London, August 2013

Introduction

This is a long blog so I would not recommend you to read it in one sitting, lest it becomes a boring read.  It contains highlights of my recent vacation at London with my parents.  I have also added tips (based on our experience) to readers on what you should do, should avoid, on commuting, stay, other interests……  London is not a place that one can cover in a week’s stay, so I am hoping that this is just first of my many more London vacations!!  Enjoy reading at your leisure!

Highlights of Day 1 – UK Parliament

We had a pleasant and relaxed flight from Chennai into London only to face a major hiccup at the London airport – none of our checked in bags had reached.  After a bit of uneasy waiting and talking at the helpdesk we were told that the bags should reach London in the next flight which was due to arrive in 6 hours.  So we left the airport in a huge car (it had been booked since we had a lot of checked in luggage!) with just our hand baggages – I am sure the CEO-looking chauffer must have wondered on what was the matter with us!!

On arrival at our serviced apartment, since we were all kind of tired and quite slump due to the non-arrival of the baggage, we went about Act 2 of fixing our mobile phones, internet wifi, landline phones, etc.  We made good with some Tesco food bought on the way from airport and left overs of the thayir saadam imported from Chennai.  Thankfully we had a set of clothes in our hand baggage and after much persuasion from each other decided to have a wash and put on our only set of dress that we possessed at that time.  At this point in time we only had shelter, no more food and no more clean clothes to wear – what an irony after travelling in style only to realise you don’t have 2 of the 3 essentials in life. 

In the afternoon, we headed to the UK parliament by taxi stopping on the way for clicking snaps in front of the Big Ben.  We cheered ourselves out of the morning grump by starting our souvenirs’ shopping at the parliament shop.  The tour itself lasted for about 90 minutes and was simply wonderful.  We truly admired the way the guide took us through.  Because of the guide we now know more about the UK parliament than about India’s! The tour ended at the famous Westminister Hall where you may recall that in 2012 the Queen’s diamond jubilee lunch was hosted.   When we decided to head out we experienced the first (and thankfully the only one during our trip) of London’s rains.

We rounded off the day at the Covent Garden area with some window shopping and early dinner.  Of course we went to Tesco again to stock up for the next day.  We retired to bed with a short prayer that our baggage would arrive in time for our next bath.  Else we would have contributed to Marks & Spencers’ turnover the next day! Only at this time we realised that the apartment neither had a ceiling fan nor an AC and it was too quiet for our standard J.  So we kept the window open for some fresh air (just like a true Londoner) and to be able to hear some street noise (to pretend that we were at home in Chennai).

And then the baggage arrived past 12 midnight.  We slept much better the rest of the night. 

Tips:  Always carry some clothes and all essentials in your hand baggage.  Keep your first day of sight seeing a little flexible to allow for exigencies. Carry some instant food in your hand baggage – you wont lose much even if the same is thrown away by the customs authorities. 

 

Highlights of Day 2 – Lord’s, Boat Canal Ride, Queen’s Walk

I woke up to the sounds of appa and amma unpacking our baggage.  The kitchen was half set when I woke up.  I helped them with the rest of the unpacking.  We had finally arrived in London when amma made hot filter coffee and rava idli for all of us.

2.1  Lord’s tour

Part 1 – Long room, pavilion, dressing rooms

With smiling faces full of cheer we headed out by train to the Lord’s cricket ground.  We arrived quite early for our 11 am tour.  So we spent the 45 minutes bragging about our not-yet happened tour to people in India.  My cousin at Bangalore was especially envious to the core just hearing us. 

