LONDON, a contemporary place with lots of tourist flowing in and out of the city daily, was my halt for the 4-day long trip. The bustling city has a lot to offer and is filled with modern culture, scenic beauty, water bodies and a lot more.
My Itinerary
DAY 1:
We started on our journey to London on a Friday morning from Scotland via train which takes nearly 5-6 hours to reach London. We took the early morning train at 6AM and reached London at around 12PM in the noon. Once we landed at the King's Cross Station at London, we were startled by a long queue near Platform 9 of the station and to my surprise, it was a queue for the famous Harry Potter Platform 9 and 3/4 photo and souvenirs. We joined the queue to get our photographs as well (me being an HP fan of course) and within 2 hours we got the photos in our hand.
Post that, we grabbed some lunch from Tesco (meal deal consisting of sandwich, crisps and a drink) since it's cheap compared to any other places in London (as London is famous for being one of the most expensive city) and then went to check-in at our hotel "THE TOWER" situated near the Tower bridge. The view from the hotel room was amazing.
After freshening up, we went to the Sea Life London via Tube. (Please book Oyster travel card since it helps in traveling a lot around the big city in both buses and tubes). We collected our Sea-Life tickets and headed towards the massive aquarium of London. I am not a big fan of museums/aquariums but this place had left me awestruck. There were multiple varieties of sea creatures that one could observe over here. From sea-horses to jelly-fish to penguins, every single creature was different and colorful.
We had spent nearly 2 hours here post which we took a stroll around the place as it was beautiful and the breeze lifted the walking soul within us. Around 9PM we returned near our hotel which was situated close to the Tower Bridge and walked there for a while before proceeding for dinner.
DAY 2:
Our second day started early morning around 9AM since we were planning to visit the Tower of London. (Better to start early morning here to avoid the long queue which can take up to 2-3 hours). We grabbed a meal deal from Pret-A-Manger store for breakfast. We had the London Pass with us (I would highly recommend to buy London pass for 2-3 days according to itinerary if you would like to cover a lot of places for a hassle-free trip) which enabled us to enter the Tower of London without going to the booking queue. The Tower of London is huge and has many sections to cover out of which the Crown Jewels Tower is the most famous one. It contains all the collection of the royal kingdom's jewels including the precious diamond from India (Koh-i-noor). We managed to escape the long queue in front of the crown jewels since we arrived early. After exploring it, we visited the Beasts Tower followed by the White Tower and Traitor's Gate. There were multiple other towers within it like the Bloody Tower and Lanthorn tower with many histories associated with it. We spent around 4 hours in the Tower of London post which we departed towards our next destination - The Tower Bridge.
The Tower Bridge is one of the finest bridge construction in London and hence, we decided to explore it from the top. There is a glass floor on top of the Tower Bridge which allows one to see the vehicles below and the river Thames flowing underneath. One can also see the different engines which operate the opening and closing of the Tower bridge to allow larger sea vessels to cross River Thames. It took us around 1 hour to explore the complete bridge from lower to the top floor including the engine rooms post which we moved ahead for lunch at the Gunpowder Restaurant (since we were craving for some Indian cuisine).
After finishing our lunch, we headed towards HMS Belfast (the famous ship which played an important part in the WWII). There were 9 decks in total that had to be covered and it consisted of captain's deck and various other sections which would take you back to the times of war and HMS Belfast's history. It was a huge ship and the rooms were congested and had tiny passages. The stairs connecting the decks were very steep and hence, movement from one deck to another would take a lot of time.
By the time we finished exploring all the 9 decks of HMS Belfast, it was 5PM and our next destination was the London Bridge. The Bridge has many histories associated with it and there is one experience which would take you on a historical ride to the facts associated with it. We went to that London Bridge experience Tour to listen to the antiquity with the Bridge.
Post this, we headed to our Hotel location where we had our dinner and took a stroll near Hay's Galleria to finish our night under the stars and near the river.
DAY 3:
Day 3 started with a visit to the Greenwich Royal Observatory which has the zero meridian line. The area is huge and great for the people craving for some geographical knowledge. It also contains a view point from where a part of London can be observed and a huge park for picnic or relaxation.
We spent 2 hours at this place post which we headed to the famous Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. You need to pre book your tickets to enter this place. It is humongous and consists of wax statues of famous artists/politicians from across the world. An appeal to the eyes, Madame Tussaud's Museum is definitely worth a visit for museum lovers.
The entire place took 3 hours for us to cover post which we figured out that we were hungry enough for a lunch at McDonald's. We grabbed some burgers and chips ( Please Note: French fries is called chips in the UK and the chips are called as crisps) and ate those on our way to O2 arena.
The O2 arena in London is a famous place for concerts and live music from artists all over the world. But we didn't visit this place to watch a concert. We went there to finish an adventure sport called #UpattheO2 where you need to climb the roof top of the O2 arena by crossing 30 degree, 60 degree and 90 degree slanting vertical base. It's a must for all adventure lovers and the view once you reach the top is breath-taking. We could watch the entire city of London from the top and the wind gushing against us was amazing.
The sunset was struck by the time we ascended the place and was 7PM when we descended. We had to rush to our next place post this which was the famous "Shard". There is a viewing gallery at the 69th Floor of the Shard. Tickets had to be booked the previous day for getting an entry to the place. Once, we reached the 69th Floor of the Shard, we were thrilled by the amazing night view of London from atop. It was so lively and twinkling that it made the phrase "The city which never sleeps" turn out to be correct.
We ended our day with this splendid view and a sumptuous meal at The Silka.
DAY 4:
This was our last and final day at this beautiful city. We checkout from our hotel at 11:00 and thankfully the hotel had allowed to keep our luggage in the cabin room due to which our 4th and final day went as planned. We went to same place where we started our Day 1 and that was the area near the London Eye. We went within one of the cabins of London Eye to view the entire city in 360 degrees. We could see the famous St. Peter's cathedral, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the Westminster Abbey from the top. It takes 30 mins for the wheel to complete the 360 degree tour.
Next we headed towards the Buckingham Palace. While visiting the place we could capture a view of the Big Ben and Westminster Abbey
We entered the gardens of the Royal Palace and spent some time relaxing at the Hyde Park which is a huge garden/park in front of the Palace. We could also see the Royal guards guarding the palace with discipline and loyalty.
There were many children playing around the park, toddlers running across, laughing groups of people and people sun-bathing as well. We never noticed how we had spent 1 hour at this place. Our next spot was the London River Cruise across the Thames. A cruise around the city is what I was interested in the most. It is a 30 min boat ride where the host tells us stories about the different architecture and building/landmarks associated with the place.
The cruise ended at 4PM and we headed towards our hotel to collect the luggage. With this our London trip was about to end soon as we had to board our train at 6PM from the King's Cross Station. The trip was definitely a good one and I would love to visit this place soon since it is filled with lively and jovial atmosphere around which makes the place a spot-on sojourn for city traveler.
TRAVEL TILL YOU DROP!!!