Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Top 5 Places to Visit in London

While I was planning the itinerary of this London trip in November, I realized how difficult and straining it was to do so. Finding the tourist attractions of a country was pretty easy. The difficult part was to figure out how much time I should spend in one. There was also the problem of budgeting for the trip which I was so bad at doing at over budgeted $1000 for this trip.

And so... 

Top 5 Places to Go in London


5) The London Dungeon


The targeted audience for this lovely attraction here is for the sad and masochistic souls who love being tortured, scared, treated like a slave (exaggerated). Well, this is the place to be. Entering Olden London as one of the traitors plotting to overthrow the great King James, you will be living the murky pasts of London a millennium ago, experiencing what the peasants of the past did. To be hung alive as entertainment for the civilians; to rebel with the infamous Guy Fawkes against the higher authorities of the country; to live in fear, not knowing when the notorious Jack the Ripper will strike again with you as the next target. 




With its 360 sets, great actors, screams and special effects, one might actually think that they really have been sent back to the past through a time machine. "Oh shit what am I doing here... oh yeah I paid to come in here." The duration of the attraction is 90 minutes which will fly quickly once you've immersed yourself into the theatrical storytelling by the guides. 






If you are interested in visiting this dungeon, do book online to save money. The prices start from £18.95 for adults and £16.50 for children. By purchasing tickets of other attractions in the vicinity such as The London Eye and Madaam Tussades Museum, you will receive a bundle offer which will save you money.


4) Central London


To be more accurate, it's this area.





Westminster neighbourhood+ area around Buckingham Palace. If you enjoy taking photos, this location must be included in your itinerary.

I started off at Buckingham Palace to watch Changing the Guards. The dates can be found in this website but just to be safe, you can also go the palace a day before to confirm with the workers there.



After a long hour of watching guards march around, we walked through St James Park which is the most beautiful park I've ever seen. Autumn colored leaves dotted the grassy fields; swans frolicking in the almost crystal clear lake. It is truly a refugee from the bustling city life. 



We walked towards Big Ben, right before crossing Westminster Bridge and then walked south-west towards Westminster Abbey for more photos.









3) Les Miserables


Firstly, it is pronounced as 'Lay Me-zeh-rab' (in English). So if you're planning to buy the tickets on the spot, learn how to pronounce this first. At first I didn't really know how it's pronounced and I was quite embarrassed that I had said it wrongly. To be honest, I'm still not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly but well it's on the internet so it must be right, right?? :) (nervous smile)


Because it is such a popular show, the better seats are bound to be gone weeks before the show even started. I think I purchased mine online on 3 weeks before the play and 90% of the good seats were gone. Thank god I managed to get a hold of 2 3rd row seats in the Dress Circle.

Since The Queen's Theatre is an old theatre (more than a 100 years old), the theatre is quite small- cramped seats with little leg space. Imagine how inconvenient it'll be if the person sitting right in the middle came late. However, the tiny theatre had a spinning stage to make up for it's size. 


Great plot. Great lighting. Great actors and really amazing songs. I really recommend this to theatre lovers who haven't seen it yet.








2) The Slug and Lettuce


Looking for amazing food that comes with a cheap price? Look no further.


The Slug and Lettuce is a national pub that serves great food and alcohol. When I first saw this on TripAdvisor, I thought 'hmm it's a pub. It's probably going to be quite cramped and loud' but I stand corrected.




Because we went in the morning, we had the whole place to ourselves but it starts to get cramped during lunch hours. We were really lucky to go on a Monday as there is a promotion every Monday. Half price off food! There is also a buy 1 get 1 free sort of deal for desserts on other days too. 








Well I had to order 2 plates of dessert for myself since I am a glutton. I really recommend this one^ . I forgot what the name is but there's the word cookie in the menu. It's basically a brownie, baked in a cookie with nuts, finishing off with a scoop of icy cold vanilla ice cream. My mouth is already watering at the thought of it.



1) Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel


Lastly, my favourite location- Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel. 

I had a bit of trouble finding the location because my phone had a little glitch. Also, the tunnel is hidden in a car park beside a skyscraper. At first we found the closed end of the tunnel and I was really disappointed because I was really looking forward to it. Then there was this guy just walking there and that was when I realize that the tunnel isn't closed. After asking a few guys in the car park, I found the entrance to this insta-worthy background heaven!!










London is truly the perfect place for art, photography and to relax. I'd definitely come back to London as there are many interesting places to go to despite being a small country.  

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