We set off early today as we planned to cover as many places as we can
using the London Pass and our first stop was the St. Paul’s Cathedral. The
cathedral is one of the most famous and most recognisable sights of London. Its
dome, framed by the spires of Wren's City churches, has dominated the skyline
for over 300 years. This was also the church where Prince Charles and Lady Diana
Spencer got married.
This is
indeed a magnificent church! It is so beautiful that I can stay there for the
whole day though it welcomes thousands of visitors daily but it is oh so
peaceful when you are in the church. The spectacular architecture was such
an amazement for me when I sat quietly in the church with the kids while the
trio went to challenge the 528 steps to the dome.
When they
came back to ground’, they recalled that to get to the first gallery is about
300 steps and once you start you really have to go to the top. There are stops
for a breather and make sure you use them. To get to the very top however
involves a vertically winding metal staircase wide enough for you. It has the
added attraction of holes in the treads – but the view up there was
amazing and totally worth the climb. Mmmh… for that moment, I was pretty much
relieved that I chose to sit quietly in the church.
We continued our schedule and set off to Westminister Abbey. We passed
by the parliament house and there were quite a crowd outside with banners as we
realized that the ministers were having a meeting today. It was quite a scene
and pretty interesting to watch though there were no strike or protests.
When we arrived at the entrance of Westminister Abbey, it was shocking
to see a long queue to the church entrance. We went to join the queue while the
guys went to get luncheons so we save some time. After 45 minutes of queueing,
we were finally in St. Margret’s Church. The Westminister Abbey is one of
the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place
of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs.
This is the place where Prince William and Kate Middleton got married. Unfortunately,
no photography or videography are allowed in this premises which is such a shame!
The church is
indeed beautiful and is stuffed full to the roof with grave sites, which hides the
splendour of the building and with a very deep history. There were tombs of
Queen Mary and other kings and royals in the premises. We managed to snap some beautiful
pix after existing the main church and it was as if we are in Harry Potter movie.
😊
As it was half the day gone and we hurried to
the pier to catch our river cruise. We were really happy to take the Thames
River Cruise as it was so relaxing and just in time to rest our legs after so
much walking since morning. The captain was really funny and he made the ride so
entertaining. We took the ride to Greenwich which was the other side of London but
only managed to spend 40 mins as we need to take the same boat back to London
or we will be stranded in Greenwich.
Gold Mine Restaurant is one of the famous
Chinese restaurants in London and their roast duck is their signature dish. We did
not take long to place our orders as the restaurant was pretty crowded during
dinner. We did not wait too long for our food to be served though their service
were not as efficient compared to Singapore.
Okay, as for food, I would say that their roast
duck is the best amongst the dishes we ordered. Their fried rice was plain
though we strongly discouraged ourselves to order their plain rice which cost £3.80
per bowl which is ridiculous! The Pork Ribs, Hor Fun and fried noodles were alright
while the kang kong was quite a failure. Peeps, if you visit Chinese
Restaurants in London, never order their plain rice, it will kill your wallet
instantly!
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