The tour lasted for about 2 hours.  And it was simply the best experience.  We got to enter and spend lot of time in the pavilion, long room, dressing room of England players.  And then suddenly the dressing room of the overseas team (other than England) opened up and we all stood at the famous Ganguly’s balcony thinking if we should also do a Ganguly there!  We got to know the favourite seats of the players in the dressing rooms.  I happened to be seated in the favourite seat of Stewart of England.  Actually the dressing room itself is very basic with no lockers and no washrooms.  The players infact share washrooms with the members of MCC.  There are 3 ways by which one can become a member of MCC.  (1) Of course if you are a professional international cricketer (2) If you have a recommendation from 4 other members and can pay a huge fee; the current waiting list is for 25 years (3) if you can pay an even bigger donation to MCC.  No one in our tour qualified under any of these options so we gave it a pass. In the dressing room there are 2 boards on the wall which contains list of select players – one is the batsmen’s board (contains list of players who have scored a century in first class cricket) and the other being the bowlers’ board (contains names of players who have scored 5 wickets or more in first class cricket).  Shocking to Indian cricket fans Sachin’s name does not appear on these boards.  The players’ names are put up on these boards definitely within 24 hours of the achievement – in some cases they have been put up even before the player returns to the dressing room from the pitch! If you are not a tourist on these guided tours, only members (and players) who are properly attired the English way can enter the long room. Again if you are not a tourist on these guided tours no one can enter the dressing rooms except on personal invitation from a player or a manager.

Part 2 – museum, tennis court, stands, media centre

We then had a quick look at the museum where we got to see the Bradman’s collection and the original Ashes cup of older times.  Then yes, you heard it right there is a tennis court within the campus – hard surface – for use by members of MCC only.  The racket and ball used in this court is different from the usual tennis games. 

And then we entered the stadium, sat on the stand and imagined watching a match!  From the stands we saw the famous balcony from where in 1983 Kapil Dev received the world cup.  There are currently 21 pitches on the ground and all of them are maintained in top class condition through the year.  The pitch was being prepared for the next day’s county match with men on their knees not wanting to step ON the pitch.  The ground itself has a gradient with the tallest side being about 8 feet when compared to the other side.  This is attributed as a reason for some of the greatest players not performing well at Lord’s.

We then headed to the media centre which is in the shape of a submarine and was designed by a shipping architect.  The media centre is a fairly recent addition and hence has the state of the art technology.  But it has sound proof glass – for the media persons to hear the noise on the ground they need to turn on their personal speakers.  Of course BBC did not like this speaker dependent noise transmission and therefore BBC continues to use the old media room (on the other side of the stadium) where they get to hear the stadium noise just by keeping their balcony door open! The media centre itself has blue coloured walls as in a blue background movement is not visible too much from the ground. 

We then headed to the practice ground where we got to see the county players practising and that’s where amma actually picked up some sand from the ground – can you believe it?  Officially we were not allowed to even touch the grass or sand on the ground. The tour ended at the souvenir shop.  Lord’s tour – a must visit, very memorable.

Tips: Take a bus from the St John’s woods train station to Lord’s as otherwise you need to walk for about 15 minutes.  Carry a handheld device where you can access GPS/ maps – you will feel absolutely safe and knowledgeable of where you want to go and how to go there.

2.2  Boat canal ride

After the tour of the Lord’s, we took a cab to a place called Little Venice (you can also go by train).  Here there is a canal on which boats are plied.  Just before the ride we had yummy home cooked lunch on the banks of the canal which ultimately joins the River Thames. 

The boat ride to a place called the Camden Lock market takes about 45 minutes with live commentary all the way.  People actually live on other boats and this is called moorings.  The scenary was quite like the country side, and very quiet.  On the way we got to see houses which costed a sheer (minimum) GBP 35 million – the houses reminded me of the Von Trapp’s family house at Salzburg (remember the sound of music movie?).  We grudgingly explored the market on the other side of the canal – we did not like it at all as it was very crowded and smelly (due to all kinds of food sold there).  We quickly had a cappuccino and fled from that market, taking a train back home.  So remember, take the boat canal ride but skip the Camden market.

Tips:  Skip the Camden Lock market.  Simply return by train after the boat ride.  If you are going there on a Sunday afternoon, it’s a long walk to the station.

2.3  Queen’s walk

From our apartment the River Thames is a mere 3 minutes walk away.  From the banks, you can spot the entire London skyline – Parliament house, Big ben, London eye (which we can see from our building doorway), waterloo bridge, Oxo tower (which we can also see from our apartment drawing room) and then that was when I first sighted the St Paul’s cathedral…………….. By the river is a brilliant place to just hangout, have a coffee, listen to street musicians, or simply gaze at the skyline.  We didn’t realise it was 8 pm since the sun had not yet set. 

