25: London

#25: London

Oh well, after a long hiatus from my epic trip musings, I am back.

London is a city that I have visited 3 times like Paris and Manchester. However, I realise that I have not fully covered all of London despite 3 visits. It is a wonderful place to be, bustling with people, good shopping places, nice food everywhere but the fact that they speak English makes me feel at home. Nevertheless, the weather can be quite a torture during winter when I first visited in Feb 2008. I always spend a day or two in London rather than what others do, spending a week there because I have this feeling that I will return again and I need not have to rush to cover everything.

Having done the all touristy things and going to the outskirts during the last 2 visits, including going to the football stadiums like Stamford Bridge and the Emirates, I decided to just focus on shopping, watch a musical and visit the British museum. I used to dislike museums because you often have to spend long hours in there and you have just wasted yet another day. However, as I age, I have more patience going through the exhibits bits by bits and my interest in history grew fonder. The British museum is ENORMOUS and despite spending close to 5 hours there, I only cover a quarter of it. LOL!

But I moved on to do other things, hunting for food. We tried this one famous Duck restaurant in Chinatown and I find it a little disappointing. I am not a huge fan of duck but whenever I chance upon a good one, I would be sure to give a thumbs up, like one in Beijing that I tried. :) Instead, it is Burger and Lobster (highly recommend!) that is mouth-savouring and even till now, I am still thinking about that meal! We also went to one 2-star Michelin restaurant and spent a bomb but the food to me was - ORDINARY.

I swear this is the most value for money meal ever in my life! The picture does not do justice to how delicious this lobster is. It costed me 22.50 Pounds which is approximately S$48. I really liked this laptop sleeve below in the British museum and it costs 23 pounds. I thought it was too expensive for a laptop sleeve though it is really nice. So I ended up not buying it and used the money to pay for the lobster instead. Wise decision, indeed. 

As I age, I love eating good food more. I am always on the hunt for good food overseas though they take a toll on my wallet. :(

It was a short two days in London but I will be back before I know it. :)

London Outskirts II-13th April 2008

Oxford.Stratford-upon-avon.Warwick

Alice-in-wonderland is based there.
Christ Church College, inspiration for Harry Potter!
I was quite unfortunate because the church wasn't open on Sunday for visiting.
Anyway, the Hogwarts School in the show was actually modeled after Christ Church College.
Students in this college all stay around the campus
They will spend dinner time together like what you see in the show.
According to the guide, most scenes in the show were not film there.
It was filmed in a studio in America where they set up the whole place similar to CCC.
He also told us about the metro station in London where Harry Potter uses to get to Hogwarts.
There's a sign and rubbish bin there where you can take photos with. :) Hilarious.
Bill Clinton used to study in Oxford. :)
Oxford has the small town feel like Uppsala.
I like it. :)
Saw some traditional folk dancing there too..
Interesting.

Alice-in-wonderland

Christ Church College.

Garden.

Pity the Jews.
They seem to be oppressed everywhere.
Back in the olden days, dead Jewish bodies were not allowed to be buried in the church.
Even the alive are not allowed to step into the church.
This gate marks the border.

National Library of Oxford. Isn't it beautiful?

Some bridge. It's supposed to be modeled after bridges in Venice?

Folk dancing.

Outskirts of London. On the bus rides....

Stratford-upon-avon-birthplace of famous playwright, William Shakespeare.
Actually I wonder why on earth did I go on this tour?
I think I just wanna see more of UK.
Anyway, lots of stories about Shakespeare that I can talk about
I am not a fan of him definitely.
His dad was a rather famous figure in Stratford, a leather-maker.
Shakespeare left a huge fortune when he died.
It was all under the trust of his eldest daughter.
When I read his will, I thought it was really funny.
It's like every single asset of his was allocated to some family member or friend.
When I die, I should do that too.. hahaha..
Rather than just burn away everything right? hehehe...
Guys, tell me which asset of mine you like, I'll give it to you when I am dead.
I PROMISE. :)
Apparently, this house was sold and rented to many different people over the years.
It was only in the 19th century that the government decided to buy back the house
And preserve it as a heritage site.
I'd do that too.
Helps to earn lots of POUNDS :) hahahaha...

Streets of Stratford. It's full of flowers!! Nice. :)

By the river. Boathouses..

Yes, That's Shakespeare's Birthplace. :) (His house!)

The Garden of Shakespeare's house..

Bedroom!?

