[The following post is from the archives of my In Search Of Incredible blog, originally published on 28 August 2016]
1 December 2015, Tuesday
As we said goodbye to November and drew ever closer to Christmas, we also bade farewell to Amsterdam, the city that has housed us for the past three nights. This morning, instead of walking from our apartment to Centraal train station (like how we came), we took a bus. The fare was €2.90, but because the bus driver did not have loose change, he very kindly waived the fee for us, so we got a free ride! We then took the train to Schiphol Airport (€5.10 for the ticket, no free ride this time) and arrived at 7:50am, well in good time for our 10:25am British Airways flight to London.
(Exchange rate: £1 = approx. S$2.165)
It was a short flight, only 1 hour 25 minutes, and we touched down at London Heathrow Terminal 5 at about 11am local time (London is 1 hour behind Amsterdam). To get to the city, we took the Tube train (ticket cost £6.00/S$13.00) and alighted at Oxford Circus station. From there, we walked a short distance to our accommodation, the YHA London Oxford Street hostel.
YHA London Oxford Street Hostel
Address: 14 Noel Street, Soho, London, W1F 8GJ
Price: £89.00/night (approx. S$193) for a 3-person private room
Website: www.yha.org.uk/hostel/london-oxford-street
Even though we arrived at 1:00pm, ahead of the official check-in timing of 2:00pm, the room was ready so we were able to check in early. Compared to the spacious Airbnb apartment that we had in Amsterdam, the YHA room felt positively cramped and took some getting used to.
I had stayed in this particular YHA during my previous trip in 2014 and I felt it was clean, comfortable and cheap. The location was good too, with Oxford Street and Regent Street just a stone’s throw away. So I recommended it to sis and SJ and they agreed to try it out, since they had never stayed at a hostel before. During our planning phase months ago, we had also tried searching for Airbnb apartments in London but they were all quite pricey, so we settled on the YHA.
The good thing about staying in a place you have stayed before is that you are familiar with the surroundings and you know how to get around easily without wasting time trying to orientate yourself. After dropping our luggage and freshening up, we headed out and I confidently led the way.
The first order of the day was to get some lunch. We didn’t feel like spending too much so we decided that Chinatown would be a good option to find reasonably priced Chinese food. From our hostel, we walked down Berwick Street towards Shaftesbury Avenue (home of all the West End theatres), and then to Chinatown, about 10 minutes’ walk away. After assessing our options, we chose Mr Wu Chinese restaurant, which served a buffet spread and it cost only £5.95 (S$12.90).
With our stomachs filled, it was time to hit the sights. Being my third time in London, I was quite familiar with the city area and all the touristy locations. In any case, London is very easy to get around on foot and you can hardly get lost. Most of the famous sights are within walking distance of each other.
From Chinatown, we walked to Leicester Square and soaked in the mood at the Christmas carnival there. I remembered from my first visit in 2009 that there was a Charlie Chaplin statue somewhere in the square but I didn’t see it on this occasion. (I just consulted Wikipedia and it confirmed that the statue was removed from Leicester Square in 2013 and installed at a nearby street as improvement works were taking place. It was recently reinstated at Leicester Square in April 2016, so you can see it back there now.)
After that, we headed down Charring Cross Road on to Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery and Nelson’s Column are. After taking the obligatory photos, we proceeded to St. James’s Park, which was about 10 minutes away. There, we mingled with the numerous ducks and squirrels, running amok happily all over the grounds.
We then crossed the road to the Horse Guards Parade grounds. This is a historically significant place because this is where the Trooping The Colour ceremony takes places in June every year. It is a tradition stretching back to the 17th century where the troops’ colours, i.e. flags, were paraded to enable soldiers to recognise their regiments’ colours. It was later incorporated to celebrate the monarch’s official birthday as well, so the Queen would attend the ceremony and receive the salute.
On normal days, the Changing the Queen’s Life Guard ceremony takes place at 11:00am from Monday to Saturday and 10:00am on Sunday. There is also a Dismounting Ceremony that takes place at 4:00pm every day in the courtyard area within the building. These ceremonies are not as crowded as the Changing the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace so you can get much closer to the action (and the horses) here. When we visited the Horse Guards Parade grounds on this occasion, it was just past 4pm, so we did not witness the Dismounting Ceremony.
