For the trip, I traveled with my family members. Hence it is hard for me to calculate the exact amount I spent during the trip. I can only give an estimation Note:
All my life, I have been dreaming to visit London and Paris.
However I always know that I would prefer to go there as a tourist. My free and easy trip was not as fun as I expected. It may be because of the hassle of finding all the places myself, lots of walking, weariness. etc. I think my experience will be better if I joined a tour group. To sum up my London & Paris trip, I should say at least I managed to see what I wanted to see. London is not a place where I will fall in love with. It is too crowded, too many cars and the air quality is bad. And to me, the Tube is not user-friendly. My stay in Paris is too short for me to give any comment. Fortunately the people I met were friendly. Fyi: In Paris, in the day time, at the Metro station, staffs are around to assist tourists. I want to reinstate whatever I posted were what I experienced during the trip. I am sure there are many beautiful places in London and Paris which I have not seen. I did visit Hampton Court Palace and it was a beautiful place! I love the blue sky, green land and photogenic historical building! If I get another chance, I will like to visit the Vineyard and Chateau in Paris which I think I will love it too. My stay in Paris was too short for me to comment on the country or the people.
And I am not going to compare my before and after impression of the Parisian. Because my impression did not change. However for this trip, I was lucky enough to meet friendly and helpful people. When I first reached Gare Du Nord, my siblings and I were confused on which direction to go, left or right. So we asked a passer-by, who has a African look. From his action, I guessed that he did not know how to speak English. Although he could not help us, we still appreciate his effort, I did see that he was trying his best to understand us. After that we seek assistance from a French lady and she pointed us the direction. We had two dinners at the local restaurant, near the train station. I was quite surprised that the staffs were still friendly and they were willing to speak in English. From my experience, usually service staffs who served tourists have little patient with tourists Imagine yourself saying the same thing every day or looking at the ignorant tourists everyday. Won’t you get annoyed? I worked as a service staff before, I did encounter such situation before and I was pissed. When we first rode the Metro, we were confused with the metro line. Then a guy walked passed us, turned back and asked us if we need any assistance. If I were him, I think I will just walked away :D I appreciate his helpfulness. The traffic police were ready to help. I saw a few tourists seeking assistance from them, including me:) To me London's underground is quite easy to understand and easy to ride.
I will advice you to take a cab instead. Because there gonna be lots of climbing up and down the stairs. My parents were horrified by it and decided to take a cab to the airport even if it cost SG$160++/RM400++ If you take the wrong train, you will have to climb up/down the stair to get to the correct platform. To enter the underground,usually there is escalate. But walking within the underground there may only be staircase.
Form what I saw, usually in a station there was either one or two lifts, no escalator. (maybe the escalator was located somewhere, which I did not see it) So I wondered what will happen if the lift broke down? How are the people going to take the Tube? Of course, there are staffs around in the day, to ensure that things go smoothly but what about night time? What if the lift break down when you are inside? What if it happen at night time? If you think you are strong enough or have the time and energy you may try climbing the staircase, 175 steps equivalent to 15 storey high!! Are you willing to take the challenge? ;)
I understand that underground should be at underground or else where should it be located? Yes, I agree. I only made such a statement after I compared it with the public train I took in Singapore. To me, the underground makes me feels being trapped and enclosed. It made me wondered how the people could escape if there was a fire or an attack? The route was too narrow for escape. PS: Pardon my ignorant, if my questions are naive. I know things have been like that for years and the Londoners are able to live with it. Hence there is no point for me to make such inquiries. Paris: Metro
