To Be Or Not To Be

Today, we are excited to visit the birthplace of the famous William Shakespeare. Travelling to Stratford is pretty much exciting as we want to check out William Shakespeare’s landmark. While on the tour bus, our tour guide was sharing some of the interesting places to check out in Stratford and some history.

When we arrived at Stratford-Upon-Avon, we were quickly introduced to William Shakespeare’s birthplace. William Shakespeare was born in this house and grew up here with his parents and siblings. He also spent the first five years of his marriage living here with his wife Anne Hathaway. John and Mary Shakespeare were wealthy enough to own the largest house on Henley Street. 

We continued to walk and found Shakespeare’s family home but did not enter as we did not have enough time to visit. This place is filled with so much history surrounding the Shakespeare’s family. We also chanced upon The Guild Chapel. It is one of Stratford-upon-Avon’s most iconic and important historic buildings. Its rich history dates back to the 13^th Century when it was built by the Guild of the Holy Cross, a prominent social and religious organisation. As the Guild grew and prospered, so did its chapel, becoming central to medieval life in Stratford-upon-Avon.

It was such short time spent at Stratford and we wished we had more time to explore the places of interest there. We had a quick lunch at the Hobsons, they are famous for their creamy scones and it was a pity that we did not have time to sit and enjoy the scones and tea but to rush off.

Our next location was the beautiful Cotswold. The Cotswolds is one of the most 'quintessentially English' and unspoiled regions of England where you cannot help but fall in love with the uniqueness of it. Throughout the Cotswolds stone features in buildings and stone walls act as a common thread in seamlessly blending the historic towns & villages with their surrounding landscape. It is just sooooooooooooooooooo BEAUTIFUL! Given only 40 minutes to spend in such an amazing place, it was too short and I am sure we will be back to explore more in the future.

Oxford, The City of Dreaming Spires, is famous the world over for its University and place in history. For over 800 years, it has been a home to royalty and scholars, and since the 9th century an established town, although people are known to have lived in the area for thousands of years.

The Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the diocese of Oxford, which consists of the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. It is also the chapel of Christ Church at the University of Oxford. I was thrilled when the tour guide told us that the dinning room of Harry Potter was filmed here. 

The Radcliffe Camera can only be described as Oxford’s most iconic building. Dominating the small cobbled square in which it’s found, this large, circular building was designed by James Gibbs and built in 1737-1749. There are so many beautiful historical buildings in Oxford and so much to see. If we have a chance to send our child to Oxford, it definitely a YES. 

It’s a wrapped for our day tours and we headed back to Bayswaters for our dinner at Bella Italia. Their food was not too bad except for the pizza which was not too tasty. The rest were tasty and we enjoyed the food and service.  

Stonehenge And Bath

I have seen this few stones on TV on some programs and wondered to myself what is so special about his place where they have a few stones on the ground. Since we are in England, we decided to check it out.

I am really surprised and at the same time glad to know the history of Stonehenge. It’s not about the few stones… but an archaeological marvel, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and one of the world’s most enigmatic tourist attractions. The site itself—a circle of gigantic stones standing in the heart of the English countryside; is made even more impressive by its mysterious history. The Stone Circle is a masterpiece of engineering, and building it would have taken huge effort from hundreds of well-organised people using only simple tools and technologies. 

I thoroughly enjoyed being on the ground with a history of 4,500 years old stones or rocks. The wonders of these stones have different views when you walked around it and it was pretty interesting indeed. I am really happy that I am able to step foot on this ground today and you will never know when this amazing structure will be destroyed.

We continued our journey to Bath. Bath is the largest city in the county of Somerset, England, known for its Roman-built baths.  In 2011, the population was 88,859. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon,  97 miles (156 km) west of London and 11 miles (18 km) south-east of Bristol. The city became a World Heritage site in 1987.

When in Bath, you just got to walk on the beautiful street on Bath Street. It is filled with shops, lovely old buildings, as well as the super old buildings. The people are so nice there and we found good coffee shops too. We strolled around the street and stepped foot on the Royal Crescent. The Royal Crescent is comprised of thirty houses, shaped like a half-Colosseum, which uses a gigantic series of Ionic columns on high bases… SO BEAUTIFUL!

Felt so fruitful and happy to visit both World Heritage Sites in a day. I wished we could spend more time in Bath as there are so much to see and do there. I want to return to Bath if I ever visit UK again.

As for dinner, we are delighted that Chef Mike prepared chicken rice for us and it was delicious! A wonderful adventure is always best to sum up with a delicious and sumptuous dinner at the comfort of our home. 😊 

Off To Meet The Queen

Woke up very excited about today’s itinerary as we will be travelling to Windsor hoping to meet the Queen. You might have guessed it…. Yes, we will be visiting Windsor Castle in a bit.

