayswater, and I highly recommend you guys (especially Muslims) cause halal foods can be easily found there. Even Subway was halal, and there was a restaurant ran by Malaysian Chinese (completely halal) but I couldn't recall the name :(
There's an underground train station so you can reach anywhere in London with ease. As far as I can recall, during weekends, there's no charge so it is totally free all day. The last train departs around 11 pm, I guess. During weekends, I think the last one departs at 12 am. It's a bit vague on the details but IF you guys ever wanna go there all the information needed can be found at the train station.
Anyway, as I stated earlier, it was 0 degree when we reached London and we didn't have any inner wear on. IT WAS SO COLD and London was very windy that day. We had our winter coats, but our legs were freezing, AND our room can only be occupied after 2.30 pm so we just gotta wing it.
The first place we went to was Portobello Road (a famous street market). There's a day market going on there EVERY DAY but different day, different stuffs, different sellers. They could be selling vegetables and fresh fruits on Monday and could sell clothes and vintage stuffs on Tuesday. How cool is that?
Portobello Road in the flesh yo.
We didn't buy anything cause 1. too cold, 2. too many people.
Thus we continued our trip to see the ever so famous Big Ben & the eye of London.
Eye of London.
Big Ben.
We were at one of the famous places in the world. Can you imagine our excitement?! (except for my little brother cause this is his second time in London, IN A YEAR). Hence, we had ourselves a free tour guide.
It was already 4 pm when we reached Big Ben (itu dah dikira waktu senja) thus it started to get really cold so we rushed back to the apartment. After a warm bathe and a short nap, later that night we went to Oxford Street. It is one of London's most popular shopping destinations, Europe's busiest shopping street. My parents' fav places: Marks & Spencer and Clarks.
As for the youngsters (well, me and my siblings) we resort to Primark. You can get a mascara for like, 2 pounds yo (that was how cheap Primark was). Thank God I had my senses back then, kalau tk satu Primark dah borong.
We weren't fully recovered from the jet lag, thus every move, every step was tiring. The road took forever to cover from end to end (and we didn't go from end to end cause hungry and too tired) so we went back to have our dinner and beauty sleep.
On the second day we went to Kensington Palace. It is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, and has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century, and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry. Today, the State Rooms are open to the public and managed by the independent charity Historic Royal Palaces.
It is a bit far from our apartment so we had a little walk around London before reaching.
London, Was, Beautiful.
Like I said, I can't really remember the particular details so excuse the missing street/place names.
Kensington Palace at the back.
The squirrel was so fat!!!
And here are some of the pictures at Kensington Garden;
You tahu tk dalam cerita mat salleh dorang suka bawak anjing dorang walk in the park? Exactly the same. Dogs were everywhere with their owners. Ada yang takyah pakai dog holder (or whatever the name is?) and anjing dorang ikut je dorang. Kenapa kucing i tak mcmtu :(
Afterwards, we went to Victoria and Albert Museum, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design. It lived up to the world's largest, cause I didn't have the chance to finish touring the whole museum.
And guess what? There was NO entrance fee. You can go in and out from its opening until its closing, no sweat.
There was an ice skating rink outside V & A museum. Yknw, just telling ya.
This was a Clarks' exhibition, but we had to pay to see the whole thing so yea boleh tgk dari luar je:(
We paid a quick visit to Harrod's cause what is going to London without going to Harrod's. Right?
Inside of Harrod's (sebenarnya takleh amik gambar but I already took one so the damage is already done.)
Later that night, we went to the British Library, the national library of the United Kingdom and the largest library in the world by number of items catalogued. (everything in London is the largest, they ain't playin' yo).
There was Alice In The Wonderland exhibition when we reached there, showing us when did Alice started and how it evolved into the latest cartoon. So nice, I tell you.
I could just drown myself in those books, I'm not kidding.
They went all out, yknw? There was also a souvenir store for Alice In The Wonderland exhibits, and the stuffs were nice (but expensive huhu)
Highlight of the trip for the day was Winter Wonderland @ Hyde Park.
Kalau you tgk dkt Internet, dorang suka date pegi funfair. Padahal funfair dkt Malaysia cam tkda apa pun. And then I went to their funfair and I just totally got it why: Winter Wonderland was da bomb.
There were so many rides, games and omg, foods as well- ranging from proper meal to desserts. (!!!)
There was also a live band playing!!
After having dinner at Winter Wonderland, we called it a day.
Oh, before that, Winter Wonderland happens throughout winter, until (I'm not sure the date) January. Again, just telling. Hehe.
The next day, the first place we went to was Trafalgar Square, a public square that has been used for community gatherings and political demonstrations. It is also is home to Nelson's Column, iconic stone lions, the famous Fourth Plinth and a lot of pigeons (however, masa I datang pigeon tkda. I guess cause orang tk kasi burung burung tu makan?).
Pastu mamat ni kena halau turun by the guard. Huhu.
Later on, we went to Buckingham Palace to see changing of the guards, BUT there were like, a sea of people so we barely see nothing :(
On the bright side, we went to Buckingham Palace (!!!) and that's good enough for me.
We proceeded our journey to Borough Market to have our lunch at "fish!" but all the fish was cooked using beer-battered so there was a bit of uncertainty there about it being halal or not, so we went to Elephant & Castle cause my little brother said there was a Clarks outlet store, and we also had our lunch there.
After converting, I bought a pair of Clarks' heels for RM140. Pretty cheap, isn't it?
And here is a picture of Tower Bridge from the London Bridge, which indicates where we went next.
Breathtaking. I loved every bit of it.
The following day, which is the fourth day (which by this time, we have settled to London's weather and the jet lag was gone) of our stay in London, we went to the Natural History Museum of London.
Of the many museums that we went, I loved this one the most. The exhibits were attractive and the way they laid out the information was actually really creative. There were many school trips to the museum that day and the kids were excited. SO WAS I GUYS, SO WAS I.
But, again, sadly, we didn't have enough time to cover the whole museum. But the parts that I did cover, I enjoyed it very much. :)
Told you it was my favourite. Hence, so many pictures of it.
We had our lunch at "mr. fish" at Paddington, and it is the second best fish and chips that I tasted in UK. Well, the best one is coming right up, after this. ;)
((mashed potatoes ke, chips ke, whatever that is made from potato dkt London semuanya sedap!!!))
On the fifth day, we rented a car and left London behind to go to Bicester Village, an outlet shopping centre on the outskirts of Bicester, a town in Oxfordshire, England. It is a home to many luxury fashion and homeware stores.
How cute is it?! Semua kedai design ala ala mcmtu. Warm, and welcoming as well. :)
We stayed for one night at ... (OMG I'm really sorry but I can't remember the name of the hotel?!) cause really the main reason was to go to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birth place of Shakespeare.
It is a small but very comfy & cozy town, in the morning they have a street market and sells vintage & antique stuffs.
Shakespeare pernah duduk dkt rumah tu weh!!
And that, my friend, was the end of our journey in England.
Afterwards, we went to the airport to catch a flight to Istanbul, Turkey.
The post went a little bit longer than I expected thus, an update about Istanbul would be on the next post hehe.
Voila! The best fish and chips so far: Harry Ramsden's. Even the fish burger was so good, the taste of it still lingers in my mouth ???
And we had this at R&R before reaching the London airport. SO DELICIOUS.
London was amazing. Even though the currency hit us bad, and we had to cut down a little bit here and there on expenses, it didn't stop me from enjoying London (and Bicester & Stratford as well).
May this would not be the last of me in London. :)
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