Dining Room :)

Those 2 people in the far end were acting one of Shakespeare's play- Swan and maidenhead. :)

Warwick.Apparently a Medieval Castle left behind.
It's really nice.
If it was my first time in Europe, first visit to a Castle, I'll be overwhelmed
But having seen a million castles, palaces etc.
I just feel indifferent when I see this.
I wanted to catch the trebuchet lanuch show but damn!
It started to rain and it took a super long time to lanuch.
I got fed-up after waiting for 20 minutes and decide to climb the castle towers instead.
It was a mad-tower!!
The no. of steps is INFINITE.
Plus there's only one entrance and one exit.
Once you are in it, there's no turning back.
Along the way, I saw kids panting away
If you have claustrophobia, don't ever step in.
Elderly are discouraged to enter the tower as well.
It's just mad!

Pond in the garden. Nothing better to do so I started to take pictures. :)

Being beheaded!

Inside the State Apartments.

Queen Elizabeth Statue.

Waiting for that stupid trebuchet to launch

Along the pavement of the tower. See that tiny door at the far end? That's the entrance.

Various Magnificent view from the tower. :)

Those narrow and infinite stairways...

On my way back to London.
Guess what I saw?
A RAINBOW!!
All my life, I've never seen a rainbow (from the time I knew what a rainbow is till 13th April 08)
It was mesmerizing...
I wish the rainbow never disappeared...
There was this taiwanese family who were sitting behind me.
The kids were fast asleep on the ride but when the rainbow appeared,
Both boys woke up to catch a glimpse of it.

I hope you can see the rainbow. I took it through the bus window. :)

I believe in a rainbow.
It carries a heavy weight in me.
About life.
How are rainbows formed?
After a storm, the sky clears.
Sunshine appears and with the clear sky,
We are able to see the spectrum of light.
Many a times, most of us take things for granted when we are in a comfortable state.
We then experience unhappiness at some point of time or another.
The misfortunes that come by jolt us out of complacency.
We learn new lessons and life kicks off with a clear blue sky once again.

So always remember, stay positive when facing any challenges or setbacks in life.
Everything will go well after all the setbacks
Just like how a rainbow always comes after the rain. :)
Next time if you ever feel feel down, think of rainbows like I do.
I hope it makes you feel better. :)

London again?- 9th April 2008

Yes, I was back to london on 9th April 2008
It was meant to be a transit for Edinburgh, Scotland.
Went to Buckingham Palace to watch the change of guards BUT
Trust me, you can't see anything seriously.
It was extremely packed!
But honestly, the palace is beautiful.

That's Buckingham Palace! Isn't it AMAZING?

New Guards coming in!


Change in progression inside the gates.

Took a walk around Hyde Park, it's amazing!
It's really spring in London.
Weather's cool. ;)
The scene in the park was a preview of what I would see in Stockholm a week later.

Picadilly Circus. Best Shopping Place. :)

Window-shopping for the next 3 hours to be honest.
London is the place for SHOPPING trust me!
Topshop.Gap.Esprit etc.
PRIMARK-the best shopping place ever.
Everything is cheap. 4-8 pounds yet stylish.

I badly wanted to catch a musical-Les Miserables.
But the tix were far too expensive!
42 GBP for one. Actually it was just that night.
Anyway, I am not the musical person otherwise I'd have gotten it despite the price. :)
Instead, I headed to this pub, Cheers to catch the 2nd Leg of Man Utd Vs Roma.
Rather boring game.
Man Utd was already 2-0 ahead from the first leg.
There wasn't any threat.
Plus totti was absent. :)

Concluding Remarks on London

I can only say that London is totally a BIG city which is very globalised. There are lots of immigrants there, people of all skin colour from white to black or even yellow. My friend from Paris who has been to London told me London is definitely a must-visit place for all travelers in Europe because it is definitely something different from other big cities like Paris, Barcelona etc.. I haven't been to Paris & Barcelona yet so I don't know how true that is but maybe London is outside the European Continent so they are slightly different from the European Community Nations?!

People in London walk EXTREMELY fast like they are rushing for reincarnation and they are ain't too friendly seriously! The Swedes are much better! Traffic in London is really BAD because traffic lights appear almost everywhere and if I were to drive in London, I would most probably go bonkers! Cars park by the roadside all the time and narrow the roads so it's extremely irritating.

That's Victoria Rail Station

Kim was telling me that they are quite a Ra**** country so they will discriminate you if you ain't WH***... I guess you people understand what I mean and I totally agree!! When we were at the airport, the immigration officer asked my friend & I tons of questions before they let us in! They wanted every single detail of your itinerary in London like your purpose of visit, how long will you be staying, where you are staying, where you are from etc etc... They will be super strict with you.. On the other hand, another 2 exchange students (our friends here) who we met in London passed immigration checks in less than a minute just because they are AME******!!

