The London Bridge Is ...

22 May 2015 (Friday) to 25 May 2015 (Monday) - London.  The trip did not start off on a good note as my British Airways flight was delayed.  There were no written notices anywhere and unfortunately I couldn’t understand the announcements made in German.  As such, I had to make enquiries with a security guard who was highly displeased as I was probably the n^th tourist asking him the same question haha.  Nevertheless, I found out from him that my flight was delayed for nearly 2 ½ hours till 10.30pm and had to make alternative plans of getting from the airport to the hostel in view of the timings of the last trains in London.  The wifi coverage in Munich Terminal 1 was not the best, but I am definitely grateful that at least there was some wifi connection available!

Flight delay

In addition, I noted that some passengers were awarded food vouchers to redeem dinners at the airport food court.  According to these passengers, the vouchers were given to them when they checked-in, but I received nothing from the immigration officer.  It was truly unfortunate that the entire experience left me with a very poor impression of how the British Airways handled the technical flight delay.

Leaving the Munich Airport

100ml coke can!

As I reached London Heathrow Terminal 5 much later than expected, I took the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington Station.  It cost me dearly – 35 pounds for a return trip on the Express service.  By the time I reached Paddington Station, it was slightly past midnight.  Buying the train tickets to get from Paddington Station to my hostel was another problem.  The ticketing machines refused to accept notes (and definitely not 50 pound notes) and certain coins (e.g. anything 20 cents or less).  I had to obtain change from a kind English family who got all their family members to gather their coins so that it was enough to give me a change of 5 pounds in coins.  Plus, the ticketing machine refused to give me any change.  But honestly at that point of time, I was desperate and didn’t really care as long as I could get a ticket to my station.  Thankfully, I caught the last train to Bayswater station.  As YC said, I was lucky that London is an English-speaking country… otherwise things may have been worse!

The transport system in London over the weekend leaves much to be desired as several train stations were closed for refurbishments.  I’m not sure if we were just unlucky or if that happens every weekend.  In fact, on 25 May, Monday, it was announced that there would have been a train strike in the whole of London City.  25 May and 26 May were Bank Holidays, hence it was an opportune moment for the strikes to hit where it hurt most!  Thankfully the strike was averted with management promising higher pay for the staff.  However, according to the Daily Mail, it appears that the payouts made by train management angered many London citizens.  The company has failed to meet any of its targets this year and citizens felt that staff shouldn’t be rewarded bonuses for providing ‘safe’ travel, as safety issues should be a pre-requisite for any train travel.  

In any case, by the time I reached the hostel and climbed into bed it was nearly 2am.  The Gallery Hyde Park Hostel Reception opens 24hrs and the reception staff were very friendly!  Trying to find my top bunk bed in the pitch black dormitory room (as I was very late and everyone was already asleep…) was quite a challenge but I was highly exhausted after the entire ordeal and fell asleep almost instantaneously.

Shady night outside the Gallery Hyde Park Hostel

The next day I woke up early before 7am and went to take a morning stroll in the Kensington Park.  It was a refreshing sight with the greenery, beautiful waters, joggers and people walking their frisky dogs.  

Kensington Palace

Queen Victoria's statue

Free breakfast was served in the Gallery Hyde Park Hostel at 8am and after having cereal and some toast I headed out to Oxford Circus to purchase tickets for the musicals.  

View outside the hostel in the morning

Along the way and over the next 3 days, I passed by some of the streets which would be familiar to any ardent Monopoly player, Bow Street, Marylebone, Bond Street, Picadilly, Leichester Square, Coventry, Mayfair, etc.

The ‘Ewe-nique’ Shaun the Sheep sculptures appears across London as part of an art trail which aims to raise money for children’s charities.  Surprisingly, it actually coincides with the Chinese lunar year of the Sheep!  Did they plan it that way?

At Sloane Square, near our lunch venue, it was the RHS Chelsea Flower Show over the weekend.  The gorgeous windows displays were magical and a great delight to both the young kids and adults!

I met up with KT for lunch at Canvas Restaurant.  The service and food here was extremely splendid!  And I will definitely recommend everyone to come here for a meal if you are staying in London!  Thanks to the restaurant manager Alis Jusic, our pre-ordered food came in good time for us to catch our musical matinee!  It was undoubtedly the best meal which we had during our stay in London!  Here are the details of the restaurant in case you are interested.

Canvas Restaurant

1 Wilbraham Place

London SW1X 9AE

Canvas restaurant

Fruit juice and bread

Duck liver mousse, beetroot cream, brioche

Mackeral Escabeche, parmesan polenta, pimenton oil

Glazed beef cheeks, Basilippo mashed potato and broccoli

Panfried smoked cod, quinoa and cauliflower couscous

Chocolate textures, ivoire yoghurt soup

Rose water panna cotta, poached rhubarb, strawberry sorbet

Dinner on Saturday evening before Miss Saigon was at Four to Eight.  The service and food was pretty good and there was a full dinner crowd at the restaurant when we ate.