If you guys followed my other posts, you may have already known that my stay in Paris was too short for me to know the place or to comment anything. But one thing which I have to say is that, to me, the first timer, it is not easy to ride the train for the first time. The Metro is like other public train transport. It has a signage stating the stations which the train go to. However I still find it difficult to ride the train. I am not sure is it because I am not familiar with French or the train lines are just too confessing (too many lines and intersections) London: Safe StayThis is the only interesting hostel which I found during my research. I was attracted by its bright colour. The actual rooms are the same as the pictures found on the official website. What I like: Its breakfast is very limited. Just plain croissants, cornflakes, milk and coffee. However I loveee the breakfast. The croissants are delicious! It is HEAVEN if you eat it with jam. Note: breakfast selection may change over time The room is alright, meet my expectation You need to know
To Hampton CourtDirection: Waterloo station >> South West train >> Hampton court Finding South West Station
Hampton Court ExperienceBy just standing at the entrance, I was welcomed by colourful buildings, the blue sky and green grass Inside Hampton CourtBrowsing at the pictures I took, I noticed that I did not take much pictures of the inside of the palace. Which is beautiful, magnificent and expensive *_* Okay, let me just use words to bring you into the building. When I walked into the building, what I saw first were the red brick walls. On the wall, there are many doors but most of them were closed. I supposed it used to be the chamber of the servants and now it is either empty or turned into a office/work place. The rooms which were opened were Henry VIII kitchen, where it showcased the butcher room, the cheese room, the bakery room, the chocolate room etc. The reason why I did not take pictures of each rooms was because there was nothing special in the room, but just some props used to resemble the past. On the second level are the chambers which were once lived by the kings. There are not many furniture in the rooms. The one that were found in the rooms were chairs, writing desks and beds which were once used by the kings. A common and interesting design of the rooms which I noticed, is that in each room there were so many doors which lead to another room. I wondered, in the past, how did the maids remember which door leaded to which room. Hampston Court Palace Back GardenHampton Court is really a photogenic place.
You are able to take a beautiful picture which looks like a painting. The palace has a very beautiful and well maintained gardens! (a lot of money invested) There are a few gardens in the palace The pictures I shared are the two biggest garden. There is a little maze for visitors to try. Another interesting note, Hampton Court Palace, besides being a tourist attraction, it also has a place for conference and meeting and occasionally it will organised some public events. I had an enjoyable experience exploring Hampton Court Palace. Though I visited the place alone, I never felt alone. I was busy appreciating every piece of drawings and every inch of the palace; deep in thought on how the people live in the past (personally I do have interesting in the old history of UK) The Tiltyard Cafe After exploring, I had some coffee and bread at The Tiltyard cafe before I returned to London. Actually I planned to have a high tea experience, but I was too tired. Hence in the end, I returned to the hostel and slept through the night Tower of London The next morning, I met up with my family members and we started our activity at Tower of London. As expected, the palace was very crowded. Hence I did not explore most of the rooms. We just entered a few rooms which did not required us to queue. In one of the rooms, there was a displayed of the armour. London Tower BridgePassed the tower bridge while we were on our way to the jetty to take the cruise to Westminister. CuriseWe took the cruise from Tower Hill to Westminster, which took about 15-20min. My parents stayed at the ground level while my siblings and I went to the second level which was an open area. There was a guide explaining to us the buildings and bridges the cruise passed. Big BenThe place was super crowded. But I managed to capture a pretty scene. Explore AorundWe decided to have some food when we reached Westminister. But we walked the wrong way. We headed to the parliament/government side. We walked quite a long distance before we found a MacDonald. How can there be no F&B outlet near the office area?! Where do the staffs eat? But it is alright, at least I get to see another part of London. Hence if you are looking for food at Westminister, head down to the London Eye, there are more food outlets at there. London Eye After we settled our hunger, we headed to the London eye. As we were still early from the booked time, we just walked around the place, waiting for the time to pass. In the London eye, em...how should I say? The capsule was a bit crowded. It was raining, so we could not take a clear picture of the city. So, most of the time I just sat down :D Dinner at Locale We had our dinner, at Locale which served Italian cuisine.
