Tues 10 March 2009: Honeymoon Day 4

Today is our last day in London for tomorrow we'll start our road trip to the English countryside: Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and finally Cambridge.

The day started pretty much the same ie waking up at 4.30am, having our English breakfast at about 7.30am this time around Tower Hill.

After our breakfast we made our way to the Tower of London which used to be a residential castle, dungeon, place for trials, execution and today it serves as the treasury to keep the royal jewels including the Queen's crown, orb, sword and coronation spoon.

Again, as we arrived there it was still early (before 9am) so we were able to take some photos using our trusted timer!
The toilets out here are really nice - large cubicles, nice tiles, clean, royal ambiance and best of all unlike in other parts of the world: free. They're located behind the ticket booth by the way.

It was still not 9am after our toilet break so we took a stroll near the ticket counter and found a sight, a preview to our English countryside roadtrip:

As we made our way in to the Tower of London, we were greeted by a lady outside the Information counter/ gift shop who informed us that we could hire the Audio guides for 4 pounds. Hmmmm, have to pay - quite disappointing. At other places of interest the audio guides are normally included in the entrance fee/ticket. Since we liked to move according to our pace, we decided to rent 1 audio guide. 4 pounds, that's around RM23.

There are so many of these narrow staircases to climb when exploring the tower. Will be quite a challege for "bigger people' or claustophobics.

My husband trying out the copper protection for his head. Heavy stuff.

Fred having a bit of fun with the bow and arrow.

This courtyard was once filled with people witnessing the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII's wives.

The exact location of where Queen Anne Boleyn was beheaded.

The Queen's guard: Guarding the Jewel House where the crown jewels are kept.

No photography allowed inside the Jewel House so we'll have to make do with this internet picture of the Queen's coronation gear which are on display at the Tower of London. There was also a short film shown in the exhibit of the coronation event - very regal. The crowns of other queens (Queen Victoria, Mary, the Queen Mother) and Kings were also on display in the Tower of London. The jewels made my eyes and heart go "bling bling bling bling......" Haaaa.... diamonds....

Fred checking out the gizmos inside the torture chamber. Hmmm, very spooky and I didn't want to stay here too long.

Yoeman Warder: Guides at the Tower of London.

It started to drizzle again and it was quite cold outside. So, in the cafe we went for some coffee.

Standard stuff, at the exit there's a souvenir/gift shop. Here we had a close up of an armour suit. Look, there's even a protective gear for the lo-loi! I don't understand why they have to make it so big.

After our visit to the Tower of London, we went to Oxford Road to do a bit of lunch @ Selfriges. We bought a road map here for our trip tomorrow and ate Square pies.

Internet image (again) as I forgot to take pictures of our own pies. They really look like this, but we ate out of the box and used plastic fork and knife - no plates!

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and .... Grease, the Musical at Piccadilly Theatre. Going to Piccadilly that evening was a nightmare on the underground as we were packed like sardines. I think it has something to do with Julia Roberts being in town for the world premiere of her latest movie "Duplicity"at the next stop ie Leicester Square tonight.

Initially we wanted to watch Mamma Mia but the tickets were not available for the day we wanted to watch the musical. So we settled for Grease. We were not disappointed however as the show was superb. The actors were all professionals and could really sing and dance well. Again, no photography inside so that one above is an Internet photo!

Mon 9 March 2009: Honeymoon Day 3

I'm so excited for today as we'll be going to Buckingham Palace, Madamme Tussaud's, Kesington Palace and get on the London Eye.

The day started early again for us as we got up at 4.00 am feeling hungry as we chose sleep over dinner last night. The last meal we had before this was lunch at Hard Rock Cafe yesterday.

To go out at this hour is rediculous. #1: Nothing is opened, #2: We might get mugged, #3: It's freezing cold outside.

So, I end up watching TV while Fred went back to sleep.

7am and we decided we'd better hit the streets. We had full English breakfast at this neat little cafe near Buckingham Palace.
When we finally arrived at the palace, we were so pleased that there wasn't any crowd here (too early) and for the first time during our honeymoon, we managed to take a photo together using the timer function on our little camera. No risk of anyone running away with our camera here!
Next, it was time to walk to Westminster to check out Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament House. As we were walking along the road, we passed by St Jame's Park in front of Buckingham Palace. There were beautiful little flowers sprouting out from the ground - haaaa, spring is coming! In this park as well, there's a path/trail dedicated to Princess Diana.
Finally we arrived at Westminster area, and had a quick look around these old historic buildings. Old and historic they may be, but they're still functional ie still being used for their purpose today.

