Thanks to a cheap emirate airfare deal, i had the chance to step onto the grounds of europe. From the bottom of my heart, i really treasured this experience as its was 1 of my dream destinations. which of cos simply is a matter of money, time and company. am really glad that i had the just the right amount of these factors to spare. scorn at the sua gu me if you want,  I never did like to take things for granted.

my greatest regret of this trip, was the date clash with one of my treasured bestie's ROM. wld give up the trip anytime if i had not booked in dec. Looking at FB feed of asshole's happiest day from far away was so depressing :(  asshole!! T.T wished i was there! sad sad...

Honestly, our entourage was awkward. A mix mash of a sec-colleagues-colleague's parents-colleague's neighbours. machiam mini tour group. but oh wells thankfully we came back in 1 piece.


 Day 1 (Sin-Dubai-Paris-London):

Arrived at Paris CDG airport. Transited to Paris Gare du Nord station to take eurostar to London's st. pancras station.

While waiting for our train at 5pm, explored the train station, which by itself was a quaint looking euopean building.

 

Font flipping depature/arrival board.

Finally arrived at cold gloomy London at 6pm. Was literally shivering the minute i alighted from he train , which i reckon was due to my ill dressed attire. My sartorist wanabe lounge pants. And began the love hate relationship with our luggages of the europe trip. Lugged all our luggages from Gard due Nord to our apartment at Catford bridge via London bridge station, admist the rain and strong wind. i thought i would die on the spot from the cold. No joke.

After checking into our apartment at canadian avenue, met up with CM's friend William an ex-techie, at the pub (catford bridge tavern) near our place. which looks like everybit of how i imagined a tavern to be like. modern day version though. 1 thing i love about london Londoners are so warm and friendly. 1 instance was our food orders at the tavern was miscommunicated and the sweet lady was so apologetic and kept apologising profusely, to the extent of waiving the total bill for our beers. wow. No such practice in Sin i guess.

 our full amour that day

Pics of our apartment!

 living room aka guys sleeping area 

 kitchen

Day 2 (London):
Embarked on London Sunday markets ( Spitafield, upmarket) shopping at liverpool street.

entourage

1st up, sunday brunch at the the nearest restaurant that we found at spitafield.

marshmallow drowned chocolatey drink. Nice!

Weekend vendors hawking their quirky items. to be honest, it was quite disappointing as it kinda fall below my expectations after all the the raves about spitafield over the other.

Went out of spitafield, in an attempt to visit neighbouring markets. Up market, petticoat lane.
At upmarket, we were so delighted to see asian food stalls. People were just standing there or outside the building eating. Would have tried the food if we were not that full from morning's brunch :/ I bought my 1st pair of wannabe boots too to compat with the freak weather. hoho..

Sights at liverpool street

Next up, took the tube to stratford to check out olympic park and stadium.To our dismay, we could not enter the park, and everything still under works when olympic is just app. 90 days away then.

westfield stratford shopping centre

Said to be 1 of the biggest

miserable olympians barred from entering

Went on a shopping spree next at westfield. Discovered the best shopping steal -Primark!

Clothes, shoes were only starting from 4 pounds (~$9 sing), and they are not even on sale. wtf. 

But little did we know, retail stores in london closes at 6pm, when we only just reached at around 5pm. Utterly devastated =( but i still managed to snag 5 pairs of shoes and a pair of shorts. hehs..

 

disappointed!

 not..

 view of the olympic stadium from westfield

After the failed olympic park/shopping outing, we met up with William, whotook the entourage out for dinner at a Turk Restaurant near his workplace at canary wharf. He brought us nice london cupcakes too :) 

At Canary wharf, 1 of London's finanical and business district..

Spotted this lovely canal/river, with a ferry docked at the sight.. lovely! 1 great thing about visting Europe in Spring/Summer, its still bright at 9pm. The day just doesnt seem to end, which is great for penny pinching me. Getting the most sights out of a day yeash.

view at 8pm

Day 3 (London):

Day itinerary included a stroll at St James's Park which will lead us to Buckingham Palace. Took rail to London Bridge to change to Tube. 1 of the frustrating thing about rail is the frequency of trains is not as great as the tube or SMRT. interval was ard 30 min, and you have to sit out in the cold :/ But it doesnt seem to affect the Londoners much.

the rail station near our apartment 

On our way to St. James' park/Buckingham Palace.

Horse guard

At St. James Park

Huge (mutant) Pelican-looking birds

Changing of Guards from 11-12pm

After which took at our lunch at an italian restaurant. Ordered our 1st Fish and Chips. and sad to say  food was medicore. Service was worse. Gruffily took our plates when we were still dining and took out the chairs when some of us were using the toilet. Bleah.

Big Ben

Iconic London Telephone Booth <3

London's Eye along River Thames

At 1 of the parks near the attractions

At National Galley next to catch Van Gough's Sunflowers Painting,  which was..
truthfully, i found the painting grubby and messy, while william told us how amazing it was :/ that's the difference btw a fine arts appreciates fine arts vs 1 who doesnt.

Olympic Counter outside National Gallery. Pysched!

And the next evening highlight was catching a musical- Les Miserables at Queen's theatre.

Though the theatre was small, but the architect of the theatre was amazing. 

Our seat from 3rd storey. What more to ask for for we bought 49 pound tics.

Sad to say, i slept for 80"% of the show. Attributed to either the not-so-great seating arrangement, or its just me.

Day 4 (London):
It was a harry potter day. I happily assumed that bus station to HP museum was at the junction nearWatford rail station, when watford and watford junction are 2 different rail stations. So the troopers happily followed my vague destination till we almost reached and realised the blunder. But thank goodness, there was a bus there but at 4 pounds! ($8 for a 15 min ride!!)

While waiting for the bus

feels like a SMRT bus

way back..

Evening plan was for ham and i to meet Yong Chuen at Chancery Lane (another biz and finance district). Truthfully was kinda reluctant in meeting him, as we hardly knew him save for some of the SMSes in the past. But oh wells.. not as awkward as i would imagine it to be. Had our dinner at a korean restaurant nearby. After listeneing to his tales of living abroad for these 5 years, i truly admired people who have the independence and the courage to do. If its me, i probably die of loneliness and poor hygience(hehs).

After dinner, we went on a night stroll to St. Paul's Catheral, which was was only 10 min walk away.

Tulips by the roadside :)