Big Bus tour of London

Day 17
April 24, 2009
London

Going to London meant having to apply another visa since the Schengen visa does not include United Kingdom. Fortunately, having acquired our Schengen visa already, the UK visa process only took 5 days. Unfortunately, Rissa did not apply for one since a later return flight was not available using her Cathay Pacific miles account.

So come April 24 Friday morning, Marlon and I bid Rissa goodbye and went to the train terminal on our way to London. We arrived at the terminal a few minutes before the 7:13 am departure and was surprised to learn that we needed to pass thru immigration and scurity checkpoint prior to boarding the train. For the past 2 weeks, we have been used to the other trains we rode where in we just arrived in time for the train's departure. Gladly, we still made it.

Two hours and 20 minutes later, we reached London during the rush hour. It was just like the rush hour in Manila but with everyone wearing suits and looking good! After a quick English breakfast, we boarded the underground train to get to Citadines London, a modern and chic apartment hotel near Trafalgar Square. After taking a breather in our hotel room, we set out to tour London. We went to Trafalgar Square where the Big Bus red tour we booked was scheduled to make a stop. From the bus we saw a number of landmarks such as the The London Eye, the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben.





We also hopped off the bus to visit some sites. First one was St. Paul's Cathedral which is the seat of the Bishop of London. We climed the dome to see a nice view of the city, including millenium bridge.






Next stop was the historic Tower of London. Here, we took the lively Yeoman Warder tour of the complex, saw Henry VIII's armouries at White Tower, and marvelled at the crown jewels including the Imperial State crown, which has 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds and 5 rubies.






From the Tower of London, we went to the Tower Bridge, popular due to its bascules which still rise today to let ships pass through. We walked thru its high-level walkways, situated 42 metres above the River Thames.





Later that night, we watched the West End production of 'Spring Awakening' at Novello Theatre. This was one of the reasons why I wanted to go to London since the Broadway production was already closed. I was glad to have watched this in London as it actually closed also a few weeks after.