Finally In London

We finally arrived in London after what seemed like a long 7 hour flight. I couldn’t sleep at all, while Kenny was sleeping like a pig as usual. By the time we arrived in London, I was really tired and jet lagged. After a half hour line up in Customs, we eventually maneuvered our way around the London Heathrow Airport with our somewhat heavy luggage and took the Underground Tube (subway) to the hotel.
Let me tell you, from the airport to the hotel, it was the most horrible experience I had in my life. You see, we could have taken the Heathrow Express to get to the hotel, which was probably more convenient and easier, but it would have cost us around $25-$30 each. So we opted for the subway route, which was only $4.00 each. Having been in London before, I should have remembered the long stairs that they had at the metro stations. Not all stations had elevators, so what did that mean? It meant dragging our 40lbs luggage up and down the stairs. I have the biggest bruise from this experience. Lesson #2: if you are carrying luggages on a trip, don’t use the metro to get from one point to another. It is definitely a killer!!! Spend the money so that you don’t end up with a bruise like mine.

Ok, second most horrible experience of my life was when we couldn’t find the hotel. According to Expedia, it was suppose to be right across the Kensington Gardens. We literally took almost an hour trying to locate it. We asked the locals if they knew where the Kensington Gardens was, we found the gardens, but no hotel. After an hour of lugging our luggages with our backpacks on our back, walking up and down the same street trying to find the stinkin’ hotel, sweating like pigs, and really getting annoyed at how we couldn’t find it, a kind local London woman, finally gave us the right directions and we were on our way. Expedia was totally wrong. It was not across the Kensington Gardens, it was more like 3-4 blocks down from the Gardens. Let me just tell you, I have never shouted at Kenny so much in my life, and in that hour, I think I just did a world record. Sorry Kenny!!!!

We finally checked in and found that our hotel room was TINY. Conditions were good and clean and that was what was more important. Here are some pics of the room:

So in London, we basically did the main tourist things. Since I have been here before, I kind of already knew my way around town so that was a bit of an advantage. We did the sight-seeing tourist Bus – sat on a double decker bus while a guide explained all of the main tourist attractions around the city. We also went to Trafalgar Square, hanged at the Leicester Square, Piccadilly circus, walked along Oxford Circus (shopping district aka Yonge street in TO), the Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Westminister Abbey (the church used for all crowning ceremonies and where all the kings, queens and knights are buried here) and the London Eye. Click on the Gallery link to the right of the blog to log onto our album. (Sorry too many pictures to upload onto the blog)

Let me just say that the Buckingham Palace was a great place to visit. It really allows to you to see how royalty lives and I think the Royal family is damn rich. In one room, they had four chandeliers, and for each one, it needed 200 light bulbs to light it up. Each and every room in the Palace was really grand with wall to wall length sized mirrors, marble statues, grand paintings, and gold trimming on all of their wallpaper. Almost all ceilings were elaborately decorated with art or intricate carvings. We loved every minute of it. Too bad we weren’t allowed to take pictures.

Weather so far in London isn’t too great. On our second day in London, it rained all day and it was cold. It really sucked for sight-seeing since we were always wet and cold as everything was mainly outdoors. Couldn’t visit any of the parks and hardly enjoyed the shopping on Oxford Circus as all the shops were outdoors. I guess its just typical London weather.

Ok, we have one confession to make and that is we went to eat Chinese food on the first night in London. Kenny and I were dying for some good old congee and Fried Beef Ho Fan Noodles with a dish of fried rice. Man was that dinner good. We didn’t have any hot food to eat on the airplane because the catering company for British Airways was on strike, so all they had to serve were cold sandwiches. It was the best meal ever since TO. I know it hasn’t even been a long time away from home and we were already craving for Chinese food. So I am a bit worried on how we are going to survive the rest of our trip without Chinese food. But this proves a point, Chinese food is the best out there. Nothing beats it!!!

We are off to a Stonehenge tomorrow morning. Going to get some shut eye!!