As it was winter, the sun sets very early and it was getting dark rapidly. We walked down Whitehall and passed by 10 Downing Street, which was heavily guarded as it is the Prime Minister’s office and residence. Before long, we reached Parliament Square Garden, where we spotted the Elizabeth Tower bathed in a yellow glow.
From there, we made a slight detour to Westminster Abbey to view the building up close. This 700-year-old building is where some of the UK’s most significant people are buried, and also where all the royal weddings take place, the most recent being Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in 2011.
We then went up close with the Elizabeth Tower, perhaps London’s most iconic landmark alongside Tower Bridge. If the name Elizabeth Tower is not familiar, it is because it is more popularly known as Big Ben. However, this term is not accurate because Big Ben actually refers to the Great Bell of the clock atop the tower, but its usage has been extended to include the whole tower. The name Elizabeth Tower is also relatively new. It was renamed in 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II, which was the 60th anniversary of the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II. The old name was simply Clock Tower. The tower is a grand old dame herself. Completed in 1859, it is 157 years old this year, and still going strong.
Adjoining Elizabeth Tower is the Palace of Westminster, also commonly known as the Houses of Parliament, because it is the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of Parliament of the UK. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.
From Westminster Bridge, we had a great view of the Palace of Westminster and Elizabeth Tower on one side, and on the other side of River Thames, the London Eye. The 135m tall ferris wheel was lit in red in celebration of the Christmas season (it is usually lit blue). We crossed the bridge over to the South Bank.
The best location to photograph the London Eye is at Belvedere Road, at the start of the walkway leading directly to the centre of the A-frame of the wheel, where you can get a perfectly symmetrical shot. Trees on both sides flank the walkway, and the trees were decorated with blue lights so it made for a very pretty sight. However, you may need a wide-angle lens to capture the whole wheel and walkway with the trees.
You can also get a good camera angle at Jubilee Gardens, located just beside the London Eye. Here, you can get a clear shot of the wheel without any obstructions, and the angle is not as tight so you can get a full body shot together with the wheel behind you.
As we strolled along the South Bank, many buskers provided entertainment while joggers and cyclists whizzed past us. At Southbank Centre, there was a winter market and we stopped by for a look. Sis was quite disappointed because she had been looking forward to visiting the Christmas markets and this one was rather small and it wasn’t that interesting. Next, we passed by an indoor roller-skating rink, complete with disco balls and retro lighting. It was very cool, a throwback to the swinging 70’s.
We kept on walking along the riverbank, past Waterloo Bridge, Blackfriars Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Southwark Bridge, London Bridge, and the HMS Belfast until Tower Bridge came to sight. At night, the bridge looked spectacular and I really think it is the prettiest and most unique looking bridge in the world.
In all my visits, I have never seen the central span of the bridge (the bascules) being raised to allow river traffic to pass. Apparently, the bascules are raised around 1,000 times a year and the bridge lift times are published on the bridge’s website here. I should definitely try to catch it in action next time.
We then crossed Tower Bridge to get across River Thames. By this time, we were all shagged out so we went to the nearest Tube station, Tower Hill, to catch a train back to our hostel. As we didn’t have Oyster Cards, we bought single trip tickets, which cost a whopping £4.80 (S$10.40) for just eight stops. The fare would be halved to just £2.40 if we had Oyster cards, but it is still pricey.
If you thought that the cost of living in Singapore is high, try visiting London for a change. In terms of public transport, I would say that our MRT train rides are among the most affordable in the developed world. In comparison, from one end of the island to the other, Joo Koon to Pasir Ris, comprising 29 stops with a journey distance of 42.6km and travelling time of about 75 minutes, the fare is only S$2.50 using a Standard Ticket. If you use a stored value card (EZ-Link or NETS FlashPay), the fare is S$2.03.
Back in Oxford Circus, at about 8pm, we had dinner at one of the local pubs at Carnaby Street near our hostel before calling it a day. Time to rest. End of our first day in London!