It is actually located at the next lane from London Eye, but we took a longer route. To me, I felt that that was the only proper western dinner I had during my trip. Classy ambience, Pizza, spaghetti and cold beer...what a nice combination! The portion of the food was very big. To me, one dishes can be shared by two to three person. We ordered: Americana £10.60 Pizza calzone £10.50 Bucatini Carbonara Small £7.95 Pizza Garlic Bread £4.50 2 Peroni (beer) £7.80 Moretti (beer) £3.85 However, I did not have a enjoyable experience in the restaurant. I felt discriminated. The waiter just left without any notice when I was still discussing with my father the items to order (we were talking in our own language) The food tasted so so. Nothing fantastic. All I could see was oil! The garlic bread did not taste like the normal garlic bread I usually eat. It was like a flatten bread, with oil on it (probably butter oil) The spaghetti was neither creamy or dry. All I can see was butter and oil! Note: I am not sure how the local cook their pasta. The pasta that I eat are pizza, carbonara and olio aglio. On my itinerary, third day is actually quite a relaxing day; just shopping. However a sudden issue popped out. My parents' and siblings' luggage were too heavy. We did not want to carry such a heavy bag to our next destination, Paris. Hence we needed to find a place to put our luggage. In the end, we agreed to put our luggage in our next hotel. It was not a request to be accepted easily. Firstly, we would not be checking-in the hotel after three days later. We had 3 large luggage and 2 hand carry to be left in the hotel. The hotel was a very small hotel hence space was limited. Luckily the owner was kind enough to accept our request with a storage fees. After that, we had another luggage to settle before we can start our day. Another luggage which was to be brought to Paris. Hence we went to King Cross station to find a storage space. The place offered 1-2hours storage to a few days storage charging at a different prices. If I did not remember wrongly, it cost about £10 for 3-24 hour storage. My Note for Taking Train from London to ParisFor those who have never been to London and intended to go to Paris by train. Here is some of the information which I can give.
Finally we started our dayActually I have nothing much to say about the activity for the day. On that day, my family and I shopped along Bond Street and Oxford Circus. Wallace CollectionWallace Collection is a museum which showcases a wide range of exquisite and expensive fine art. But it was a pity that I was not able to learn the history of the items. Are those antiques furniture used by the loyal in the past? Are the pictures once belong to the loyal? Do the pictures have their own history or are the drawings drawn by the present artists? There were staffs walking around the area, but I did not ask them for information:( Do not judge the museum by looking at the pictures that I took. My pictures did not do it justice. Google the museum and you will find many beautiful pictures of this museum. In this museum is also open for Schools' Learning, Auction, Conference, Corporate and Private event etc. Lunch at Cha Cha MoonFor our lunch, we had it at Cha Cha Moon. A restaurant which served Chinese cuisine. We ordered: Seafood Horfun (BeeHoon) £9.50 Singapore seafood (Fried Kewy Teow) £9.50 Wok fried green (Vegetable) £6.99 Chicken curry £9.40 Mapo tofu £6.90 Wonton Mian £7.60 The Fried BeeHoon and the curry were delicious. The vegetable and Tofu tasted so so. Wanton Mian, not nice at all. But we cannot expect much when we were in a western country. To me, being able to find Chinese food in a foreign country is already a bless. By the way, I was traveling with my parents, who have lived half a decade of their life with rice and stir fried, hence western food are not suitable for them. Eurostar to ParisIn the late afternoon, we went back to King's Cross station, to take the Eurostar to Paris. Gare Du Nord stationWe stayed near Gare Du Nord.