But no doubt, the network of their tube is Superb! I mean they are so well-connected that you can go to almost everywhere in London using the tube.. However, it's not perfect... The seats in the train are so huge (plus those big-size ang mohs) that no one can stand in between the seats like what we do in Singapore. So everyone will cramp themselves near the doors area... As a result, one cabin can't contain that much people seriously. What's more, the trains are always under repair service at non-peak hours or saturdays which means that they will make announcements out of a sudden and tell you that train service from this station to another is unavailable. If you happen to be in a rush to get to that place, that's it! Either you walk there or you take a bus there (which is super slow because of the heavy traffic) or you can drive if you have a car!

Inside the cabin of the tube

To make it worst, their train stations are really deep in the ground which means that to go down to the platform, you have to descend don't know how many thousand metres! There are lots of corners and bends & this explains why you can easily place a b*** there without anyone noticing it. **Dangerous**

To talk about the standard of living in London, it isn't as bad as what most people think seriously if you compare it with the Scandinavian countries like Norway & Sweden. Chocolates, Alcohol, Cigarettes & majority of the foodstuffs are all CHEAPER than here! You can get a bar of chocolate (very nice & delicious) for $1.50 in london but that will cost you most probably $3 in Norway/Sweden (except that super cheap choco)! A can of coke in Sweden costs about $2.5o but it is only $1 in London! That's the difference! So when I was in London/Manchester, I drank coke & ate chocolates like nobody's business & went for MCDONALDS to have a hearty MEAL! So though pounds is 3 times bigger than Sing Dollars while Kroners is 4 times smaller than Sing Dollars, the pricing of the items actually makes london a much cheaper city to live in. But I still prefer Stockholm seriously because you get Snow & people here are more friendly and the pace isn't as fast... I am here to escape from the urban stress in Singapore so I don't want to land myself into that same situation in London!

The best thing I like about London is its architecture! Their buildings are totally different from the ones in Sweden & Norway in the sense that they have designs it. Almost every single building that I passed by has like a Mini Balcony or it may be a walkway so it makes the whole place seem very antique and beautiful.. In Sweden, it's more like blocks of buildings painted in colours like brown, red, grey etc... We will see the photos!

See the buildings!

The Must-visit shop once again!Time in London passed by really fast because I have packed schedules the whole day and sometimes I have to rush here & there but it was definitely fun! I have conquered yet another city in my listing........

Chelsea FC Stadium Tour-9th February 2008

If I hadn't been a Manchester United Supporter since young
If Jose Mourihno hadn't left Stamford Bridge
If Shevchenko hadn't been a flop at Chelsea
I will definitely Support Chelsea!

Why do I say that? Comparing the Man Utd Stadium Tour & the Chelsea Stadium tour, I can only say that Chelsea's tour gives you a very homely feeling! It's like they kind of personalise the tour and make u feel really welcome into their big family! Perhaps it's because Man Utd has more visitors so their tours are usually in bigger groups and it's more difficult to please everyone.. But somehow, I feel that ManU just gives off this executive feeling and no doubt their tour is very professional and classy! So maybe that creates a distance between the club & its supporters... But still, I enjoyed both tours!

What's more, I really like Jose Mourihno... His actions and words never fail to bring a smile to my face... He's just hilarious!!! I read Frank Lampard's bibliography and some of the things that he wrote about Mourihno really made me respect him! It's like he always fight for his players' rights & he instilled a sense of competitiveness in his players to desire for success and recognition for the effort that they put into their game.. That's how he brought instant success to Chelsea.. That's how good he is otherwise he won't be in Mdm Tussauds anyway! haha.. His favourite quotes:

"I am the Special One!"

"Football is football..!"

Thirdly, if Sheva had been more successful at Chelsea, it would have convinced me to support Chelsea because I like the way he plays his football... Totally cool!

Let's talk about the Chelsea tour in detail.. I went to the Museum first since I kind of reached 10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time at 2pm! I've to say ManU's museum is much much bigger and nicer than the one at Chelsea, most probably it's because Man U has been a more successful club & they have more stuffs to show off! haha.. Their trophies are COUNTLESS! Imagine I completed the Chelsea museum tour in 15 mins but it took me an hour to finish the Man U one! haha..

What Mourihno gave Chelsea and their fans!

Museum Tour- Evolution of Chelsea Logo

These are the teams that Chelsea has played with over the years-exchange of flags which we always see at the beginning of the game between the captains!

Model of Stamford Bridge

Anyway, I caught sight of this really super duper cute Chelsea Staff while in the Museum so I secretly took photos of him! haha.. Coincidentally, he's 1 of our 2 guides for the tour!! Throughout the tour, whenever it was his turn to present, I will be super attentive and listened to every single thing he mentioned! He's got a very nice accent when he speaks.. Watch the video that I post later and you will understand what I mean.. He's good with kids also and he's extremely friendly! That explains why he chose this job right! hahaha..

