"CHRISTMAS TIME IN LONDON" a London Travel Page by alvis

After a 1 hour budget easyjet flight from Belfast me and the nephew arrive at London Gatwick. After almost paying £15 for the Gatwick Express to London Victoria Station, we found the Southern Line trains to be cheaper and bought a ticket for £10 which included a 1 day tube ticket. The 1 day tube ticket normally costs £4.70 from any tube station so instead of paying £19.70 for the days travel (Gatwick Express & 1 Day Tube we only payed £10 and the train only took an extra 5 minutes. 40 minutes on the train arrives at Victoria and we make our way to Bayswater. Getting off at Bayswater we take a 5 minute walk to the Blakemore Hotel which we had booked previously (twin room for £40 a night.)

Not wanting to waste time we checked in and left to meet my good buddy Gie and her friend Jick who were also visiting, from Thailand. After grabbing a Sandwich from Subway Sandwich the 4 of us got on the tube at Bayswater and took the train to the Westminster tube station. Getting off at Westminster we walked up the side of the Thames and coming out of the subway we had a great view of Big Ben and The Houses of Parliament. Also behind us we could see the London eye and the Thames. After taking some pictures of Big Ben and being hassled by a thieving gypsy (ask for ID if they claim to be a charity) we made our way to the London eye. Passing the Dali exhibition which has a number of Dali statues outside we arrive at the London eye and after a 15 minute queue and a £12.50 fee we get into the pod. The "flight" takes around 30 minutes and from our pod we can see most of Londons main tourist attractions including the Houses Of Parliament, St Pauls and that building that looks like an egg. After having a decent view of the city we decide to go check out some of the places we had just seen.

We make our way back to the Houses of Parliament where we take a walk round the perimeter checking out the building then cross the road where West Minster abbey is. You will need to pay to enter West Minster Abbey which we didn't bother doing and instead we went into a smaller church on the grounds. We decided to take a walk towards Trafalgar Square instead of returning to the tube and luckily we came across the changing of the guards at the Horses Guard, St. James Palace. After 10 minutes of marching and trumpet playing we make our way down Whitehall road where we came to Trafalgar Square. By this time it was getting dark and the Christmas tree lights were on in Trafalgar Square and there was a great christmas atmosphere here. We walked around trafalgar for a while taking photos and checking out the attractions such as Nelsons Column. We found the National Gallery was right beside Trafalgar so we went in and after 30 mins of boredom and tired legs we decided to leave to get some food.

Getting on the tube at Charing Cross (beside Trafalgar Square) we made our way to Piccadilly Circus where we prodosed to get some dinner. Arriving at Piccidilly we had a quick look around then went to China Town which is very close by. Not being able to decide on a restaurant we decided to go back to Bayswater where we had seen plenty of decent restaurants at decent prices. After a kebab and chip and a drink or 2 we decide to make it a night and after checking out Gies and Jicks place we headed back to our hotel and got some well deserved sleep.

The next morning we were up early and went to meet Gie and Jick. Unfortunatly they still hadn't bothered getting out of bed so we bought a couple of sandwiches with juice from a Tesco Express and went to eat them in the park. We had previously seen the park at the end of the Bayswater Road when we were walking to our hotel. When we arrived there we found it was called Kensington Gardens and it was actually a really great park. Because it was too cold for us to take a seat me and Kris decided to take a stroll through the park and came across a number of cool monuments and attractions. Walking along the right hand side of the park we 1st came to a big golden statue which turned out to be The Albert Memorial. Across from this Monument you will also see the famous Royal Albert Hall. There are also signposts nearby for Kensington Palace though we did not come across it. After another 5 minute walk and some fun annoying the ducks and squirrels we arrived at The Princess Diana Memorial Fountain where we stopped for some photos and made our way back down the park to where we had came in. Another couple of attractions we saw were the Serpentine Gallery (went in to warm up for a minute) and The Statue Of Physical Energy. We were now back at where we entered and there was still no sign of Gie and Jick waking so we went back to the hotel for a quick rest.