We went to have our breakfast at the Arro Coffee which was just across the street. They served fantastic aromatic coffee and a very wide spread of pastries, sandwiches and breakfast set in the morning. We ordered some and my favourite would be the Ham & Stilton – it was the hard bread with Parma ham and blue cheese. Man… it was just more than DELICIOUS… it was SENSATIONAL!

After a fantastic breakfast, we set off to Paddington Station to board our train to Windsor. When we arrived at the station, we were told that our London Pass train will be after lunch time. Given more than 2 hours to spare, we decided to explore the nearby area and we found something interesting so, we set off.

We took a walk toward the Paddington village where they have eateries and a cool area called the Little Venice. It was quite a pretty place though most of the eateries were not opened in the morning. As we strolled through this beautiful Little Venice, we somehow spotted someone who looked like Jamie Oliver and we took a closer look and confirmed that it was him as he was doing an interview on the little boat. So cool…. I was star struck! 

We were finally boarded the train to Windsor and it was such a comfortable 20 minutes ride. The train was clean and spacious. When we arrived at Slough, we were required to catch a branch line train to Windsor. 

We arrived at Windsor and we followed the signage and went straight to the castle. The castle was huge but filled with local students and tourist. The security was really tied as we had to get our bags and body scanned before entering to the ticket counters. We continued to follow the signage after getting our tickets and we were finally in Windsor Castle. We toured the compound but not the inside of the castle which was not prohibited. 

The whole place was really nice and peaceful and we noticed that there were some houses opposite the Chapel and saw a few looked alike Queen Elizabeth. 😊 I am really amazed how the royals communicate when they lived in such huge castle. 

While I was checking out the souvenirs, I noticed the commotion and realized it was the ‘change of guards’ ceremony. It was very interesting to watch but was quite turned off by their attitude towards the people standing around to watch.

As it started to drizzle, we decided to leave the castle and while checking out the souvenirs, it started to rain. We hurried back to the train station and did some shopping there before heading back to Central London. It was a cool experience visiting the castle though unable to enter to see what’s inside but touring the compound of Windsor Castle is good enough to feel the presence of the Queen, Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan. 

Central London, We CONQUER!

Rise and shine in London with a cooling temperature of 13 degrees this morning though we have the sun shinning brightly but the cold wind is still a winner. 

 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. 

It was such a adventurous day and we were happy that we managed to cover all the places we planned to visit today and we went to Gold Mine Restaurant at Bayswater to reward ourselves for a fruitful outing. 

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! 

Let Our London Adventures Begins

The sunrise in London is really crazy early… I was shocked by the daylight when I opened my eyes and found out that it was only 4am in the morning. Surprised yet tired, I went back to sleep of course… haahahahaha…

Woke up around 6am eventually to freshen up and helped out in the kitchen to get breakfast ready for everyone as our Chef Mike was already preparing breakfast the moment he got up. We did not waste any time and set off to our Hop-on-hop-off bus ride since we had a long and tiring flight yesterday. 

We were thankful that we did not need to travel far to board this bus and we were the first few onboard and manage to get the best seats in the house… :0) The bus brought us for a wonderful city tour and we were just exploring the places on a relaxing bus ride. As the bus weren’t full, it gave us the freedom to move in and out of the sheltered area and that’s when I managed to snap many good pictures.

After having a 1-hour ride on the bus, we decided to hop off to visit the Tower of London. It was a very cooling day especially after the light rain in the morning. Since it was lunch time, we went to grab a bite at the Wagamama Restaurant which is located near the entrance of the Tower of London. The food wasn’t the best but it was okay though hubby and Chef Mike mentioned that the ramen was a total failure! 

We breezed through the queue at the Tower of London with our London Passes and we managed to join the tour too. The Tower of London is pretty massive! We broke away from the tour group as it was taking too much time talking and explaining the history of this place. We walked around on our own and managed to see quite a bit of the place like the Ravens, White Tower and even Crown Jewels where you get to see the crowns of the queens.

The Tower of London is too massive for us to finish so we decided to proceed to the Tower Bridge and we were really in luck to see the bridge opening up for a boat to cross. Learnt from the people in London that it does not happen very often. We were really in luck indeed to witness this while touring in London! Woohoo!!!!

We continued our journey to The Shard which is popular for their magnificent view of London from the top! The iconic tower has redefined the London skyline and is already an international symbol for London. A mixed-use “vertical city,” it offers more than 55,000 square meters of office space on 25 floors, three floors of restaurants, a 17-story hotel, 13 floors of apartments and a triple-height viewing gallery, as well as an open-air viewing floor on level 72. It is crowned with a steel-framed pinnacle and clad with shards of glass designed to blend into the sky. You are indeed on top of the world when you are up there with bars, ice-cream and popcorn carts around to keep you entertained. 

It was certainly a great adventure today exploring a small part of London and we were all tired out. We headed home for a simple home cooked dinner by our Chef Mike and chatted over the dinner. Now, we need a good sleep to recharge ourselves for tomorrow’s itinerary.