In the background: Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (clock tower)

Since we still had a bit of time to kill before going to Madamme Tussaud's, we went to have a look at St Paul's Cathedral.

As we stepped out of the underground, we needed to find a toilet - desperately. The cold weather here makes me wanna pee more often! Alamak, the only toilet around is this cubicle and we had to pay 20p to use it. Since we both needed to use the toilet, we dug deep into our pockets for change. The first 20p I found was for me. Next it was Fred's turn. Luckily we manage to find 2 x 10 pence. So in he went, and later haaaaa, relieved!

We could now go round to see St Paul's Cathedral with ease.

Time to go to another exciting place: Madame Tussaud's WaxMuseum. We took the underground to get there and once we were out of the station, I stopped by a little souvenir shop and bought postcards for Adam & Avie - I have to start teaching them about travels, postcards, sharing and the like.

Teddy postcard for Adam & Avie; London Cab and London sights for my scrapbook... he he he!

We're at Madamme Tussaud's yeah! We bought our tickets online (cheaper by 10%) and we did not have to join the long queue to get inside. We approached Ticket Booth 3 and hey presto, we were greeted by papparazzi as we stepped out of our express lift.

These are just some of the photos we took with popular figures from the past and present. Recognise any of them?




Haaa, Madamme Tussaud's was fun, but our journey has to continue. It was time to go to the posh area of Kesington (which is actually near our hotel, just 1 stop away on the tube). Here we went into Kesington Palace, the last residence of Princess Diana. It was nice to know that Queen Victoria also lived (and grew up) in this palace before moving to Buckingham Palace. There was also an exhibit of The Last Debunte in the palace. Fred and I learnt the Waltz here in one of the rooms. What a shame we're not allowed to take pictures inside.

Took a snap (using timer again!) outside the palace gates. This gate was flooded with flowers for Diana many years ago when news of her death was announced.

Inside the palace, there was an exhibit of Diana's dresses. They are gorgeous.

At the souvenir shop, we bought a book for my mum - Diana's secret fan club member!

Outside Kesington Palace at the end of our tour. It's beautiful here and there are so many little squirrels running around in the bush and on the ground looking for nuts. See my handbag? I bought that at Harrod's yesterday.

We had makan at the Prince of Wales pub in Kesington. That's Fish & Chips, Pork & mushroom pie, and tomato soup. As you can see, Fred didn't like it when I stopped him from digging at the food before I finished taking pictures. OK darling, you can eat now! Interesting about this pub is that the bar and floor is only handled by 1 young lady. She welcomes customers, takes their orders, prepares the drinks, clean tables, collect payments, check to make sure everyone in there are comfy. The only thing she doesn't do is cook. The pub had quite a crowd and yet she handled it all with ease and was so cheery. Yes, we tipped her well.

After our hearty meal, it was time to return to Westminster area (this time we got off at Waterloo station) and went to the London Eye. Again we bought our tickets online to get a 10% discount and so we don't have to queue to buy tickets again.

Fred admiring London lights from inside the London Eye capsule. I was too scared to look down so I kept myself busy by taking pictures!

A view from the top. I took this picture when we were at the top of the London Eye. This is the view of Parliament House, Big Ben and behind them, Westminster Abbey at night.

Sun 8 March 2009: Honeymoon Day 2

Jet lag - that's what we woke up too this morning. I woke up at around 1 am thinking that it was 5am. I took a really long bath and checked my watch in the dark. Wow, 6.15am I read. I was waiting and waiting for the sun to rise. Nothing. 2 hours later it was still dark. It was then I realised that it was only 3am and I can't get back to sleep now. Grrrrr. Body clock not tuned in to the local time here. What could I do but watch TV.

We left our hotel around 7am and had breakfast at a little cafe near our hotel. English breakfast or sausages, baked beans, toast, eggs, bacon and coffee for Fred; and for me, just scrambled eggs with toasted buns and coffee.

7.45am and we took the tube and head out to check out London's landmarks. We went to Trafalgar Square. I was so eager to see the pigeons like we did many years ago. However, because of this:No more pigeons in sight at Trafalgar Square.

Fred in front of the famed Art Gallery. There was no crowd here at this time either because it was still too early.

Walking around near Picadilly Circus while waiting for the Visitors Centre to open - Hey, there's Wagamama here Janet!

From Trafalgar Square we walked to Covent Gardens always stopping now and then to check the map to make sure we're heading the right direction.
When we finally arrived at the markets, it was still too early and traders are busy setting up their stalls.
Jubilee Market adjacent to Covent Gardens was also quite interesting to check out. I wasn't able to take pictures inside though.