An hour later the girls are awake and we meet up at Bayswater tube station and buy our 1 day tube ticket (£4.70). Our 1st destination is Madame Tussauds and we had luckily kept our £5 off voucher which we recieved when paying on the London Eye. Maddame Tussaud was quite expensive even with the voucher ( £24.50 - £5 = £19.50 ) and having been there before I did not think it was worth it. I was surprised though as the place had completely changed from the days I had been. The queue took around 15 minutes to get into the museum and when we got in it was the celebrity room. The girls got their photos with George Clooney, Brad Pitt etc. while me and Kris went around finding some amusing photos to take home. We spent around 30 minutes in the celebrity room then made our way into the next room which was film room with loads more photo opportunity with hundreds of past and present Holywood stars. The next room was sports people, historical figures etc. We got a great photo of Hitler and some other normal photos of the Beatles and Muhammad Ali. There are plenty of wax works here so you can spend quite a while walking around. Next you will go into the chamber of horrors which is like a haunted house thing. It uses real actors who will jump out at you and chase you which Gie and Jick hated and kept crying for us to go ahead haha. After the chamber of horrors we got into a rollercoaster ride thing which took us through the history of Britain from the olden days to the present. Thinking that was the end I was surprised to find there was also a planetarium included in the tour. After a brilliant photo of me with my buddy Steven Hawkings and a 10 minute wait we went into the planetarium. The planetarium was fairly standard as far as planetariums go. This was the end of the tour and we were thrown out into the Madame Tussauds gift shops where we spent 30 minutes looking at all the souvenirs then made our way out onto the streets.

After spending so much on admission to Madame Tussauds we were now hoping for a cheaper activity for the evening. Remembering that the Tate Modern Art Gallery was free we bounced back onto the tube and made our way for Southwark station. From here it was a 5 - 10 minute walk through backstreets until we find the Tate Modern. Some of it was closed for renevations luckily as I was bored and pretty creeped out by this place. A lot of creepy people looking at crap art wasn't my scene. Dissapointed we left the museum and took a walk around the side and made our way to St. Pauls which was supposed to be nearby.

Luckily there was a lot going on beside the Tate Modern which meant the journey was not a complete waste of time. There were loads of food stands and entertainment here so we walked about and got ourselves some coffees. I decided on a cappucino with a shot of Baileys £3. After our coffee we crossed the Millenium Bridge across the Thames which was was connecting the Tate Modern area to the St Pauls area of London. We got some great photos here of the bridge and St. Pauls which was under restructure at the time. On the way back to the St. Pauls subway we were passed by literally hundreds of drunken Santas which was quite surreal. After a quick 16" Pizza at Pizza Hut we made our way back to the hotel.

The next morning we were up and about before the girls again. For breakfast we went to a great noodle bar called Chopstix near Bayswater tube. After a quick chicken curry we decided on some shopping. Doing the usual we went and checked out Oxford Street and Hamleys etc. before going to Knightbridge tube for Harrods. The place was packed due to Christmas so we soon got out of there and went to meet the girls at Bayswater. Today we were going to Tower of London and because of the laziness of Gie and Jick we arrive when the Tower was closing. We stayed in this area for an hour or 2 getting photos of the Tower and the Tower Bridge. There was a cool outdoor ice rink on the Tower of London grounds. After a quick Subway Sandwich and coffee we parted with the girls and went to check out Buckingham Palace. It was quite dark now so we gave up on site seeing and after a quick rest we met up with the girls and went to a Thai restaurant in West Kensington. After chicken with holy basil some green curry and a glass of Sangsom we had an early night.

The next morning was our last morning and after checking out of the hotel and some more noodles at Chopstix (Lemon Chicken with Noodles) we went to send Jick and Gie off to Sheffield. After losing their train tickets in a bin and eventually finding them again Gie and Jick left to Sheffield and me and Kris were off for our last sight seeing tour. We took the tube to Green Park and after a quick walk through the park we arrive at Buckingham Palace again. After a few photos in daylight this time we decided on a walk through St James Park. There were a lot of squirells in St James' Park and if you bring some monkey nuts with you, they will feed from your hand. We soon came to St. James Palace where you will see a number of guards strutting about. Coming through the other side we found ourselves at the Horse Guard where we had seen the changing of the guard a couple of days before. From here we took a walk to Trafalgar Square bounced onto the tube and made our way towards the airport.

This time our flight was from Stansted. To get to Stansted we had to leave on a train from Liverpool Street station. It cost £14.50 for a ticket to Stansted and the journey took around an hour. After a long wait in the airport we finally boarded our easyjet flight to Belfast and were off home.