We woke up at 8:30 am on our third day in London and started the day with in-room coffee and biscuits. Then we got ready and left our hotel at around 10 am. We stopped at another chain Pod for a proper breakfast. I had Turkish scrambled eggs - regular scrambled eggs with some veggies and black pepper as toppings. Samia had a bagel with cream cheese and we both had smoothies as well. Then we walked to the tube station and took the train to Westminster station.
Our main sightseeing attraction for the day was the Westminster Abbey. We did a tour of this old church that is a symbol of continuity of the royal family. We did the audio tour offered by the church. In typical British fashion, you see organization at its best. It's the first church we've been to that had full time staff walking around and you could ask them any questions. The audio tour is also laid out in the most efficient way with very clear directions and excellent narration. The church hosts royal weddings, coronation of the new monarch and funerals. It's also significant as the final resting place of many English monarchs and famous people. It was a little weird to walk on top of stones marked with the names of the people buried under them but I guess when you have to bury so many people over the course of centuries in what's not a huge church, that's the only option.
We saw graves of pioneer scientists like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin and the so-called Poet's corner with the graves of many writers and poets like Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, William Wordsworth and CS Lewis among many others. We saw the resting place of many kings, queens, members of the royal family and dukes. The church itself is a fine example of gothic architecture with its ornate nave and the so-called lady chapel. We saw the main altar with its decorative floor of Italian tiles lined with semi-precious stones. It's the location where English monarchs have been coronated since the eleventh century. After doing the audio tour, we exited the church but not before we saw the original oak coronation chair that was last used in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth the second's coronation and will be used next time for her heir.
Then we took the tube to Oxford Street for some shopping. After that, we decided to stop at the Turkish restaurant where we had dinner a couple of days ago, this time for lunch. We tried their combo deal that came with 8 appetizers to share followed by two small main courses - lamb for me and chicken for Samia. All 8 appetizers were outstanding and included hummus, baba ghanoush, yogurt with beans, falafel, cheese pastry, eggplant, mahmara and fatoush salad. We then had Turkish tea before ending the splendid meal with kunafe for dessert. We decided to rest up so we took the tube back to our hotel to rest for about an hour.
We left at about 6 pm and took the tube to the Greenwich station. We were meeting Samia's aunt Phoppo Appa for dinner. As soon as you walk out of the station, you see the Greenwich line which is the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) line that's the standard reference used for specifying time zones around the world. We met her outside the O2 arena which is a huge complex for shopping and restaurants. We walked along the River Thames for a very peaceful walk, very much unlike the busy touristy path outside the Tower of London. The weather had cooled down after a hot day and the breeze was just perfect. We walked to a bench along the river bank and sat there for about an hour catching up with Phoppa Appa while savoring the serene sights that lay in front of us.
Then around 8:20 pm, we started walking back to the O2 arena and reached Jimmy's Restaurant. The restaurant was picked by Phoppo Appa and it was an excellent choice. The restaurant offered an all-you-can-eat buffet for a variety of cuisines - desi, Chinese, continental, Thai, sushi and of course desserts. There were also stalls where you could get freshly stir-fried noodles and fresh naans. It was a delightful dining experience and we made the most of it since we needed a few hours to do justice to the variety of offer but only had an hour before the restaurant closed at 10 pm. Dinner was a treat by Phoppo Appa. After dinner, we walked back together to the tube station and took the first train together to the junction station of London Bridge. After a splendid evening with Phoppo Appa, we then took the train back to our hotel and finalized our packing for our flight in the morning.
London has been the perfect end to our vacation. There is so much to do, so much to see and such excellent food that we have decided that we will continue coming back, perhaps for short stopovers on our trips to Pakistan and other parts of the world. The cosmopolitan mega city is a unique blend of history and the global modern world with excellent culinary options and a worthy transit system. For urban explorers like me and Samia, it's the perfect getaway. We were lucky to not get any rain so perhaps that's why our experience was so good but we'll put that to test by making London a frequent destination in future.
Our main sightseeing attraction for the day was the Westminster Abbey. We did a tour of this old church that is a symbol of continuity of the royal family. We did the audio tour offered by the church. In typical British fashion, you see organization at its best. It's the first church we've been to that had full time staff walking around and you could ask them any questions. The audio tour is also laid out in the most efficient way with very clear directions and excellent narration. The church hosts royal weddings, coronation of the new monarch and funerals. It's also significant as the final resting place of many English monarchs and famous people. It was a little weird to walk on top of stones marked with the names of the people buried under them but I guess when you have to bury so many people over the course of centuries in what's not a huge church, that's the only option.
We saw graves of pioneer scientists like Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin and the so-called Poet's corner with the graves of many writers and poets like Charles Dickens, Jane Austin, William Wordsworth and CS Lewis among many others. We saw the resting place of many kings, queens, members of the royal family and dukes. The church itself is a fine example of gothic architecture with its ornate nave and the so-called lady chapel. We saw the main altar with its decorative floor of Italian tiles lined with semi-precious stones. It's the location where English monarchs have been coronated since the eleventh century. After doing the audio tour, we exited the church but not before we saw the original oak coronation chair that was last used in 1953 for Queen Elizabeth the second's coronation and will be used next time for her heir.
Then we took the tube to Oxford Street for some shopping. After that, we decided to stop at the Turkish restaurant where we had dinner a couple of days ago, this time for lunch. We tried their combo deal that came with 8 appetizers to share followed by two small main courses - lamb for me and chicken for Samia. All 8 appetizers were outstanding and included hummus, baba ghanoush, yogurt with beans, falafel, cheese pastry, eggplant, mahmara and fatoush salad. We then had Turkish tea before ending the splendid meal with kunafe for dessert. We decided to rest up so we took the tube back to our hotel to rest for about an hour.
We left at about 6 pm and took the tube to the Greenwich station. We were meeting Samia's aunt Phoppo Appa for dinner. As soon as you walk out of the station, you see the Greenwich line which is the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) line that's the standard reference used for specifying time zones around the world. We met her outside the O2 arena which is a huge complex for shopping and restaurants. We walked along the River Thames for a very peaceful walk, very much unlike the busy touristy path outside the Tower of London. The weather had cooled down after a hot day and the breeze was just perfect. We walked to a bench along the river bank and sat there for about an hour catching up with Phoppa Appa while savoring the serene sights that lay in front of us.
Then around 8:20 pm, we started walking back to the O2 arena and reached Jimmy's Restaurant. The restaurant was picked by Phoppo Appa and it was an excellent choice. The restaurant offered an all-you-can-eat buffet for a variety of cuisines - desi, Chinese, continental, Thai, sushi and of course desserts. There were also stalls where you could get freshly stir-fried noodles and fresh naans. It was a delightful dining experience and we made the most of it since we needed a few hours to do justice to the variety of offer but only had an hour before the restaurant closed at 10 pm. Dinner was a treat by Phoppo Appa. After dinner, we walked back together to the tube station and took the first train together to the junction station of London Bridge. After a splendid evening with Phoppo Appa, we then took the train back to our hotel and finalized our packing for our flight in the morning.
London has been the perfect end to our vacation. There is so much to do, so much to see and such excellent food that we have decided that we will continue coming back, perhaps for short stopovers on our trips to Pakistan and other parts of the world. The cosmopolitan mega city is a unique blend of history and the global modern world with excellent culinary options and a worthy transit system. For urban explorers like me and Samia, it's the perfect getaway. We were lucky to not get any rain so perhaps that's why our experience was so good but we'll put that to test by making London a frequent destination in future.
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