London

Despite the snow storm and the chaos at Heathrow last December, my whole family made it to London for the holidays. We arrived on a Friday afternoon and like any eager traveler, we immediately made plans to venture out into the city and do something. Of course, in our family, 'immediately' means after we've eaten sandwiches from the Pret A Manger down the road, after we've taken long baths and after we've eaten some more at the hotel. After all that, we decided to go to the Portobello Market. Unfortunately, as the concierge informed us, the market is only open on Saturdays and closes at around 5 or 6. This is not exactly true, as I found out after reading Rick Steves' guide book. Some shops along Portobello Road are open other days too, but it tends to be busiest on Saturdays. So, following the concierge's suggestion, we went to Bond Street and Oxford Street instead for some shopping.

This is considered as London's shopping district and being that we were there the night before Christmas, it was packed with last minute shoppers. So we pushed and shoved our way through the crowd to step inside shops like H&M, Urban Outfitters and Uniqlo. We met up with my brother R later that night and did an initial walking tour of London. He took us to Trafalgar Square. Nelson's column stands at the center of the square, surrounded by fountains. Behind it is the beautiful and grand National Gallery.

We also made it to Piccadilly Circus where scenes from Harry Potter 7 were supposedly shot. It is a very busy area and reminds me of Times Square in New York with all the lights and tourists.

We called it a night after a wonderful dinner at Masala Zone.

We didn't have much to do on Christmas day since everyone seems to be celebrating in their homes, the tube is closed, everything was closed except for a few restaurants. We walked around our hotel, crossed the Millennium bridge towards St. Paul's Cathedral and crossed the London Bridge back.

View of St. Paul's Cathedral from the Millennium bridge

Boxing day was spent on a day trip to Stonehenge, Windsor Castle and Bath, but that is worthy of a separate blog post. The remaining days were spent touring around central London, as there was so much to do and so much left to see. Being there during winter means enduring the cold and gloomy skies, but on the plus side, there is the Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, which I would give two thumbs up. It is a winter carnival with games, rides and food for the entire family. There are also vendors selling holiday trinkets and ornaments, among other things. It is a very happy place and definitely brings out the holiday spirit.

Crepe guy making our sugar and cinnamon crepe

Rides at the Winter Wonderland

A trip to London will not be complete without a trip to Harrods, the most popular shopping destination for tourists. Harrods was having a big sale after Christmas, so it felt like the whole of England flocked to the department store when we were there. There was hardly any space to move around, and you needed tickets to get inside the perfumery, not that I really cared. While my siblings went off in search of fancy wallets and watches, my dad and I hurried over to the food halls in search of chocolates and cakes. What we saw amazed us. I felt like I was in heaven. Upon entering, I was surrounded by chocolates from all around the world (ok, maybe not quite around the world, but all over Europe), and then I was pulled into another room which then surrounded me with all kinds of candies and sweets. Not only that, there were cakes, pastries, ice cream, donuts, bread, meat, heck even fruits and vegetables made an appearance at the Harrods food halls.

Harrods

One thing I like about London is that there are museums all over the city, maybe even more museums than we can find in New York. All of these museums are free, and only ask for optional donations. We went to the Imperial War Museum first, and after two hours of visiting the First World War, the Second World War and the Holocaust exhibits, I was dead tired and wanted food. My brother R went back after we left and visited the Children's War exhibit, which he claimed was interesting and very informational. 

Imperial War Museum

We visited the British Museum next. To be honest, the Imperial War Museum proved to be more memorable as I cannot seem to recall the details of what I had seen at the British Museum. I followed the Rick Steves audio guide for the British Museum and was led around hallways of Greek and Egyptian exhibits. I was once again looking at statues of nude Greek gods, Egyptian mummies, vases and jars from way back when, jewelry, money, clocks, and ancient carvings and murals. 

British Museum

On my last day in London, when the rest of my family were out shopping, I got myself a day pass and took the tube around central London. I had four destinations planned that day. One of them was the National Portrait Gallery. There, I saw three different portraits of Elizabeth I, saw the wives of Henry VIII, saw Victoria and Albert. There were also portraits of famous scientists, politicians and writers like the Bronte sisters. I also saw Princes William and Harry in their uniforms. 

National Portrait Gallery

Among all the attractions we visited, my favorite was the Tower of London. Built by William the Conqueror, the Tower of London served as a fortress, a palace and a prison. This is where Queen Anne Boleyn and other queens of Henry VIII were held prisoners and eventually executed. Today, it is a tourist site of armory exhibits and the home of the Crown Jewels. 

Tower of London

And then there is the Westminster Abbey. I wasn't content with just seeing it from the outside like the rest of my family were. I had to see what was inside, so on my free day, Westminster Abbey was first on my list of places to visit. I spent a full 2.5 hours following the audio guide and reading the Rick Steves guidebook for his version of the tour of the Abbey. I took my sweet time examining the tombs of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I, scanned all the names of poets, musicians, scientists and writers mounted on the walls on one section of the Abbey, walked around the cloisters and as if I haven't tired of museums, visited the Abbey museum.

Westminster Abbey

We didn't ride the London Eye. We really didn't feel like thirty minutes of going around in a circle was worth a long lineup and the steep admission fee. So we just took a couple of pictures beside it and pretended we had the full experience. From the London eye, you can have a good view of the Big Ben and the House of Parliament along the River Thames.

Another popular tourist spot is Buckingham Palace. We planned our itinerary such that we went there according to the schedule of the Changing of the Guard. The Changing of the Guard is scheduled to start at 11am. We were there at around 10 minutes before 11, which was a mistake. We should have been there much earlier. When we got there, the whole area was already packed with spectators. We were able to see the guards marching towards the palace by looking above people's heads, but we sadly missed what went on inside the gates.

Buckingham Palace

Finally, the British Library. On my free day, I had said that I went to Westminster Abbey and to the National Portrait Gallery. Well, I also went back to Harrods to see the Diana and Dodi memorial and to the British Library located beside King's Cross. I followed the Rick Steves guide (yes, Rick and I have been very good friends throughout this trip as we had been in Italy) to the treasures of the British Library. Inside the Sir John Ritblat Gallery are the Treasures of the British Library. These include Shakespeare, different versions of the bible, maps, historical documents, the original and other versions of Alice in Wonderland, Chinese literature and of course, the Magna Carta.

Newton sits at the courtyard by the entrance of the British Library

I didn't think I would enjoy London as much as I did, but now I find myself planning another visit. London is such a big city that there will always be something to do and having an underground system makes it easy to get around.