A Day visit to London !!!

London is a city where dream meets reality, traditional and cultural heritage meet the modern technical and fast moving society and of course you meet the entire world. This city can be called as the capital of world in true sense. It has people from almost every country of the world and most importantly they have their own identity. It’s the place where the historic past and the vibrant present come alive. A blend of history, ground-breaking architecture and culture has created an amazing and constantly evolving city.

Journey: I am staying in Guildford which is around 45 KM from London. Sunday, 26th Nov 2006; I was finished with my breakfast and was planning for the day as how to spend it. I was looking weather outside from the corridor of Travelodge (my hotel) and then suddenly one Indian person came and asked, “Indian”; I said yes; then came next question, “BOC”; my answer was again yes; and in this way I met one of my colleague who was also staying in Travelodge it self. He is a network security manager in BOC and was planning to go London as it was his last weekend in UK. He asked me to join him and I immediately said yes let’s go as I had no any other plan for that Sunday (although I was looking forward to complete remaining part of my book if there wasn’t any plan). We went to Guildford station, it’s around 15 minutes walk from Travelodge. We took one day rail pass of 13.5 pound (around 1200 Rs). It covers Guildford to London, entire London in metro and then return trip from London to Guildford. It took around 45 minutes to reach London Waterloo, one of the famous station of London and also a tourist spot.

London Darshan: We both were new to the city so we took one metro map from Waterloo station to have an idea of London metro. London has 13-14 metro lines and it covers each and every part of the city. The first thing we visited was Waterloo station then we came out and saw the world famous Imox Cinema. Imox is just outside the waterloo station. From here we wanted to go London eye so we asked the way from one gentleman. He directed us to London eye. London eye is a giant wheel and from this wheel you can see the entire London city. It is around 10 minutes walk from Waterloo station. It was raining heavily that time so we had take shelter under an over bridge for 10 minutes and then we moved again. Till the time rain had become very slow. We reached London eye but there was a huge crowd as it was Sunday and we observed that if we will wait here we will not be able to see other parts of London, so we moved from there to see Big Ben. We crossed Thames river through a bridge and here it’s Big Ben and House of Parliament. Big Ben is basically a clock tower residing with house of parliament. The Big Ben is famous all over the world for it’s hourly chimes. Our next target was to visit Buckingham Palace. It is around 15 minutes walk from Big Ben. Till this time rain had completely stopped and it was easy for us to walk. Buckingham Palace is the London residence of the sovereign since the reign of Queen Victoria. The colorful ceremony of changing the guard at 11.30 AM is very nice here. After visiting this place we decided to do some shopping and have some food. We also wanted to catch a metro for Piccadilly Circus. We enquired about the nearest metro from Buckingham Place and it was Victoria. On the way to Victoria we did little bit of shopping (buying some souvenir) and also had our lunch. Lunch was just a Turkish Burger. From Victoria Station we went to Piccadilly Circus by changing our metro (from Victoria to Piccadilly) at Green Park. Here we saw The Eros and did shopping in one of the largest shopping malls in the world. The Trafalgar Square is around 10 minutes walk from here. We went there and spent around 20 minutes. It’s again a great place to visit, a very fine piece of art. World’s greatest art gallery The National Gallery stands on the north side of Trafalgar Square. Now our next target was to see Tower Bridge, Monument and Tower of London. We took metro from Charing Cross metro (Bakerloo) which is just in front of Trafalgar Square. We changed our metro (from Bakerloo to Northern) at Elephant & Castle and then we reached London Bridge. From here we walked till Tower Bridge which is 10 minutes walk from station. Tower Bridge is London’s famous bridge. It was opened in 1894 and it is built in Gothic style to blend with the Tower of London next door. The bridge can be opened to allow ships to pass through. We also saw Tower of London and HMS Belfast here. HMS Belfast is a war ship. Our world famous Kohinoor is kept in the Tower of London itself. After reaching this place we were completely tired and we decided to move for Guildford as it was already 4.30 PM. We took little snacks and cold drink in KFC which is just in front of Tower of London. We also did little shopping there. The nearest metro is Tower Hill. We took a metro (District) for Embankment and from there we took another metro (Bakerloo) for Waterloo. From Waterloo we caught our train for
Guildford.

Places to visit in London: London Eye, The Eros, Westminster Abbey, The National Gallery, Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, The British Museum, St. Paul’s Cathedral, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Tate Gallery, The Wallace Collection, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Madame Tussaud’s Museum, Tower Bridge, Convent Garden, Shakespeare’s Globe and lots more..

Tourist Information Centers: The London Tourist Board runs a number of tourist information centers. Some of them are mentioned following:

a) Victoria Station Forecourt, SW I. Monday to Saturday: 0800 – 1900, Sunday: 0800 – 1800.

b) Liverpool Street Station, EC2. Monday to Saturday: 0800 – 1800, Sunday: 0845 – 1730.

c) Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3 Underground Stations. Daily: 0800 – 1800.

Telephone Guide is also available for visitors. You can get up to date recorded information on range of subjects available 24 hours a day on 0839 123 546.

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