The Queen's Walk takes you over Westminster Bridge, along the south bank of the River Thames towards Tate Modern (art gallery) then back over the river on the Millennium footbridge to St Paul's Cathedral.  This pedestrian walkway is many miles long and passes some of London's most popular tourist attractions.  At a leisurely pace the entire walk can take you upto 2 hours to cover.  We did it in parts whenever we were visiting the attractions nearby.  Queen's walk - a must on your itinerary.

Tips:  Do not miss a walk by the river.  Find a place to stay which is in Central London and close to the River and a station.  We stayed at a place which is 6 minutes walk from the Waterloo and Southwark stations and very close to the river, on Stamford Street in a serviced apartment rented from Boutique London Lets.   While you may save money staying in the suburbs, I would not recommend compromising on this ambience of staying in Central London, by the river and close to a station.  

 Day 3 Highlights – Buckingham Palace, Royal Mews, City tour

3.1  Buckingham Palace

Part 1 - Outside the Palace

We skipped visiting the Queen’s gallery (collection of Her Majesty’s paintings) and went straight to the Palace.  We walked across Hyde/ Green Park from the green park station and first sighted the Victoria monument just outside the Palace and then we sighted the palace itself with its magnificent gateway and the most talked about royal balcony.  At this time, for some reason appa asked me “Are you sure this is the palace?!!” - well it definitely did not look like someone’s house!!!  From outside the palace gates we telecast live visuals over facetime to my uncle in Chennai and made him envious of us.  There was a huge crowd outside the gates to watch the change of guards.  We reluctantly left the main gates heading towards the side entrance for us commons.  As we passed the main gates since the Union Jack flag was hoisted on the rooftop of the palace, we realised that the Queen was not available at the Palace to meet us.  Had she been in the palace her own flag would have been hoisted.  Just then one of us wanted to use a washroom and we politely enquired if we could use the Queen’s since she was anyway not in the palace. We were more than politely directed to use the washroom at St James’ park which is a good 12 minutes walk away.  

Part 2 – Inside the Palace

Once we returned to the side entrance, our 90 minutes audio guide tour of the palace began.  Apart from the state rooms being open for public viewing (which contained the throne, different coloured rooms for various occasions, painting collection), as 2013 is the diamond jubilee year of the Queen’s coronation there were 4 more rooms open containing items related to her coronation in 1953.  As part of this collection we got to see a replica of the dining table that was set in 1953 for the coronation lunch, her dress, robes, jewellery, crown…… I wonder how she even managed to walk wearing so much.  Needless to say, all the clothes and jewellery were all threaded/ set in gold, diamond, etc.  I don’t even want to attempt describing them as they were beyond my imagination of utmost opulence and grandeur.  The tour ended on the garden side of the palace.  Unfortunately we had not booked for the garden tour.  As part of the garden tour the tourist is taken around the 39 acres in a buggy.  It was completely booked for summer.  Buckingham palace - your trip to London is incomplete without visiting it.

3.2  Royal Mews

Still quite overwhelmed with our palace visit, we decided to have our packed lunch sitting on the lawns just outside the palace near the Victoria monument.  It was a long distance (after all the walking inside the palace) from the exit gate (at the back side) of the palace to return to the front of the palace. We covered this distance partly by foot and partly by cab (since we were too hungry we didn’t mind getting into a Benz 6-seater cab!!).  I would say this was the most expensive cab ride of my lifetime just to be able to have lunch on a lawn gaping at a building !! We consoled ourselves that since we were on a holiday we were entitled to be extravagant.  We headed back to the side of the palace (again by cab, this time a regular one) to enter the Royal Mews. 

At the Mews we saw the various coaches including the one travelled in by Princess Diana for her wedding and a state of the art coach gifted by the Australians (this is an AC coach).  And also the Queen’s Rolls Royce car.  She either travels in the Rolls Royce or a Bentley.  These cars do not have number plates!  And then finally we entered the area where the golden coach was parked.  It looks really huge and is led by 4 horses.  The outside wall of the coach itself has superb paintings.  In order to remove the coach from its garage, the walls on one side of the garage are completely removed.  We were told that such preparation time prior to any event takes 2 days! 

