First stop... LONDON, ENGLAND

Hi Everyone! 

This blog will be about traveling and food... and maybe other things that I like. I'm not sure where it'll go from here or how often I'll post but I plan on picking random locations I want to visit and different food that I love! 


The first location of this blog is LONDON, England. It's actually one of the places I've been to but I still need to see a lot more there! There will always be a lot to see in a big city like that for all tourists and the people who live there.


CALLING ALL LONDON LOVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Let's start off with my #1 favorite thing in London that drove me CRAAAAZY the first time I saw it. It's exciting to see it with your own eyes after seeing it on TV or movies for all those years. 

Yes, it really IS that gorgeous! Picture taken by me during my ride on the London Eye.

Big Ben... Something a lot of people don't know (and at once I didn't know this either) is that BIG BEN is not the tower itself. It's actually the bell of the clock! The clock tower, which is now called the Elizabeth Tower, stands at the end of the Palace of Westminster. 

I remember my first time seeing it. I couldn't even take my eyes off of it! I started taking pictures of it while waiting to cross the street to get closer. The clock's light in the nighttime is beautiful! After taking those 20 or so photos you can start walking further and you'll see the Westminster Bridge and the LONDON EYE! The big ferris wheel all London lovers dream of going on!

Going on the London Eye will cost you around £18. You might hear from others that it's not worth it but you gotta go on it at least once as a London lover. The one thing I wish I could do is get the whole capsule to myself someday when I go on it again. Some people actually get married on the London Eye! Not sure how because the ride is between 20-30 minutes. It's probably a short wedding or they book it for longer. Okay getting off topic... so yes the London Eye. They'll let you experience a 4D movie about London and specifically the London Eye once you buy those tickets. Make sure you don't forget to watch it (because I almost did!) 

Here's a picture I took when my capsule and the capsule next to me were at the top of the London Eye: 

Okay so next I'm going to focus on the TUBE and red gorgeous buses. The subway system that all tourists loooove about London because it makes traveling so much easier. One tip for all tourists is PLEASE GET A DAY PASS for each day you're there because you will be going around to a lot of places and trust me, it's not worth it to buy an oyster card that you have to add more money on each time. The travel card will work for unlimited times each day. So some of the pros and cons of the Tube and buses I'd say are:

Pros: 

• Short waiting time. The longest I had to wait for a train was a little over 5 mins. Most of them come within a few minutes! Buses do have a longer waiting time but it's not too bad.
• They go all around the city! You can get anywhere and everywhere in London with a bus and/or tube.
• Tubes are super fast. Woohoo!
• They are connected with major airports and train stations that go to other cities. Too bad the US doesn't have that. If I wanted to go to LA or NY I can't just go on a train that will take me there. 

Cons:

• They are really packed in Central London during peak times. I can't blame them since London is such a famous big city that tourists visit all year long. You really can't avoid the packed trains in Central! 

Photo above taken by me right by the Picadilly Circus!

So on the tube, we get to the Picadilly Circus. This place is packed and I mean PACKED with tourists. I guess this place is to London what Times Square is to NYC. I always wonder how they shoot movies here with no tourists. I'd be super angry if I was spending a day in London and I had to wait for the filming to be over to get my own pictures done at the touristy spot. I can't complain too much about the tourists and others who go there because you will get to see people from all over the world in one city... from honeymoon couples to students who came for a short weekend (like me the first couple of times I went to London). Aaah London... it's always full of exciting people!!!! 

PICTURE TIME!!!!!!

If you're going on the London Eye and getting photos by the Picadilly Circus, you sure won't want to miss the first Madame Tassauds. If you like celebrities and want to see how they are in real life without seeing the REAL them , you MUST go there. (Some people still believe that I saw the Queen because I have a picture next to her! So if someone wants to believe that, let them!) 


Our next stop in my London topic blog is my favorite bridge in the world: TOWER BRIDGE. Now let's get this right... it's the TOWER Bridge, NOT THE LONDON BRIDGE! I like the London Bridge as well but you can't get confused and call the Tower Bridge the London Bridge and give it credit for being something it's not. The London Bridge is a whole different bridge! They are very close to each other but please don't get them confused. The Tower Bridge's lights at night make it visible from all areas near River Thames. I just can't believe someone could make a bridge this beautiful! I used to have different pictures of it as my desktop background and seeing it sure felt like a dream come true! Here is the Tower Bridge: 

 A little further from this is the London Bridge. It's an amazing experience to walk both bridges!

Next we'll take a little trip to FAMOUS PEOPLE land known as Madame Tassuads. I won't be posting those pictures on here because most of them have me in them but I'd like to share some things that you do not want to miss while you're there. With the crowd taking photos with all their favorite celebrities, don't miss out on any by rushing to avoid the crowds. You'll be surprised they have almost all notable people in that building. Next, the "taxi ride" of Madame Tassuads... They don't allow you to take photos during that ride but I like that idea because you'd rather pay attention to the ride that goes through the history of the UK and see the wax figures moving with the music. The last thing at Madame Tassuads that is a great experience is the 4D movie. The one and only problem about going to a tourist attraction that lots of people want to get the right poses and pictures at is that THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE! The only thing you can do is go early in the day and still have to be patient... I must say it is worth the time though! 

When you're in London town, you really cannot forget the Queen. Okay, I admit you won't meet the Queen unless you're a celebrity but you'll get to see 100 other tourists and the Queen's guards WHO NEVER LAUGH at work! If the flag is raised that means the Queen is inside. My favorite part about going to the Buckingham Palace (which is where the Queen works!) was the walk from Marble Arch towards the Palace that's surrounded by a beautiful park with birds and a lot of British flags. When I say a lot, I mean A LOT. You'll definitely get the feel of being in the UK.

 Then the Palace of course...

 

Seeing the length of this first post, I'd like to keep this next part short. Here is a short list of some other places that are on the "Must-See" list of your visit to London for you London lovers!

• St. Paul's Cathedral - the architecture and the traditional ceremonies!
• Milenium Bridge
• Twinings Tea Shop - get that English tea before you leave!
• Shakespeare's Globe
• Wembley Stadium for you soccer fans
• Platform 9 and 3/4 at Kings Cross Station
• Museum of London - they got a little bit of everything for everyone's taste!
• the street that was filmed as Diagon Alley in Harry Potter (I couldn't find this because I ran out of time but if you do, please share photos!)
• Hyde Park - London's famous park 
• Oxford Circus - especially Oxford Street for all you shopaholics! You can go shopping in stores like TopShop or get the smaller souvenirs from the side shops on the street.
•  Trafalgar Square - see from art galleries to street performers. This place is something you see in a lot of movies!

• Somerset House 
• Canary Wharf - Big buildings!
• The Shard - get a view of London from Europe's tallest building (from my sources, let me know if it's not the tallest anymore!)
• M&M world 
 

 Add comments if you have additional places to recommend! You'll notice you would never get bored in the world's 2nd most visited city (and believe it or not, the 1st one isn't NYC! NYC is #5 as of 2013 and it would be since it is far from the Eastern part of the world - not trying to downgrade NYC here but the focus of this post is on London!). 

 

Source for that last "fact" I just added up there: http://www.forbes.com/pictures/ehlk45iehm/2-london/