We then returned to London's Visitors Centre at Picadilly Circus to get more maps and local tourism information.

Next, it was time to find Hard Rock Cafe London. Yeah! Found it. I promised myself that I'd get a souvenir and oh yes, I got some pins, a bag for my Netbook, a t-shirt and get a hold of this Membership to Hard Rock Cafe!

We were a bit hungry by now and decided to eat at Hard Rock Cafe itself. After all I'm a member now so we're entitled to 10% discount. This is the first time ever I eat at Hard Rock!

Unfortunately, there was a long queue but we were given a buzzer to call us when our table was ready. So, we just sat around at the bar area while waiting to be "buzzed".

Our hearty lunch: a huge plate of nachos and pork sandwich. Yum!


After lunch, we headed towards Harrods for a bit of shopping and pay tribute to Diana & Dodi Al-Fayed. I signed their guest book as well.

I was lucky to be able to get a close look of the claimed HUGE engagement ring that Dodi was suppose to present to Diana, and the wine glasses which they drank from in Paris (hers is the one on top and we could see her lipstick mark as well) shortly before they died.

Sat 7 March 2009: The Honeymoon Begins

Oh yes, we've finally arrived in London after a grueling 2.5 + 12 hour flight. Good thing we could watch movies of our choice during the KL - London leg. I watched "Slumdog Millionaires" as we flew over Afghanistan then countless episodes of "The Simpsons" from Germany till we got to London.

We took the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington Station. It's the fastest way to get to Central London ie in 15 minutes and there are services every 15 minutes - pretty much like the KLIA Express I would say.

Photo taken from Internet

From Paddington, we took the London cab to our hotel, Holiday Inn Kesington Forum along Cromwell Road. The fare: 11 pounds. The hotel is quite comfy but a bit disappointing because there's no free Internet connection for guests. We have to pay 15 pounds for a 24 hour connection. This explains why my update has been, well, late.

Upon checking in, we decided to go out for a look see and have dinner. There's an underground station near our hotel, Gloucester Road. So we went on the tube and headed for Piccadilly Circus. We walked and walked and hey presto, we ended up in Chinatown. Of all the places, we had our first honeymoon meal in London was at a Chinese restaurant ie Wong Kei and this is what we had:

Looks familiar isn't it?! The portion is huge just like how they serve in Hong Kong. The dinner though simple was very delicious, or maybe it was because we were just so hungry.

Guess what else is in walking distance here?


That's right, one of London's newer attractions - Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. We just had to step in and have a look. After all, we can't come to London too often. The museum was open until midnight and it was only 9.00pm when we arrived there. At the reception, there were so many people crowding around this one particular display (note, be careful with this video, the volume may be too loud!) :

There are like 5 levels altogether at Ripley's museum and we went to each one of them. Here are just some of the many things we saw:

A huge piece of the Berlin Wall on display


The Coronation of the Queen of England. Those are actual ants painted to become figures.

A portrait of the Virgin Mary, made of postage stamps

Wedding gowns made using rolls of toilet paper. I love the design on the right.

Proof that Marilyn is like the rest of us: Diamonds are a girl's best friend and we are all NOT cellulite-free.

Lots more pictures to be added. Stay tuned folks!

Going away for a while

Yes! We're going on our honeymoon now.... But before we go, we'd like to share some more photos with you. Enjoy!

'Twas the day before the wedding

Friday 20th February 2009 was everything except a relaxation.

Yes, it was the day before the wedding and I thought I would have had all wedding preparations completed before this day. A bit of a wishful thinking I must admit having less than 2 months to arrange for each item on my checklist. It wasn't so much as getting the things done as it is waiting for vendors to do their part.

Nonetheless everything pulled through in the end and I was allowed to take time to chill out if only for 2 hours ie 5.00pm - 7.00pm. Time to get my nails done!

My 5 year old niece, Jill Avie had arrived from Sandakan that afternoon, with a fever. I told her that she needs to get well otherwise she won't be able to be flower girl the next day, and that her uncle Aidan would take her place since he's done that already during the rehearsal.

No doubt, Jill Avie panicked and allowed my brother Mark take her to the doctor to get some medicine. As a reward, she was allowed to accompany me while I get my nails done.

Hmmmm, the joke was on me when this happened at the nail spa:
That's right, she wanted her nails done too. While I chose to be subtle in settling with "french nails", Jill Avie chose "Sparkling Red" for her nails. I've created a monster!