Tips: From logistics standpoint it is better to visit the Royal mews first before entering the palace.  However, I would not recommend that as it is obviously more impressive to visit the palace first. Book the garden tour well in advance.  Have a tea at the café in the palace – you can tell the world that you had visited the Queen for an afternoon tea.  If you have the time, money and the interest try to book one of the private tours of the palace.  Don’t do the change of guards tour and the palace tour on the same day unless you are really very fit – there is a lot of walking in both the tours.  Also don’t you want to visit the palace area again and again ?

3.3  City bus tour

There are several bus tours which one can take.  But we took the one from near the Victoria coach station which lasted for a full 3 hours.  Sitting on the upper deck is better.  In one go, one gets to see all the important places in central London. 

Tips:  Logistics - Within London we travelled by the tube (train), bus, boat and sometimes by taxi.  We had purchased the London Pass with travel card.  The travel card can be used in any public transport (except of course taxi!). You can otherwise opt for the 24 hour hop-on/ hop-off bus tours which takes you from one place to another on a set route – you can get off at say the palace, complete the palace tour and board the bus again to be dropped at another place.

Day 4 Highlights – Shakespeare Globe theatre, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London and Tower Bridge

4.1  Shakespeare globe theatre

We walked for 10 minutes on the bank side from our apartment by the river again and reached the theatre which is a replica of the original theatre used by Shakespeare.  We went there only for a tour and unfortunately did not have the time to watch a play.  This theatre is the only building in London with a thatched roof.  The guide was splendid in her narration explaining to us thoroughly on how the theatre itself came about, the seating arrangement for the rich, poor and richie rich and (almost) a men only audience. Even today the bay closest to the stage are for standees (in earlier times that was where the poor stood to watch a play) and tickets are sold at GBP 5. 

4.2  St Paul’s Cathedral

When we came out of the theatre the St Paul’s Cathedral was staring at me being just across a foot bridge.  This is the millennium bridge and it is a superb walk across the Thames.  And you get the best view of the St Paul’s from the bridge. Dont forget to take a picture with the St Paul’s in the background.

We were not on time for the guided tours, so we took the audio guide tour.  We skipped visiting the upper galleries – as it is a steep climb via narrow staircase – and we only visited the ground and basement (crypt) levels.  You can actually walk up the staircase and stand right on TOP of the dome – one day I will do it.  The Cathedral is one of the magnificent worship places in the world and I cannot have enough of it anytime I go.  Appa and amma did a quick tour and sat below the dome for sometime, with appa reciting the rudram before going out of the building.  I spent more time in the absolutely serene surrounding – it is so quiet and peaceful that even an atheist will want to pray!  Princess Diana’s wedding took place here, while many of the other royal weddings have taken place at the Westminister Abbey.  Many of the royal funerals have taken place here except Diana’s which took place at the Abbey.  We then had a relaxed Londoner lunch (sandwich and baked corn) on the footsteps of the cathedral.  St Paul's Cathedral - go there and return refreshed.

4.3  Tower of London

The tower of London is not anymore a residence and in another era it was a tower where traitors and prisoners were tortured and killed.  We reached the Tower of London at around 230 pm and immediately joined a beafeater’s tour.  The beafeaters are currently guides who take you around the tower narrating gory details of the arrests, torture and the killings.  These beafeaters are quite witty in their narration.  The tour lasted for about 90 minutes.  We then briefly saw the change of guards which happens in this tower every 2 hours.  Since there was a very long queue to see the crown jewels, we headed to the souvenir shop and café and thereafter came back to see the crown jewel.  Again I cant attempt to describe the size of the diamonds embedded in the crowns – beyond anyone’s dream.

4.4  Tower bridge

We then suddenly realised that the tower bridge (often mistaken to be the London bridge) is a stone’s throw away from the tower of London and I pushed my parents to finish that as well on the same day.  They co-operated and we all walked to the tower bridge.  As we entered the exhibition area at 515 pm, we got to know that the tower bridge was due to open at 6pm that evening.  Therefore we quickly went up the tower bridge, taking in the sights of the London skyline from the upper bridge and came down to the motor rooms where we saw the functioning of the tower bridge opening.  We then spotted a good view point on the banks to view the opening of the tower bridge.  And at exactly 6 pm, the bridge opened while we shot pictures.  It was open for 5 minutes before closing again.  We felt blessed having seen the opening by chance.

