Thursday, September 1, 2011

16 Days Europe Vacation Package Day 15 London - Singapore

16 Days Europe Tour – White Christmas Day 15 London

This morning, being the last day of our Europe vacation package and a free day, we took the opportunity to sleep in a little and had breakfast in our hotel, London Hilton Olympia Hotel, at 0900 hrs.  Here we met our tour manager, Ricky Tiang from Chan Brothers Travel, who asked if we would like to visit Covent Gardens.

We agreed and thus met him and the group after breakfast to take the public transport to Covent Gardens. 

Holiday Travel Tips:-
Since we were going to be requiring the public transport for a return journey, our tour manager recommended us to purchase the London Travelcard.  Purchasing the Travelcard enables you to not pay for single tickets, which will allow you to enjoy great savings considering the cost of such single journey tickets.

We took the bus from just outside our hotel on the bustling Kensington High Street and saw numerous London sights along the way.

Here is a compilation of the tourist attraction in London which we came across on this day:-


The Queen Elizabeth Gate on the boundary of Hyde Park at Hyde Park Corner


Queen Elizabeth Gate
Passing by the Kensington Gardens, we managed to see the Albert Memorial from the bus.

Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens

Queen Gate
Here is another tourist attraction of London:-  Ripley's Believe It Or Not!

Ripley's Believe It or Not

Covent Garden Market

Red Telephone Box

Covent Garden Market

Apple Market decorated with X'mas decorations

Gaily decorated Covent Garden Market

St Paul, Covent Gardens
Humanity Statue, Trafalgar Square, London


Humanity Statue

The Duke of York's Theatre, a West End Theatre in the City of Westminster, previously known as the Trafalgar Square Theatre and then the Trafalgar Theatre.




Trafalgar Square - a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom


Nelson's Column

Fountain at Trafalgar Square

The National Gallery of Art on Trafalgar Square, London, founded in 1824


National Gallery of Art, London

Women of World War II Memorial

Household Calvary Museum

Horse Guard
Parliament Square, London, is a square outside the Palace of Westminster.  At this tourist attraction in London,  you will find statues of famous statesmen.

Statue of Abraham Lincoln in Parliament Square

The Cenotaph that stands in Whitehall, London, is probably the best-known cenotaph in the UK and commemorates all of the dead in all wars in which British servicemen have fought.


The Cenotaph, Whitehall, London
Big Ben Clock Tower, famous icon of London

Big Ben Clock Tower
 London Eye Wheel is the world's tallest observation tower

London Eye Wheel
Westminster Abbey, a Gothic church, where important events take place from coronation to high profile weddings and funerals

20th century martyrs at Westminster Abbey
 Downing Street, one of the most well-known streets in the world

Downing Street
We then proceeded to The Red Lion Dining Room for lunch.  As it was Christmas eve and the outlet would be closed for the next 4 days, there was no lamb shank which some of us had wished to try.  Thus we ordered the gammon and egg, fish and chips as well as the steak.  Food was not too bad though we preferred the fish and chips in Volendam, Netherlands

The Red Lion Dining Room


And whilst finding our way back to our hotel, we passed by St Luke's Church in Radcliffe Gardens

St Luke's Church, Radcliffe Gardens

Next, since we possessed the London Travelcard, we took the Underground tube back to our hotel in Kensington High where we did some last minute packing and checked out before leaving for the airport.


Underground tube - Westminster Station

Though we had heard news of flights being cancelled due to the extreme weather condition and even saw signs to avoid travel to Heathrow, our flight from London Heathrow Airport to Paris left half an hour later than scheduled and our connecting flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to Singapore left two hours later than scheduled.  What a pity!


Avoid travel to Heathrow Airport sign
We had hoped that there would be some flight cancellations so that we could at least spend more time and enjoy some great Boxing Day sales.  However, it is always good to be home!

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