We are finally leaving today for our Easter vacations. All the plans we have set aside in the last 9 weeks are now coming to life.
We began our massive packing up process from the morning. Gonna store our luggage by 2pm today. With all the stuff chuck away and our backpack ready, we just laze the afternoon waiting for our dinner. Once its time, we took a slow walk to the Student Union. A cab was hired to take us to the Belfast City airport from there.
We reached London Heathrow Terminal 1 via BMI. 2 parties were formed once we were in the London Underground (Tube). Si Yu and Joshua will be staying at Kok Yong's place. While Elizabeth and me will be going to Yong Wei's house.
We made a single transfer from the Piccadily Line to the Northern Line and alighted at Tooting Broadway.
Had a good chat with Yong Wei till 5am the next day. His house-mates were not around, so we are holding up at their rooms. The rooms were large and spacious, it was just fabulous!! Here is Yong Wei coming out from his room.
3rd April (Saturday)
I bought the weekend tube pass which cost 7 pounds. First thing first in the morning, we visited London Bridge market.
Thereafter we are off to another market - Portobello market.
In the afternoon we visited the British museum. It is a super large museum with exhibits all over the world. The British empire collected all the archaeological findings in her colonies and brought it back to London.
The interior of the museum is amazing.
Here is the Reading Room in the middle of the museum.
I am climbing up to the second storey of the museum.
4th April (Sunday)
Had a good morning rest today. Kind of spend my entire morning sleeping while the rest of them went to church. Yong Wei slept longer than me, don't have a chance to talk to him when I left the house.
I intended to take a bus round Tooting Broadway to the next closer Tube station. But it takes a long time and I doesn't have much to spare since I gonna meet the rest at lunch time. This afternoon we are meeting at Camden Town market.
After the market trip, we went down to Oxford Street to do a little shopping. We finished it off quite early as we gonna give our respective hosts a treat in the evening. Went back to Tooting Broadway and had dinner with Yong Wei and 2 of his other friends. Had a small trip to Wimbleton after dinner.
5th April (Monday)
We met up early in the morning to purchase the Phantom of the Opera musical which cost 17.50pounds. We decided to catch a Change of Guards at Buckingham Palace. It is a daily morning event. Along the way there, we walked past Trafalgar Square and saw Nelson column.
On the ground, it depicts the distance to the different British colonies from London.
Here is our group photo at Trafalgar Square.
Walking through the gate towards the park.
Walking along the park to the palace.
At the Change of the Guards Ceremony, the guards walked out of St James Palace towards Buckingham Palace. The whole area is filled with tourists from all over the world. Imagine this place is filled with people daily, what a scene.
We walked past St James Park towards The Embankment next to River Thames. Here is the Big Ben and Westminister Abbey.
Downing Street, where the British Parliament is.
The River Thames with the London Eye in the background.
The Millennium Bridge leading to the Tate Modern.
The Tower Bridge opening up, allowing ships to pass.
The Tower of London where the imperial treasuries are stored.
We proceeded on for dinner follow by the Phantom of the Opera musical. Here is the London eye at night.
And the Big Ben at night.
6th April (Tuesday)
This morning we again split into 2 groups. Joshua and Si Yu will be visiting the National Gallery while Elizabeth and me will be going to Greenwich. We took the Tube followed by the Docklands Light Rail to Greenwich. Greenwich is located at the East End, south of River Thames.
The place is beautiful with the Old Royal Observatory located at the top of a hill in the middle of the park. It has all the time contraptions and navigational instruments there. Here I am standing in between the line separating the two time zones.
After leaving Greenwich observatory, we saw Cutty Sark next to River Thames. Meet up with the rest of the guys at a church lunchtime music session. Adjourn to the Imperial College, here is Royal Albert Hall.
It started to drizzle a bit. We took a stop Hyde Park and began playing with the ducks.
Here is a majestic sculpture of horses just a distance from chinatown.
We wrapped off the day with shopping at Harrods.