We were quite tired after all this, but still managed to do shopping at Sainsburys’ (grocery shopping) and returned home by taxi.

Tips:  Don’t cram so much in one day.  You can spend more time in tower of London going into the basement area to see the torture cell, museum, climbing up the fort wall……

Highlights of Day 5 – Change of Guards, the Shard

5.1  Change of Guards

We set out after breakfast to Piccadilly circus to join the walking tour of the change of guards.  Our guide Matt was already waiting for us along with a group of about 20 other people.  We started walking towards the Buckingham palace which is about a mile away.  We crossed the mall (red road in front of the palace) and reached St James’ palace from where the music playing band started marching towards the palace.  We marched along with the band till Victoria monument.  This is the first part of the change of guards’ ceremony.  We took a good viewing spot near the monument and watched the new guards marching towards the palace (part 2 of the change of guards). Part 3 is when the guards actually change at the Buckingham palace and thereafter at Clarence’s house (Prince Charles' residence).  We quickly walked across the mall to occupy the front row outside the Clarence house to watch the change of guards.  The ceremony starting at St James’ palace at 11 am lasted for an hour and was absolutely interesting only because of our guide.  Of course there was a huge crowd everywhere but our guide managed to place us in very good viewing spots.  I would strongly recommend you to take this tour, else you will not quite understand and enjoy as much as we did.  Look out for the video that I took while marching WITH the band!  Appa and amma were quite exhausted after all the marching !

Tips:  I would very much recommend the tour with Matt (Funlondontours.com) where the group was a manageable number and hence very interactive.  Certain other groups had a much larger number of people.   Matt also conducts other walking tours in London and you could explore them as well.

5.2  The View from the Shard

After dinner, we went to the Shard which is the highest building in western Europe.  The viewing galleries are on the 69^th (covered totally) and 72^nd (slightly “exposed” to the elements) floors.  The lift reaches the 72^nd floor (at 800 feet) in about 45 seconds.  The tower’s website warns you about being exposed to the weather/ elements on the 72^nd floor.   I imagined that this would be like an open terrace area (like the Empire state building viewing gallery) where it can be pretty chill and therefore we went up the Shard wearing all our woollen.  But the 72^nd floor was nothing like it and soon we were sweating it out in our jackets and monkey cap! At the photoshoot area we took our vacation snap which is now placed in our showcase back home.

Tips:  I would recommend the view by night as the city lighting is quite a sight.  The entry ticket is considered expense by many at GBP 25 and hence there are no queues at the entry point.

Highlights of Day 6 – Neasden temple

After breakfast we set out to the Swaminarayanan temple (commonly referred to as the Neasden temple – name of the locality).  For security reasons, we were told to leave our camera and even our handbags in the cloak room – something that did not happen even at the Parliament or the Buckingham palace.  I did not like such treatment. 

The outer architecture of the temple was exquisite looking.  It’s a Jain temple.  Amma picked up from one of the devotees in the temple that there is a restaurant serving great gujarati food nearby.  We immediately crossed the road and went straight to the restaurant to ATTACK the food which was worth the hype.  It was almost like eating in my Gujarati friend’s house in Chennai.

Tips:  Don’t miss the gujarati thali even if you don’t have time for the temple!

Highlights of Day 7 – Thames cruise, Wimbledon

7.1  Thames cruise

We thoroughly enjoyed the cruise on the river thames which lasted for over an hour.  We took in the sights of the London skyline from a different angle this time.  The boat mate who doubled up as a commentator was very entertaining in his narration.  You could also explore the boat rides on the RIB experience (motor boat) if you are adventurous. 

