I am now taking you all on a tour of London, describing all that I saw and what I think you should/should not see. The London we have all heard of is the city of Westminster, Big Ben ,
Madame Tussauds, London Eye, London Bridge and various museums.
This is not a London Red Bus tour because firstly it costs 22 pounds (Rs 1760 roughly). It provides a one day commuting pass for most tourist attractions in London and a free all day pass for the ferry plus some of the interesting walks. But thats it. It will drop you outside the Kensington Palace but you have to pay the 12.5 pound ticket to get in. Similarly for Buckingham Palace etc. My logic was, if I am spending so much to see this damn palace I will spend at least 3-4 hours there and that means I wont be able to cover more than 3-4 places on a day even if I turned Superhuman! I can do the ferry ride and the walks separately.
So here we go:
Museums: Why? They have loads of things to look at, they are free and tehy are very well organized. They are nothing like the boring museums we have in India. (I am a patriot too but dont mind calling a spade a spade).
The *British Museum: **this is situated near Holborn, it is very approcahable by both the underground railway as well as buses. It is huge with some or the other special exhibition on. There are various galleries. You can buy the audio tour for 3 pounds, its worth the money with various objects to learn about. There are also free information tours for most galleries. These are good, check the timings online and reach the meeting points.
Victoria and Albert Museum: *This is close to the Kensington and if you can run through it theres Science Museum and Museum of Natural History around. I found this to be far better organized than the British museum. It also has free tours, check the timings on the website.
Other areas*
London Bridge: Its not fallen yet and seems strong enough to alst many more years, the area has ferry rides and you can tour a warship. Personally I did not find it much to look at and the 8 pound ticket too expensive so left it at that. Embankment gardens are nearby and provide a breather. Overall the area is nice for a leisurely walk. Monument and its museum are also in the walking range, go for it if you have the time.
St Pauls’ Cathedral: Its beautiful! The recently renovated cathedral has detailed murals, many of them have gold work. There is a museum as well but can hurt your pocket. A Catherdral, one of the volunteers told em is a bigger church, effectively controls the smaller churches in the area. Services are held between 4-5pm and all are allowed to attend. If you have the time, attend it. One of the pastors that day was lecturing on and on and the person sitting 2 chairs to my left dozed off, his very embarassed wife was trying to gently wake him up.
Big Ben, London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, Westminister Abbey: All of these lie in teh same area and you should be able to cover them in a day. I did not take a ride on London Eye, did not think worth it, spending 10 pounds just to have abird’s eye view of London- not for me!! The hot air balloon at Bournemouth was still worth it but not this. Big Ben, Abbey, Parliament Houses and Downing Street are the places you should get photographed at, these are souveneirs.
Oxford Street:* Spare a day for Oxford Street area, this is the area to go to if you want to shop in London, that is if you do not have a spare million (like me). The area has many stores. primark has to be the cheapest one ( there is one near Eastham but I did not go there). You can find a variety of stuff below 5 pounds from everyday items to clothes. I bought trinkets to gift from here. Then there are the usual stores- Debenhams, Next etc. These generally have an in store sale most of the time and you can find many steals there. I bought an entire nail care set for 3 pounds- these make ideal gifts. Selfridges is the place to visit, the store is huge- just goes on and on and is filled with all kinds of luxury brands from Dior to Chanel, name it, its there. Do visit Body Shop I believe that on average the products are cheaper here than in India.
I am a bit late in writing this review after my return from the banks of Thames. I blame it on a mysterious viral and changing weather of Delhi and of course a writer’s block. For a long time I couldnt figure out what to write about this city. But now that I look back I feel that London is not very different from Delhi, just bigger and better managed, we have a lot of lessons to learn in terms of traffic management. Its a place to enjoy in group or even by yourself.