The cutie I caught sight of!

There was this kid who's a Liverpool supporter but apparently his dad supports Chelsea so he brought him to the Chelsea Stadium Tour.. This cute guide said he will try to convince the kid by the end of the tour to support Chelsea! haha..So from time to time whenever he sees that boy along the tour, he will ask him:"So are you still a Liverpool fan?" The boy is super adamant with his reply and always firmly answers "YES!" but he never gives up! I counted the number of times he asked him and it was exactly 5 times! How patient he is! Now you must be wondering how I managed to keep track of the number of times he asked him right? That's because I followed him super closely throughout that 45minutes!

Anyway, I took lots of photos during the tour! Our first stop was the Press Conference Room and if you recall the chair where Mourihno sat on TV saying:"I am the Special One!", yes! That's the first stop of the tour! He led two birthday boys to sit with him on the desk as he explained to us the purpose of the conference room and all the big stars that had pen their contract on that desk before from JT, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Andriy Shevchenko & Michael Ballack... He then pretended that the 2 birthday boys are Chelsea's latest signings and enter into some negotiation of contract with them! It was totally hilarious! After that, they gave everyone the opportunity to take photos at the desk..That's how nice they are!

Him & the 2 birthday boys!

Do you want to interview me?!

Listen to his accent! Totally nice!

Next up was the Away Team's dressing room & the Home Team Dressing Room! I've to say the Away team's dressing room is really shabby compared to the Home Team one...haha.. But so many big stars had been there before... The guide told us about the story of Patrick Vieria knocking his head on one of the clothes hook on the wall when he stood up! Apparently, he's really tall and the hook was kinda low so he was super shag after a game and he didn't pay much attention to that hook above him!

The Home Team dressing room was the ultimate! Individual lockers for everyone with their jersey's hung outside the cabinet! I stood in the first row so as to get the best photos and he* opened up Solomon Kalou's cabinet to show us his personal belongings! I was hoping he* had opened Frank lampard's one... But I guess he* cannot open the big stars one... Only small fry like Kalou won't mind his locker being shown... Anyway, he had the usual stuffs like perfume, shin pads, boots studs, watch and the refreshing spray! If you notice on TV, you will see that some players' shirts looks abit wet at the area near their chest... That's because they had sprayed the refreshing spray which helps them to breathe better... I'd this question mark all along & I think my brother did explain to me before but I had forgotten about it..

Oh ya! The home dressing room had massage chairs as well!! Apparently JT & Frank Lampard have their personal message chair while the rest have to share the remaining 3 massage chairs! I guess that's the privilege of being a captain!

That's the Home Team Dressing Room!

Apparently, friends will always sit together like if they speak the same language or if they come from the same nation.. So You expect Frank Lampard to sit next to JT!

Alright, that's Solomon Kalou's Locker.. He has this photo of Ronaldino shaking hands with Thiery Henry! haha..

The boy is lying on JT's personal Massage Chair!

The last venue of the tour was of course the dugout! Alright, the thing about all these tours is that they will never ever allow anyone to step onto the pitch because it's expensive to maintain the pitch and if visitors move around on the pitch freely, it will increase their maintenance costs.. We went through the tunnel where the players always come out from then into the area where the managers and players sit.. If you sit there, you will really have a Super Good View of the whole pitch & the game! I sat at the seat where Mourihno sat! But of course, the seat no longer belongs to him now! Anyway, he* calls all of them by their first name... He*will tell me: "That's where Jose used to sit but now Avant sits there.." I understood what he* meant when he* say Jose but I needed 10secs to process who he* meant by Avant! Come on, who cares about that Israel man?! Look at what he has done to Chelsea!!

Stadium Overview!

Me Posing with the field as the background! Good Shot! I must thank the photographer!

That's the pitch!

Where that little boy is sitting-if it had been 6months ago, that will be where you see JM with his legs on the blue board that you see the guy's legs on!

We also saw the setting up of the stadium for the match tomorrow like the Cameras, the irrigation of the fields, etc... Time just flew past and it was time to bid goodbye! I was so SAD! I could no longer see that cute guy & our conversations had to end.... haha.. But anyway, I took a photo with him! haha..

He's totally CUTE!

After the whole thing ended, I went to the Megastore for a walk and bought a T-shirt! I didn't buy any jerseys because I had both Lampard & Shevchenko jerseys already and I wanted to save my money for Man U the next day! For those soccer fanatics, if you have a club that you support, you should really visit it! The passion in you for the club will burn even more deeply after you visit it.... lastly, if you wanna feel how is it like to come out from the dugout, catch the video----