Saturday, August 27, 2011

London Trip, 2011 - Part 5

We sign up for a full day tour. We bought the tour package from AirAsia (aparently mcm lagi murah dari site lain), while we were in KL. We will be visiting Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Oxford. The gathering point is at a bus station. We went out bright and early fearing that we will be left out again. Haha lucky we were early, because somehow we managed to get off at the wrong tube station and had to walk a good 15 minutes before finding the bus station.

Right, the tour counter is still closed. So we went to buy some snacks at the convenient shop. Snack apa nya. It's a spinach and cheese samosa, and lamb samosa. Pagi buta belasah makan merepek meraban. Tapi sedapnya, tak boleh nak cakap.

Here comes the bus. It was packed, but we managed to grab the seats up front. Bukan la nak dengar sgt apa tour guide tu cakap, just that supaya boleh turun naik cepat sket. Hmm, what was the tour guide's name. Was it Mike? Why do I think he was Paul? Ok let's just call him Mike. It takes about 45 minutes to get to Windsor, so apa lagi.... zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Windsor Castle



Windsor Castle ni rupanya dekat dengan Eton. Agaknya dulu bila bosan2 weekend, Wills and Harry dapat la fly kejap.. balik rumah Tok depa. The bus parked far away, so we had to walk a bit. Huffing and puffing, akhirnya sampai. When we got off the bus we were right in front of the pack, tapi bila sampai kat entrance of the castle, as usual jadi yang last sekali. Even nenek2 tua dalam group tu pun dah sampai dulu. Damn, we are so not fit!

At Windsor, we get to round the ground a bit and then get into the State Apartment and also take a quick look at the Queen Mary's Doll House collection. The Doll House was eerie yet fascinating. It's an actual working house siap electricity and plumbing, besar gila! All the artwork in the house (though a miniture) are actual art work contributed by real artist. Buku pun dijadikan miniture. Since we're not able to take any photos, check out here for more info.

Next the State Apartments. It consists of rooms and rooms of many splendour items. Some of the rooms are still used for official functions to this day. There's lot of paintings and deco and furniture for you to get your self lost into. Thru out the walkabout, you are given an audio guide. So you can have everything explained to you at your own pace. Tapinya.. kitaorang ni jalan laju aje. Audio tu baru explain item no 13, kitaorg dah sampai 15. Apakah.

Windsor aslo has Changing of the Guard ceremony. Dang! Kalau tahu, tak payah bersusah payah nak tengok kat Buckingham Palace. There's also St George Chapel that we can visit, tapi macam malas nak masuk. We were stucked watching the guards again, when we itching to get into the giftshops.

I just wish that we had more time to berangan inside the Castle. Unfortunately, the tour is on tight schedule. Tour guide tu sangat garang ok. Their main concern is that if we are late and get stuck in traffic, the driver might have to work longer that he should (a concept that is totally lost on a Malaysian). So we had to rush off.


If you have a day to spare when you are in London, do not miss visiting it!

Stonehenge



Burial ground? Worship ground? Alien Landing Area? It's fascinating because no one knew who brought these kick ass stone and arranged it in a circular pattern in the middle of flat, Salisbury Plain. No one knew why either.


When we arrived there, my first thot was, enghh ni aje? Tak besar pun. My second thought was, Tipah Tertipu. We paid 10 pounds? 6 pounds? To enter the gated area where the stones are. Believe me it looks the same near or far. If you can, give this place a miss. Or if it's part of the tour, just hang around the giftshop. I know this is one of the World Heritage Sites, but really.. it's just a set of old looking stone. I was more intrigued with the hundreds of sheeps grazing the grass nearby.



Oxford

Off to Oxford City. Where the Oxford University is. Where everyone cycle to class?
The city (which look like a town to me) is made of hundreds of colleges. It also has a lot of intersting architectural building including the Radcliffe Camera (picture below). Which is actually a library, a circular library. Didn't get the chance to go in though.





There was a lot of restoration work on going. Even the cobbled street is being repaired. Kinda of lost it's rustic musty feel I must say. I didn't get much from the tour in Oxford, but you do get the wee bit feel of student life there.. I And yes, I bought the t-shirt as well! Hahahaha.

We arrived back in London sometime after 6pm. The tour dropped us off near Paddington Station. Jalan kaki je la balik hotel. But not before tapau something for dinner. We discovered that there's this halal Turkish shop nearby that sells lamb chop and kebab and what not for just 3.99 pounds. Whaaa.... kalau tau, hari2 aku mencekik kat sini.

Malam operasi pack barang yang patutnya masuk kontena rather than suitcase. Tomorrow, we are off to Paris! Yipeee.

No comments: