Walking Tour of the famous London Sights

17 December 2012

As this was Samuel’s first visit to London, we decided to do a walking tour of the famous London sights. The planned route : Buckingham Palace (watch changing of guards at 11 AM), walk through St James Park to Westminster Abbey. See the Big Ben, 10 Downing Street,  Parliament House, London Eye, then go to Trafalgar Square. Walk to Covent Garden and then Chinatown. Dinner at Chinatown or Burger & Lobster (SOHO) 36 Dean Street.

We took the Underground to the Hyde Park Corner station arriving at 10.30 AM. Instead of going into Hyde Park itself, we crossed over the road and headed towards the Palace as we wanted to watch the changing of the guards at 11.00 AM.

There was time for a quick look at the Royal Artillery Memorial and the Wellington Arch.

Details on the top of the Wellington Arch - largest bronze sculpture in Europe, depicting the Angel of Peace descending on a four-horsed chariot of war.

Royal Artillery Memorial.

The Royal Artillery Memorial is dedicated to the casualties in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in the First World War. Stone reliefs on the sides depict scenes from the war.

One of the 4 bronze figure of the soldiers with shells in porches on his legs.

As we were walking to the Palace, we saw mounted troopers heading the same way to the Palace.

Mounted troops heading to the Palace.

Mounted regiment going through the Memorial Gates.

Details on the Memorial Gates - dedicated to five million people from the Indian Sub-Continent, Africa and the Caribbean who served or lost their lives in the two World Wars.

Really enjoy the morning walk on the tree-lined Constitution Hill road that cuts through the Green Park. The morning light filtering through the branches of the rows of trees made a pretty picture.

Constitution Hill road going towards Buckingham Palace.

Many people were already gathered outside the gates of Buckingham Palace, waiting for the changing of the guards that takes place at the parade square inside the gates.

Gate of Buckingham Palace – Lion and Unicorn on gate pillars.

Playing with my camera while waiting for  the show to begin.

Chewing gums stains on the sidewalk outside the Palace. Now I appreciate the ban of sale of chewing gum in my home country, Singapore.

Victoria Memorial.

Mounted police came by and told us “ there are thieves amongst you. Be careful of your belongings!”

Mounted police doing crowd control. Amazed by the beauty and size of the horse when it came up close.

He must have seen some familiar faces in the crowd. People who come to “watch” the changing of the guards daily must have other interest in mind. I remembered a tip a tour guide once gave me.

“Things in your front pockets belongs to you. Things in your back pockets belongs to others”.

I made sure my phone and wallets were safe in the front pockets of my tight jeans.

We could not actually see the happenings within the Palace grounds due to the crowd but we saw the soldiers marching into the palace. Quite an anti-climax.

Well, being here, done that.

The walk through St James Park towards the Westminster Abbey is more enjoyable. It was part of the trail known as the Princess Diana Memorial Walk.

Princess Diana Memorial Walk.

Squirrels were out and about. So were the birds.

Gulls taking food from the hand of a visitor.

We came to the Westminster Abbey but did not go in as we have done this before in our last visit to London and Sam does not seemed interested to go in.

So we walked around Parliament Square to take some pictures of the Big Ben and the House of Parliament. The large green area of the square had statues of statesmen like Churchill and Mandela.

Big Ben and red phone booth. Like any tourist to London, the trip is not complete without photos of the Big Ben, red phone booth, red double-decker London Bus and London cab.

Winston Churchill at Parliament Square.

Big Ben.

Walking towards the Big Ben and the House of Parliament, we came onto the Westminster Bridge.

There is a monument of a woman warrior on chariot at the start of the bridge.

I remember watching a documentary on the History channel of a Queen Boudica who led a rebellion against the Romans when London was known as Londonium. What a girl!

London Eye and monument of Queen Boudica who led a rebellion against the Romans.

We had been up the London Eye in our last trip, so we did not crossed over the bridge to the Eye. Instead, we turned back and went to Parliament Street instead to look for the office of the Prime Minister. We walked past the Cenotaph and other war memorials.

10 Downing Street - office of the Prime Minister.

The PM office was behind security gates, so there was nothing much to see. Going past the PM office, we came to Horse Guard Parade. It is free to enter to the parade ground where the Queen takes the salute at the Trooping of The Colour ceremony on her official birthday. The museum charges an entrance fee.

Two mounted cavalry troopers are posted outside daily from 10 am to 4 pm, and are relieved every hour.

Gate leading to the Horse Guard Parade grounds.

Horse Guards patrolling along Horse Guard Road, with St James Park in the back.

From the parade ground, we continued along Horse Guard Road which led us to Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square. 

Malaysia flag flying on top a building near the Nelson Column at Trafalgar Square.  The flag is from Tourism Malaysia office located in this building.

We ate at the Thai Square Trafalgar which serves quite good Thai food in quite posh settings.

The National Gallery is located at Trafalgar Square. We visited the gallery on our last trip but decided to go in again since there is so much to see.

This time round, we went to see some of Vincent Van Gogh’s paintings, including the Sunflower (Van Gogh). Sam was not impressed so we left after a short while and walked to Covent Garden.

Covent Garden has many street performers and we saw one doing his work when we arrived. Covent Garden is quite a happening place, with many boutique shops, restaurants, plus stalls selling British hand-made arts, crafts & antiques.

People gathering around a street performer at Covent Garden.

Christmas decor - entirely made up of Lego bricks.

Inside the Apple Market hall, with stalls selling British hand-made arts, crafts & antiques.

Tired from all the walking, a tea break at the Le Pain Quotedien was nice. The sky had already turned dark by the time we finished our tea.

Christmas lightings.

After Covent Garden, our final stop would be the Soho area and maybe have dinner at Chinatown or Burger & Lobster restaurant at 36 Dean Street. We walked towards Leicester Square as we wanted to check out the TKTS ticket booth for discount tickets for a musical that we may want to watch in the next few days.

Besides ticket booths, there are casinos here and Sam got excited! He wants to check out the poker tables so we went in for a recce. He decided not to play. Thank goodness.

One of the many casinos at Leicester Square.

We found the TKTS ticket booth but not many tickets were available. We probably have to come in the morning on the day that we want to watch the show for the discounted tickets.

The M&M store at Leicester Square is worth a visit if you like chocolates. The decor includes a large red London bus at the entrance. We were given free samples of M&M chocolates upon entry and a choc-lover would go crazy inside. So much M&M chocolates on sale and some interactive displays.

Depicting the famous Beatles crossing the Abbey Road at the basement of M&M store in Leicester Square.

Chinatown, with its many restaurants, was just round the corner from the M&M store. Instead of Chinese food again, we decided to have dinner at Burger & Lobster restaurant at 36 Dean Street. This restaurant does not take reservations. Just need to show up and wait for a table. We waited about 30 minutes for our table. We overheard that the later arrivals would have to wait about 90 minutes for a table.

20 sterling pounds for a lobster or a burger. Lobster, of course. Our waiter, who is from Sicily, was very friendly. He told us how the lobsters were flown in from Canada, kept alive in tanks and even offered to show us the tanks. I declined his offer to view the tanks as the restaurant was crowded and I didn’t want to take up his time and kept others waiting longer outside.

Grilled Maine lobster with salad, fries and buttery dips with white wine recommended by the waiter.

The food was worth the wait. We enjoyed our lobster dinner and intend to come back again, given the chance.