7.2  Wimbledon

We reached Wimbledon just in time for our tour at 330 pm to be led by a blue badge guide.  This was one guide who was too prim and proper right from the start and almost treated us like school children (no talking on cell phone, no taking too many snaps, no talking amongst ourselves…….).  I guess that is how even the Wimbledon championships are with many many protocols.  We were taken to court no.1, other courts, the hill (where one can have a picnic during the championship), players’ millennium building, media centre and finally to the centre court.  Unlike the Lord’s where the achievers names go up on the dressing room boards within 24 hours,  at the lobby of the millennium building shamefully the names of the 2013 championship was still not updated – the wall at the lobby displayed the 2012 champions – I was wondering if they had to get the Queen’s permission even to change this !  The media room was state of the art and we took snaps as if being “interviewed”.  Unlike the Lord’s where the all the press persons viewed the match from a large viewing gallery, at the Wimbledon each broadcaster had separate rooms where they could set up their equipment.  

The Centre court was of course simply thrilling to be in.  The score board still showed the final scores of the 2013 championships.  All the seats were covered in order to protect it from the weather.  The grass in all the courts seemed absolutely manicured – we were told that the grass is usually maintained at not more than 8 mm in height! 

The guide also explained to us that the ticket sales are by a ballot – you MAY get tickets once you have applied, by a draw of lots.  While applying for tickets, one cannot choose the date or court or match you want to watch.  It gets allotted if you are lucky.  There is also a concept of second sales – the used tickets can be dropped off by ticket holders at a box if they leave before end of play.  These tickets are sold for less than GBP 30 pounds even while the match is happening.  Such collections are donated to charity.  This practice seems pretty unique to Wimbledon.  We ended the tour at the souvenir shop and café.  Don’t miss having the cookie at the café.

Tips:  Visit Wimbledon if you have the time – I liked the tour of Lord’s better.

Highlights of Day 8 – Greenwich, London eye

8.1  Greenwich

It was pretty chill enroute and at Greenwich – amma and I did not even have a sweater.  It may be interesting to go to Greenwich by speed boat or by the Emirates Airline winch, but we went by train. 

We first viewed the Visions of Universe exhibition which is a collection of photographs taken of the outer space – marvellous and colourful pictures of outer space - and I took lots of pictures of those photographs taken using telescopic equipment!  The pictures I took can be used as colourful wallpapers for sure. 

We started our walk to the GMT line which is at 0 degrees longitude.  It’s a 15 minute walk up a slightly steep but short hill – you ask a Londoner who would tell you that it is very very steep.  Once on top, we realised that one could also drive up in a car.  From the top you can again take in sights of the London skyline and Greenwich itself.  After having a snack and some water we walked towards the GMT line.  Just outside the gates of the royal observatory where the GMT is located, there was a considerable crowd of people watching something.   But we could not make out what they were looking at – we just assumed that they were gaping at the GMT line nearby.  Only after listening to the narration by a rather entertaining guide inside the observatory we realised that the crowd was watching the ball on top of the observatory go up a short pole at 12.57 pm and come down at 1 pm.  Since the olden times, the ball comes down a short pole on top of the observatory at exactly 1 pm and hence the expression “on the ball”.  In olden times, the sailors determined the time and location of their boat by spotting the huge red ball go up and come down.  We then queued up to stand on and take a picture of/ at 0 degrees longitude.  Look out for pictures of the Nagarajan family’s feet on the GMT line!  

We didn’t have time to go inside the cutty sark which is an old but refurbished ship used in world war.  We took pictures of the ship from outside and set to return to Central London by train. 

8.2  London Eye

We had booked tickets in advance and hence did not wait in the long queues.  It’s a half hour ride in the covered giant wheel and again you get to see the London skyline.  There are 32 enclosures in the London eye representing the 32 boroughs (localities) in London.  It was a relaxing ride. 

Tips:  Greenwich is a whole day trip if you want to spend sometime in leisure.  London eye – book in advance for a priority entry in order to skip the long queues.

 Final remarks

Overall a very enjoyable and memorable holiday with loads of pictures to return with.  I will be thrilled to know if a reading of this blog has encouraged you to think of visiting London on your next holiday.  And definitely I will be more than happy to help my friends put together a customised itinerary, give more unsolicited advice and live tips for your vacation there – 3 of my relatives have already engaged me for this! Time to change my work profile I think!