London Trip - April, 2006

Time line: April 1st and 2nd, 2006

Took my own sweet time to write this ... Infact the previous post on Lord's Cricket ground should be associated with this post...

Another training and another weekend to spare.. where to go... when the training is in Milton Keynes, UK and an hour away from London, there wasnt much of a debate there... to London obviously...

Highlights of the trip... Saw the Aston Martin Workshop from the outside on a dull and rainy evening in Milton Keynes, Big Ben and the House of parliaments, Lord's Cricket Ground and Baker Street... if you have played the board game called "Scotland yard" you will be even more excited to follow the map and make your way through the Undergrounds and buses to get to your destination quickly in London...

Day-1: On Saturday, I traveled from Milton Keynes to London by the fast train... I was staying in a Regent Hotel/Hostel in the Center of London near Piccadilly Circus. Damn.. it was so expensive.. 50 quids for a night.. thats a lot for just a room with shared facilities... I dumped all my stuff in the room and started to roam around..
My first stop was Piccadilly Circus fountain. It is said that if you haven't seen anyone in a longtime, chances are that you will bump into that person, here, if you stayed for around 30 mins... As always I bought a day pass for the tubes in the Underground. These undergrounds were amazingly well connected.. They are not numbered or called by alphabet, but by names such Victoria line, Piccadilly line, Jubilee line etc.. Sometimes I had to wait for the lift to come up to the ground level or take a winding staircase... It was so cramped up and claustrophobic. No wonder it became a target for bombings... But they are being renovated, keeping in mind that 2012 Olympics will be held in London. Some main stations are already renovated with lot more space and more escalators and the platforms were shielded from the tracks by glass doors which opens only when the trains pull up on the platforms. Pretty cool eh...
Went to Leicester Square Garden and the square, where there are lots of theaters and movie halls. Proceeded to Trafalgar square from there. The Trafalgar square boasts the Famous Nelson Column, honoring Admiral Nelson for his famous victory at Waterloo against the French General Napoleon Bonaparte. The square had a couple of fountains and overlooking this square is the National gallery, which also has a Shakespeare's gallery. From Trafalgar square, I walked towards the Buckingham palace. But suddenly I got this strange brain wave and took a tube and proceeded to see Abbey road.
I am sure you must of heard of the famous Beatles album, "The Abbey Road" featuring the fab four walking on a zebra crossing on Abbey road. The nearest station was St. Johns wood on Jubilee line. So i went to the Abbey road just to catch a glimpse of the famous Beatles history. There was a wall outside the Abbey road recording studio, which was filled with graffiti, all tributes to the famous band by its fans. Owing to the heavy traffic, I couldn't take a snap of me, walking on the crossing. Then I walked down to the Lord's Cricket Ground which is nearby the St. John's wood underground station. I have written about this already. So please click on this. Then I walked the famous Baker street, only to see that there was no real 221, baker street (which i already knew :)). But there was a Sherlock Holmes memorabilia shop and a Statue of the great detective in front of the Baker street station. Close to this station is the famous Madamme Tussaud's Wax gallery. I didn't have enough time to go in. So I took the tube to Oval and walked to the Oval Cricket ground. But the security wouldn't let me inside the ground. So I came back to Charring Cross Station and started walking towards Westminster Abbey and then to Big Ben and House of Parliaments. The Big Ben looked beautiful in the night with all the lights and so did the London eye. I decided to come back to Piccadilly Circus only to find that the trains were so fully packed with people heading towards Piccadilly Circus for a wild Saturday night. Apparently Piccadilly circus is the place to be on Sat. night as it if full of night clubs around the area.
Day-2: The day started off a bit late due to laziness and tiredness from previous day. I decided to but a ticket for the famous London open top tour bus and take the guided tour of London. But this damn bus was so slow and needs a lot of patience. So halfway through I just got down and bought a tube pass and started to make my own way. I went to some famous roads like Bond street, Oxford street etc. which has some of the big fashion brands. Though I didnt have enough money to spend on these extravagant stuff, it was nice to look at those yuppy shops with ridiculously prices items. Then I went back to Lord's Cricket ground to take the guided tour of Lord's. Later I came back to Charing Cross station and walked to the Big Ben and lingered around Thames river and House of Parliaments for a while, then went to the Buckingham palace. They did not allow anybody to get inside the gates. Since I went in the evening, i also missed the change of guards, which is a main tourist attraction here. I dint have enough time to visit No: 10, Downing street and say Hello to the bloke who lives there or even go and see the famous London tower bridge(I even bought tickets fo these which are a total waste now). Again pressed for time, I couldn't see much of London. Maybe next time, if ever go there again... But it was lot of fun to go around the great city of London.. It would have been more with some company than roaming alone... :)

Photos of my London trip

Photos of my guided tour to Lord's Cricket ground

For upto-date info on London Underground click on this link http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/maps/

Another useful link http://www.visitlondon.com