There were many restaurants and a few Chinese restaurants around this area. Most of our meals were settled at here. Most French service staffs that I met do speak English. Sacré-CœurThe next day, we started our activity at Sacré-Cœur It was about 15-20minutes walk from our hotel. To reach the holly place, we had to climbed up all the stairs What can I say? Just look at the pictures! It was sooo beautiful!! The place was quite crowded when we reached there. You can choose to climb the stair or the slope to reach the top of the hill. Montmarte Montmarte is a shopping street where visitors will pass when they visit or leave the church. We did not explore much at Montmarte because my father was tired. I managed to buy some souvenir before we headed back to our hotel. On our way, we saw a pastry shop and bought some pastries. Notre Dame de Paris After taking a nap, we head down to our next destination, Notre Dame de Paris. The place was even more crowded than Sacré-Cœur. People were queuing to enter the church. Share with you guys my short story with Notre Dame de Paris. In the past, I had never heard of the name of the church even though I know the story, The Hunckback, Quasimodo. Until a month or two ago, before this trip, I watched a concert known as Notre Dame de Paris music concert which brought the characters back to life. I felt in love with the performance and the music. Which was also one of the reasons that brought me to this Cathedral. Above pictures were taken at the backyard of the Cathedral also known as Square JeanXXIII. This was also the place where the Hong Kong drama, Triumph to the Skies 2, last scene was filmed. So how can I not take a picture to prove that I had been to this place! :D Pont des arts bridgeThis view just brought me back to the Hong Kong drama, Triumph to the Skies 2 Jardin Du Luxembourg Next we went to Jardin du Luxembourg, a popular park in Paris.
It was huge park located next to the busy road and buzzing streets. It was located near Notre Dame (need to walk quite a long distance) As you can see, the place was beautiful. It was a sunny day. The sky was so clear. There were people doing sun tan. My family and I just walked around the park, taking pictures. Day 5: Pont Alexandre III Bridge>> Champ de Eylees>> Arc De Triomphe>> Trocadéro>> Eiffel Tower12/8/2014 I started my journey from Invalides. When you exit from the metro station, you will see Invalides Museum at one side and Pont Alexandre Bridge at the other side. I planned to walk from Invalides to our last attraction, Eiffel Tower. One of the reasons why I planned this route was because my stay in Paris was very short, I had no time to go shopping. Hence by going though this route, I will walk pass Champ de Eylees, which is well-known shopping street. Pont Alexandre III BridgeChamp de EyleesAs I said earlier Champ de Eylees is a well-know high end shopping street. I did shop a little bit but I did not buy anything. Arc De TriompheAs you can see from the picture, there were many tourists at the Arc De Triomphe. It was hard to take a picture without other people posting in the background. Lunch at Chez Zhong Restaurant We had our lunch at Avenue Kléber. Two to three streets/lane away from Arc De Triomphe. Actually I planned to have our lunch at Mandarin de Ming. However, as my father was starving so we had our lunch at Restaurant Chez Zhong (a chinese restaurant) The food were good. We ordered vegetable, meat, soup, Vietnamese roll etc. Later we realised that Mandarin de Ming is located a few shops away. Note: It takes about 15-20 minutes walk from Avenue Kléber to Restaurant Chez Zhong. I do recommend the restaurant. Mandarin de Ming is located along the street (from tripadvisor.com, the restaurant has quite a few positive reviews) TrocadéroWhen you walk till the end of Avenue Kléber, Trocadéro is just around the corner. Trocadéro is known to be the best place to view and to capture the beauty of Eiffel tower. After spending some time at Trocadéro, we walked toward the tower More Pictures of Eiffel towerNeedn't me to explain any further, the pictures already told everything. The weather was good on that day and I managed to capture some beautiful pictures. Return to LondonIn the evening, we took the Eurostar back to London.
The picture above was a scene shown in the drama, Triumph to the skies 2 (that was the reason why I took this picture) Covent Garden On my last day at London, I brought my family to Covent Garden. We just shopped around the streets, tried some food like cup cakes and Ladurée macarons Chinatown We had our lunch at Chinatown. We ordered fried rice, fried tofu, sweet and sour pork, Xiao Long Bao (dumpling), Chee Cheong Fun. I recommend the fried rice and sweet and sour pork. Our lunch cost £48. To the airport It is a pity that we did not get the chance to explore the Chinatown as we need to leave early to the airport.
One thing which I do not understand, why does it takes 1hour to for a cab to reach the airport?! The duration is same as taking the Tube! I do not think the taxi driver cheated us. From my observation, I do no think that there is a expressway which lead from the Central to the Airport. To readers: About the duration, please do explain or correct me if I said something wrong. |
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