Day 14: 23 October 2009, Friday
This morning, we went to King’s Cross Station with one mission in mind…to look for Platform 9¾ and board the Hogwarts Express to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry! Of course, the Hogwarts Express exists only in the books and movies created by JK Rowling, but as a huge Harry Potter fan, a visit to London would not be complete without a trip to the “magic” train platform.
King’s Cross is one of the busiest railway stations in the UK as it is the southern terminus of the East Coast Main Line to North East England and Scotland. Right next to King’s Cross station is St. Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar train services to Paris. Hence, there’s a high chance you would pass through this area if you are travelling around London.
When we arrived at 9:30am, King’s Cross station was packed with people, many in business suits and others carrying small suitcases, perhaps here for a weekend jaunt in the capital. We made our way past the morning crowd and searched for the legendary “platform” with the luggage trolley. When we finally found it, I was slightly disappointed as it was tucked away in a secluded corner. I expected more fanfare and for it to be way cooler than just the rear of a nondescript trolley stuck to a brick wall with a “Platform 9¾” sign above it.
There were only a few other fans present so I didn’t have to wait long for my turn to take a photo with the trolley. However, I didn’t have any props with me, like a pointed wizard’s hat or a Gryffindor scarf, so I couldn’t do any fancy poses. It would have been great if there was a Harry Potter shop nearby where fans could purchase some HP merchandise to go along with the photo shoot.
In fact, this was exactly what they eventually did – on 14 December 2012, a Harry Potter Shop opened at King’s Cross, right next to the new and improved Platform 9¾. The trolley is now stacked with trunks and there is even a soft toy version of Hedwig in a cage, making it more complete and magical. This is the first ever Harry Potter Shop to open anywhere in the world outside of a themed visitor attraction.
With my mission accomplished, we left King’s Cross and proceeded to South Kensington. It was a beautiful day with no clouds at all. It was the only day during our stay in London when we had clear blue skies, a very rare occurrence indeed. We first went to Royal Albert Hall. Even though we didn’t enter the concert hall, I was happy just looking at it from the outside. It is such an iconic venue where many musical greats have performed, so I needed to come take a look and check it off my list (In 2019, I fulfilled my wish and joined a guided tour of Royal Albert Hall, which was great).
Next, we went to the Science Museum, which is one of the many museums and academic establishments located along Exhibition Road. The Science Museum is one of London’s major tourist attractions and admission is free, even for foreign visitors. That is one thing I really love about museums in London.
The Science Museum was founded in 1857 and it tells the stories of the extraordinary human achievement and technological advances that have helped humanity overcome challenges throughout history. I was instantly impressed by the vastness of the exhibition halls, the number of exhibits on display and the depths of the topics covered. I thought about our pathetic little Science Centre in Singapore and how they even had the temerity to charge an admission fee.
After spending about an hour at the Science Museum, we headed to the Natural History Museum, which was just next door. Whereas the Science Museum is more modern and high-tech, the Natural History Museum is much older and more traditional, which adds to the gravitas of the place. The architecture of the building itself is stunning, with elaborately carved pillars adorning the entrance and beautiful arched columns and grand stairways within the main hall. The huge replica skeleton of Dippy the Diplodocus was impressive, to say the least (In 2017, Dippy was dismantled and replaced by Hope, a 26m-long specimen of a blue whale).
I gravitated more towards the Natural History Museum as I wasn’t a very good science student in school. There are so many exhibits and rooms it is impossible to cover them all in one short visit. You’ll need multiple visits to take in just a fraction of the knowledge contained in the museum and to do it justice. We rushed through our visit as we were getting hungry by then. We also skipped the Victoria & Albert Museum, which is also located just next door, and is the world’s leading museum of art and design.
Next, we went to Borough Market to search for some yummy food to fill our tummies. Borough Market is London’s premier food market and it consists of three main areas – Three Crown Square (larger producers and merchants), Green Market (small, specialist produce traders) and Borough Market Kitchen (street food traders).
As we walked through the different areas, we were bombarded with colourful sights and appetising smells. Fresh vegetables and fruits of every variety were displayed neatly on the tables, alongside wooden buckets of olives, breads and dips. There was an organic juice bar selling all kinds of healthy juices, raclette cheese, grilled sausages and even a stall selling ostrich and other exotic meats.
The cooked food all looked so mouth-watering we had a hard time deciding what to eat. Eventually, I settled on a highland bridge roll pork sandwich while KP tried the Malaysian chicken curry. We ended our visit to Borough Market with an aromatic cup of freshly ground filtered coffee. After that, we went to the Piccadilly area for some window shopping and popped into Fortnum & Masons for a short while, before returning to our respective accommodations to freshen up.
