Final Day In London

Checked out of the hostel at 10.00 am and left our bags in the storage room. Went out and first destination we went to is the Portobello Market. Sounds a bit funny to me, the name. Cuz I've heard the name Portobello referring to a mushroom. An expensive mushroom at that. So, yeah... The market was full of people and they sell a lot of antique stuffs. There was even a stall that sold vintage collection of tapes and black disk. The songs that the shop played were nice as well. All the evergreen oldies.

Some of the many things that they sold here at Portobello Market.

They even sell food.

Next up on our list is just a road crossing. Probably the most famous road crossing in the world. The Abbey Road. As a Beatles fan, taking a picture here is like a dream come true.

The Abbey Road album cover.

Our version of the Abbey Road album cover. There's me as Sir Paul McCartney.

Last stop, shopping! Haha. We went to Oxford Street just for some last minute shopping before we go back. I bought some souvenirs for my parents and I totally left out something for myself... Nice...

But there you go. The experiencing Europe trip has finally come to an end. After Oxford Street we picked up our bags and set out back to our home country, Malaysia. It was an interesting journey. Lots of things on my bucket list was fulfilled and yeah, the important thing is that we all had fun.

Experiencing London Day 4

All aboard the Hogwarts Express! Our first visit early in the morning was the Kings Cross train station. Not to board a train, just to visit one place. A particular platform that goes by the name of Platform 9 3/4. Yes , you guessed it. It's the Harry Potter platform. They built it based on the successful book series and movie franchise Harry Potter.

Platform 9 3/4.

The Platform 9 3/4 gift shop.

OMG! Wands.

Lord Voldemort's wand.

 The intricate detailing on this thing is awesome. All it needs is to be able to cast some magic. Even 'Crucio' would help.

And it goes well with my own Elder wand. Courtesy of an old friend of mine from Warner Bros Studios, Australia.

Due to Vijay being a huge Arsenal fan. We all decided to visit the newly built Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal football club. We even went on the stadium tour. Well, not all of us. Just me, Vijay and Ms Sharmila.

This photo really looks like we went to a live Arsenal match.

Serious press conference moment.

The Emirates Stadium.

 We end up staying in the stadium for nearly 6 hours. How fast the time flies and we didn't even noticed. That just shows how amazing the stadium tour was.

Experiencing London Day 3

Buckingham Palace. The residential palace of Queen Elizabeth. Heavily guarded place and outside people are not allowed to enter unless there is a special invitation from the Queen herself. So what are we doing there? That is of course to watch the ceremonial changing of the royal guards. Usually the royal guards have to follow a strict procedure in order to change shifts. This ceremony only occur depending on the time and weather. And a lot of people from around the world came to admire it. There were infantry guards and even the cavalry guards(the ones on the horses). We got there early because we need to find a nice viewing spot. And 30 minutes before the start of the ceremony the metropolitan police officers started to do their duties to keep the visitors in line as to not disturb the ceremony.

Buckingham Palace.

Infantry guards.

The marching band.

Again with the infantry.

"I'm afraid you can't stand here. This is a walkway. Keep moving."

Next up is the Children's Discovery Centre.

A place for kids to explore their creativity by creating stories using their surrounding spaces. Very interactive learning for kids.

Lastly for today is the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park which was built for the 2012 Olympic games.

The centre for water olympic sports.

What is that? A rollercoaster? Awesome!

Sadly, no. Its just a viewing tower...

It's a nice place to chill really, the olympic park. wide outdoor space. Just sit down and enjoy the cold breeze. After resting our feet it's time to head out to our next destination. The Big Effin Ben. The Big Ben. Or the house of parliament. Whichever one.

Right behind the Big Ben is the famous Westminster Abbey church. It is the church where all the British royalties held their wedding. Even the recent Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his Duchess, Kate Middleton.

Experiencing London Day 2

Game plan:
1. Science Museum of London
2. Souvenir shopping

Basically that's kinda it on the second day in London. We head out to the Science Museum early in the morning. Inside the museum are collections of historical pieces and the way that they exhibit them are simply amazing.

James Watt exhibition.

James the Watt workshop.

 The steam engine model designed and created by James Watt.

I dunno what this is but it seriously looks like the Death Star from Star Wars.

Classic airplanes and cars. I know for one that the car on the left is a Ford T model. 

 3D printing exhibitions.

I am seriously fighting the urge to steal one of the models here...

Wonders of the human body.

The many expression of the human face.

"Sup, nothing much. Just sitting here waiting."

Done with science history and now we go for souvenir shopping in Picadilly Circus. Great place to find souvenirs since there's a lot of souvenir shops around and you can even bargain at some shops as well.

If you're a Sherlock fan, then you know why I think this book is funny.

Bought this badge for my dad.

Seriously!? British rain!? I mean... Seriously!?

"Why yes, please. Thank you."

Haha, got this one for a friend of mine.

Experiencing Culture: London Day 1

Date, 16/9/2014

Today will be the day that I will finally set foot in London. Home of the Beatles, Harry Potter, Sherlock Holmes and many more. To travel from Paris to London we took the high-speed bullet train and even that took us around 2 hours. Never thought it was that far apart. Arrived in London at King's Cross St Pancras Station. For those HP fans out there you should know full well what this train station means. But alas, we were tired from sitting in the train and I for one are having butt cramps from sitting too long. So we took the Tube/underground train to Russell Square and checked in to the Generator Hostel.

The Generator Hostel, London.

Every floor is decorated with some of Londons famous figures. We got the Mary Poppins.

Walls are filled with funny British quotes like this.

Signage leading towards the pub area.

We were given time to freshen up and once we're all done its the Lyceum Theatre located in the City of Westminster. Once there, I noticed that most of the buildings are in Victorian style of London. With Greek pediments, balustrades and other medieval styles mixed into one.

The Lyceum Theatre where the Lion King musical is shown.

The Lion King Musical's ticket.

One of the buildings across the street from the theatre.

Another Victorian architecture.

The show was based on the Lion King movie made famous by Disney. The storyline was pretty much the same but they did improvise some parts to make it more interesting. Overall, the show was very colourful with the ambience of the backgrounds and the costumes that they wear. And as a big fan of the Lion King it was an amazing experience. They even almost made me cry during the part where Mufasa died and Simba was trying to wake his dad up. But, too bad I didn't.

The crazy baboon, Rafiki.

But I think the character that stole the show was definitely Scar. Even in the movie Scar was every bit classy and a bit of a drama-queen. Or should I say drama-king?