My Trip to London in a Nutshell!

Standing right on the banks of the River Thames in the south east of Great Britain, London has been a major tourist attraction and a settlement for two millennia.

It has its historical background, founded by the Romans who had named it Londinium.

There are many notable attractions in this city such as the London Eye, which is a giant Ferris wheel on the edge of the river Thames (35 metres tall and has a diameter of 120 metres).  Just a short walk away from that, the whole area boasts of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, London’s Aquarium and Nelson’s Column.  

This ancient core of London –the City of London retains its medieval background. At least, since the 19^th century,  ‘London’ has been called to the metropolis around this core and historically split between Middlesex, Essex, Kent and Hertfordshire. Today, this largely makes up what we call as Greater London.    

One trip to London can NEVER be enough to take in ALL the CULTURE, ATTRACTIONS, MUSEUMS, GALLERIES, and PARKS & OPEN SPACES the city has to offer. It is already my second visit this year and although they both have been brief I yet have NOT been able to get enough of London.

Unlike other cities that I have visited, London has a very ‘Royal Vibe’ to it. Perhaps that's because of the fact that the British Royal Family (Monarch of the United Kingdom and close relations) can trace back their bloodlines back through thousands of years of monarchy and leadership.

Unlike my previous trip to London (which was just a few months ago), this trip I did go on the Big Bus Tours which are basically like hop-on-hop-off type buses which take you on a tour around the city.    

It was easy to reach my hotel as I had paid for the Airport Taxi Pick up and Drop to the hotel and back. I stayed at the same hotel as last time -St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel. You can always expect the best service when you stay here.

 In fact last time (a few months ago), I had experienced a totally different side of London! I had seen the changing of the guard ceremony, tower of London guided tour, Thames River Cruise, Panoramic coach tour of London, St Paul's Cathedral guided tour, The Tower if London Guided Tour, Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey.  

However, London offers so much, so much to take in culturally that its literally impossible to take it all in!

My hotel was ,first of all, centrally located to start off with and is walking distance to almost any place you would want to go to! The Wi-Fi that was available here was excellent but what was far more impressive was the fact that everyone, right from the front desk reception to the customer service was excellent. It was my second stay here this year so that says a lot too!            

By the time I settled down and showered it was already noon time, so I just decided to take it easy as I already had the next day lined up with a whole list of places I would be visiting. So I went for the Big Bus Tours, which is one of the largest operators of open top sightseeing tours in the world.

In fact it was formed, by the merger of two well established sightseeing tour companies: the Big Bus Company Ltd. (based in London) and Les Cars Rouges (based in Paris). With over 50 stops next to London’s best attractions and with buses arriving every 10-15min I was free to explore at my own pace! (But I was so tired, all I did was stay seated on top throughout!)   

                     

While London offers a lot to explore, there is a lot to explore on its outskirts. This led me to my next tour and that was outside of London – the beautiful Windsor Castle, the ancient landscape of Stonehenge and the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bath: three of England’s national treasures.

The only catch was that we had to report at Victoria Coach Station at 8.30 A.M., something I was a bit nervous about (waking up). However, come 14^th, I was wide-awake well before time and at the station in time.  I assembled where everyone from Evan Evans Tours was assembled at the station. We had a small group of people (about 15 approx.) and a lovely tour guide who kept us a beat with all the possible information we required for these places.

Our first stop was the royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It took approximately 45 minutes to reach Windsor Castle, but this was perhaps one of the most exciting ways of starting the day – exploring the family home of British kings and queens who have lived there for over 1,000 years!

It is the royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire and is known to be the oldest and even the largest occupied Castle in the world. It is the place where ‘Her Majesty- The Queen’ chooses to spend majority of her private weekends.

A beautiful architectural structure, there was so much to see in the Windsor Castle I was pretty amazed at the high level of construction! The Windsor Castle was breathtakingly beautiful and it is amazing to know how much it actually survived – the tumultuous period of the English Civil War when it was used as a military headquarters by Parliamentary forces and a prison for Charles I.

  

The State Apartments were extremely well designed and worth a visit. They even had some of the finest works of art from the Royal Collection including paintings from Canaletto, Rembrandt and Rubens. The State Apartments were large and a MUST VISIT when you are at Windsor Castle.

Another place that was really worth visiting, and I’m sure anyone else would enjoy is St George’s Chapel.  This is the place of worship at Windsor Castle in England and is both of a chapel of Order of the Garter and a royal peculiar. It is one of the principal residences of Queen Elizabeth II and is the planned burial site for the queen. It has been the site of many royal weddings particularly the children of Queen Victoria.

You will be amazed with the beauty of the dolls of Queen Mary’s Dolls House. These dolls are truly the most elegant dolls you will ever see or even imagine. A dollhouse that was built in the early 1920s and completed in 1924 – for Queen Mary  (the wife of King George V), it was built by the top architect of the time – Sir Edwin Lutyens.

This dollhouse showcases the finest and most modern goods of the period. The bathrooms are fully plumbed, with a flushable toilet and miniature lavatory paper. Even the bottles of wine that were kept in the wine cellar were filled with wines and spirits. It was just amazing to walk through that room, and look at such amazing dolls that were seriously so well designed and taken so seriously!  While there is so much more that Windsor Castle can offer, I have just highlighted my favourites.

Of course, we were given a time to meet after we were dispersed and set out on our own separate ways!

The next place we stopped off at was the mysterious and prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England: Stonehenge. This took approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes to reach and it was colder. Well known for its prehistoric stone circle, Stonehenge is located 3km (2 miles) west of Amesbury and 8 miles (13 km) north of Salisbury.     

A famous UNESCO and world heritage site, you can experience 3000 years of British history first-hand, right from the Celts and the Romans to current times modern monarchy. A ring of standing stones, which are set within earthworks in the middle of the most dense complex of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments.

They are also considered to be a British cultural icon and famous landmarks in the UK. In fact it has been considered a legally protected Scheduled Ancient monument ever since 1882 when legislation to protect historic monuments first began and were introduced in Britain!

Stonehenge was a place of burial from its beginning to its zenith in the mid third millennium B.C. The cremation burial dating to Stonehenge's sarsen stones phase is likely just one of many from this later period of the monument's use and demonstrates that it was still very much a domain of the dead. It was believed that the bluestones had some sort of healing properties to them and even today, in some pagan religions 

— Mike Parker Pearson

Mike Parker Pearson, leader of the Stonehenge Riverside Project based at Durrington Walls,

There are plenty of unanswered questions left behind about these ancient rocks. Why were they built? What purpose do they serve? There are in fact no written records! It was produced by a culture that has no written records and there are plenty of myths surrounding the stones that are subject to debate.  

Each stone stood at a height of 13 feet and has an ancient history suggesting that Stonehenge was very important to the people who constructed it. However, its purpose has been under a lot of speculation for centuries. It was truly beautiful to be able to walk up to those stones and experience something of such historical meaning. Many questions regarding this monument remain unanswered but it was surely a delight to be there!

                   

Our last stop of the day was the City of Bath that was founded by the Romans as a thermal spa. This town setting in England is well known for its presence of natural hot springs and 18^thcentury Georgian architecture. Situated on the valley of the river Avon, west of London, this city became a World Heritage Site in 1987. 

Wow! The city became a spa when the Romans constructed their spas and temple in the valley of the River Avon, even though hot springs were well known at that time. What is unique about Bath is that it reflects two great eras in human history – Georgian and Roman.    

  

I just wish I could have been in London longer!!! There is just so much to see and experience!