Later that evening, KP and I regrouped and we were joined once again by TH, who drove down specially from Coventry to London to join us for the weekend, or my final night in London. Furthermore, I managed to obtain tickets to Green Day’s concert so it was perfect timing. We took the Tube to North Greenwich Station and saw the huge O2 Arena dome the moment we emerged at street level.
Coming to the O2 Arena was bittersweet for me because Michael Jackson was supposed to perform here for his series of 50 This Is It shows, which ultimately didn’t happen because of his untimely passing on 25 June 2009. Being here just four months after his death was still very raw for me. I didn’t manage to secure any tickets when they were first released due to the overwhelming demand but I had intended to get them on the resale market, but MJ died before I could do so. I wished I was watching MJ at the O2 Arena instead of Green Day, but unfortunately, it was not meant to be.
Nevertheless, I am a huge Green Day fan and I was determined to enjoy the concert as much as I could. In fact, I had bought tickets to their Asian leg of the tour in Singapore on 14 January 2010, so tonight’s show would be a “warm-up” for me. We grabbed a quick dinner at Nando’s before I bought some tour merchandise at the merch booth and entered the venue.
I expected the O2 Arena to be larger but it seemed smaller than its 20,000 capacity. While waiting for the concert to begin, we bought beers from a human mobile beer dispenser, who was walking around the seats selling cold beer from a portable canister strapped to her back – what a great idea to increase sales and cater to lazy people like us!
There was an opening band, Prima Donna, who tried their best to rouse the crowd but it was clear that everyone was there for the main act. When the lights dimmed again and the opening strains of 21st Century Breakdown came on, the full house crowd went wild as drummer Tré Cool, bassist Mike Dirnt, touring member/guitarist Jason White and finally lead singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong emerged on stage.
For the next two hours plus, the band put on a high-energy show, which had plenty of pyrotechnics, gimmicks and stunning LED visuals. They performed all their biggest hits and frontman Billie Joe did a great job to entertain the audience with call-and-answer and mass sing-alongs. By the time the show ended with a solo acoustic performance of Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), we were all spent and hoarse from all the shouting. It was KP and TH’s first time experiencing a rock concert and they enjoyed it tremendously. What a wonderful way to end my London trip on a high! Here are more pics from the concert…
Day 15: 24 October 2009, Saturday
I had a little time in the morning for a last bit of sightseeing as my flight back to Singapore was at 5pm. After the rare blue skies yesterday, it was back to the usual gloomy and chilly London weather this morning. By now, we had covered almost everything we planned to see, so we went to Camden Market, one of the places we had not visited yet.
Camden Market is known for its diverse community of creative sellers, street food traders and independent stores, with over 1,000 stalls, bars and cafes spread across its three zones – Camden Lock Market, Stables Market and Buck Street Market. It is located next to Regent’s Canal, which provides a picturesque backdrop and laid back vibe.
To be honest, I don’t have much recollection of my visit in 2009. I don’t think we had time to cover the entire Camden Market that day. My impression of the outdoor street market was that it was something like our Bugis Street market in Singapore, but at much higher prices. I was expecting to find lots of secondhand record stores but I didn’t see many. When I finally found one called Music & Video Exchange, I spent a fair bit of time and money in there.
We had lunch at an outdoor bazaar area with several food stalls selling a variety of cuisines from Italian to Mexican. It was drizzling slightly but we decided to eat there because it had a nice view of the canal. I settled for mac & cheese while KP had traditional fish & chips.
After that, we went back to Swiss Cottage Hostel, my home in London for the past week. I did some final packing before I checked out of the hostel. TH then very kindly drove me to London Heathrow Terminal 3, accompanied by KP.
At the airport, the airline counter staff informed me that my luggage was grossly overweight. As this was my first visit to Europe and a rather long trip, I had brought too much stuff, like clothes and my laptop. In my excitement, I also bought a lot of things, and many of the things were quite heavy, like magazines, books and CDs. I knew that my luggage was over the weight limit, but I was hoping I could scrape through. Feeling embarrassed, I moved to a corner and discreetly tried to repack as much of the heavy stuff into my hand carry luggage as I could. However, no matter how I tried, it didn’t make much difference, even after I sheepishly passed some of my stuff to KP to help me bring back to Singapore (he was taking a different flight). My suitcase and hand carry luggage were both overweight and there was no hiding it.
Perhaps because it was getting close to boarding time, and the airline counter staff had seen my desperate attempts to repack my luggage, they took pity on me and allowed me through without charging me excess baggage fees, which would have cost a few hundred dollars. Thank you Emirates Airlines!! I literally heaved a huge sigh of relief, bade farewell to KP and TH, and sped through immigration to the boarding gate. What a narrow escape! My Emirates flight EK30 departed London at 5pm and I transited at Dubai before finally arriving home safely on 25 October 2009 at 9pm. And that’s a wrap for an amazing and unforgettable trip, my maiden trip to Europe!