Europe Trip - London Day 2

Maybe we had been getting enough of sleep for the past few days, on our 2nd day in London, Qiaoyi's mom woke up very early... (FYI, I'm sharing room with Qiaoyi's mom & brother). When she woke up, I woke up too. Initially I thought it's already maybe about 7am or so, but checked out my watch, it's only 5 something in the morning... and looked, I even can took a picture of this through the window of our room.

Beautiful sunrise between London Eye & Big Ben

The canteen in the hotel is homely type. The worker will ask for your choice, then they will prepare it in the kitchen rightaway.

Breakfast was included also... it's a traditional English breakfast - sausage, baked bean, ham and egg with orange juice and coffee or tea

Wailoong, me and Qiaoyi's mom @ Stanley House Hotel entrance

Queue up to buy tube ticket
If purchase ticket after peak hour, the ticket will be cheaper. Since we will not be spending many days in London, we decided to get the daily ticket - £5.60, unlimited ride

We actually had planned to visit s few places, but we were flexible too. 1st station, we planned to walk to Buckingham palace to watch the Changing the Guard.

Then on the way, we passed by this, a shop selling souvenir related to the royal family

The batch on the gate

One of the statues on the corner of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace

Posing @ Buckingham Palace
They said when the Union Flag flies from the Palace means the Queen is not in residence

Statue of Queen Victoria

This is either the Angel of Justice/ Truth

This road is called The Mall

A cute little girl posing for her father

The carriage

Waiting for the Changing the Guard

At Buckingham Palace, Changing the Guard takes place at 11.30 am. It is held daily from May to July, and on alternate dates throughout the rest of the year.

Changing the Guard was lead by the band

It took about an hour for the event. And there are a lot of ppl, tourists waiting for the moment. We saw it half way and decided to leave earlier to avoid the jam.

When we went off, we saw these horse guard with silver hat and black horse

We then decided to go to Hard Rock to get the T-shirt. I have collected a few, e.g. Hongkong, Sydney, Bali; so I wanted to collect the London, Paris and Amsterdam too

On the way, we passed by Wellington Arch and a park
(I have no idea what's the name of this park)

Qiaoyi's mom & me @ Wellington Arch

Crosses in the park

Resting & fruit eating @ the park

Pigeons @ the park

It was about 12 something, so, we decided to have our lunch @ Hard Rock

Lunch @ Hard Rock Cafe

Qiaoyi's family & I

The merchant shop is next door...

Coming out from the England telephone booth (aka Superman's changing room) with my Hard Rock paper bag. hehe

Then we walked to the nearest tube station to visit the new stadium, on the way, we saw this

Yeah! our home brand... LIMKOKWING University

It's summer time, the local people enjoying the sun @ Green Park

Waiting for the tube

The new Emirates Stadium

The nearest station to Emirates Stadium - Arsenal

Half way walking, Qiaoyi's mom shoes have spoil, so, we went shopping!
That day was very hot, I mean the weather, shopping was a good idea to stay away from the sun.
But I have forgotten where was the place we went shopping d, if not mistaken, I think is Oxford Street.

After shopping, we were exhausted... but the day was still young, too early for dinner and we didn't want to go back to hotel yet, because once rest, you would not want to come out again. So, we continued our journey...

Next, we went to see the Big Ben & London Eye.

Frankly speaking, Big Ben had chased away my sleepiness and tireness.
When I walked out from the station, omg, I looked up and saw this huge and tall Big Ben standing in front of me... it was very soul-stiring and amazing, I don't know how to describe this feeling, but I felt so touched.

Kenleong shot me taking this picture

Big Ben standing tall near the exit of the subway

Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminter Bridge, River Thames and me

Under the Westminter Bridge
Big Ben as the background

Walking across the bridge, there are The London Aquarium and London Eye

A long-leg elephant statue in between The London Aquarium and London Eye

A gondola of London Eye

A Dali sculpture near London Eye
The human body sculpture separated into 2 with an egg in between...
Do you have any idea what's the meaning behind?

A street performer imitating Charlie Chaplin

@ The Golden Jubilee Bridge to take picture with London Eye & Big Ben

My body "battery" left about 20% after visiting to Big Ben & London Eye, but before we go to China Town again for dinner... how could we miss out Tower Bridge? Initially, we were thinking, shall we just skip Tower Bridge, anyhow, we will be back to London again after the tour to Paris and Amsterdam.
End up, we still managed to drag ourselves there... no regret tho, Tower Bridge is another amazing building in London.

The tiny yellow flower on the way to Tower Bridge... beautiful right?
I looked enjoy in the picture but the flower was really smelly...

LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN
FALLING DOWN, FALLING DOWN
LONDON BRIDGE IS FALLING DOWN
MY FAIR LADY...
I know, this is not the London Bridge, but since young, when we sing this song, the image of Tower Bridge will appear in our mind.
Unfortunately, we didn't manage to see the bridge open up from the middle... no big boat passing by.
This is the last picture of the day, because both of my camera and Kenleong's camera batteries had died off...
Visited to so many places and took so many photos... must be la...

This photo was taken a day before, my friend said the roasted duck is famous in town. So, after the long day, we didn't want to explore anymore... we just took the recommendation and walked into this restaurant...
Ya, my friends are right... the food is really delicious

I felt a little excited going to bed, because the next day we will be in Paris d!! Yeah!!

p/s: some of the photos were taken from Kenleong's camera, same to the previous 2 blog entries and coming up blog entries about my Europe trip.