Culatello - BBQ charentais melon

Grilled Sardine Fillet - pickled carrot, fennel & mustard seed

Grapefruit juice &

Cranberry juice (tasting suspiciously like Ribena)

Grilled skirt steak - polenta, cotton onions & watercress

Pollack peperonata

Dolcetto - bromonte pistachio cookie & reduced milk ice cream

Gariguette Strawberries & Aperol - meringue & cucumber sorbet

Lunch was at Chez Patrick on Sunday afternoon before The Lion King.  We were late for our lunch reservation but the restaurant manager / owner (we think he’s probably Patrick) was very forgiving.  When we informed him that we were rushing for The Lion King Matinee he acceded to our request and even mentioned that his favourite musical is The Phantom of Opera.   I probably have to come back to London again just to watch that! 

Chez Patrick

7 Stratford Road

London W8 6RF

At Chez Patrick, I would highly recommend the Fig Tart.  It is a MUST TRY!!! Seriously, the B.E.S.T Ever!!!

Over the weekend, we watched 3 musicals, ‘Les Miserables’ at the Queens Theatre, ‘Miss Saigon’ at the Prince Edward Theatre and ‘Lion King’ at Lyceum Theatre.  If I was a Cannes or Oscar Awards Judge, here are the awards which I would have given to the 3 musicals:

Best Official Soundtrack:  Les Miserables

Live band playing the familiar strains of music had me humming along in awe!  It helps that I know the lyrics as well, but overall the singing was marvelous!  I especially liked Javier’s performance!

Best Drama: Miss Saigon

Haha when I say drama, I literally mean ‘DRAMA’…. One word to describe it… Racy!  It’s either M18 or R21 haha.  A lot of kissing/sex scenes peppered the entire musical but the theatrical effects were pretty impressive with a helicopter entering the stage.  Okay I shall not spoil those who have not watched this musical.  I’m not a fan of such dramatic (or as Koreans may call it ‘Makjang’) shows, but nevertheless it’s nice to see something Asian for a change.

Best Audience Interaction: The Lion King

The musical reminded me of the one I watched at Disney Hong Kong!  A lot of audience interaction and I’m sure kids will love it to bits!  Actors pop up randomly from everywhere amongst the audience which makes the musical doubly fun!  The father-daughter pair sitting next to us however paid almost 20+ pounds extra per ticket simply because they bought it off a ticket agent.  Hence, I would advise to buy the tickets directly from the box office.

Breakfast on Sunday was at Lantana.  According to the website, one has to queue for the food.  Thankfully we arrived early but still had to wait some time before our food was served.  Our burger and scrambled eggs were extremely delicious though!  Well-worth the wait!

Breakfast at Lantana

Smoked haddock hash with scrambled eggs & watercress tartare

English muffin with sausage patty, bacon, fried egg,
hollandaise butter, smoked cheddar, spinach & chilli jam

Green Machine (apple, celery, lemon, spinach and cucumber)
Sunshine Coast (orange, apple, carrot, ginger)

We intended to buy KT’s shoes at French Sole in Marylebone.  Unfortunately the shop opens only at noon on Sundays.  It was the same for Marks & Spencer (‘M&S’) and Primark.

With a highly dampened shopping mood, we trudged along to visit the Tower Bridge and London Bridge.  

Tower bridge

Yes, your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  This is the London Bridge… Well… it... left me stunned?  Haha I’m not kidding you, seriously!

The London Bridge is... umm... not what i expected... haha

An old photo of the London Bridge
Courtesy of the old photo gallery at Selfridges tax refund lounge

After the Lion King Matinee, we had dinner at The Goring Dining Room.  Although the setting was in a luxury hotel.  The food and service was unfortunately not so grand after all.  The prices were a little steep given the menu and service standards… You would probably be better off going to either the Canvas Restaurant or Chez Patrick for dinner instead.

Figs and raisin bread

Onion bread

Fruit cocktails with elderflower, pineapple and orange juice

Goring plates

Cured sea trout, English asparagus, smoked mayonnaise

Banham chicken terrine, cured duck, artichoke, fig, chicken liver parfait

Suffolk pork fillet, pickled turnip, suckling pig belly, beetroots, smoked eel fritter

Telmara farm duck, braised duck bun, glazed heritage carrots, chocolate porter

Tea, coffee and petits fours

Apparently, Kate Middleton and her family stayed at this hotel with a rich royal heritage and she spent her last night as an unmarried woman and a 'commoner' here.

Dinner place was a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, so we started our stroll through London Westminster towards Globe Theatre by the Thames River. 

Westminster Church and Abbey where the Royal Wedding was held

Big Ben Tower

The London Eye and Thames River

The Queen's Walk

The Globe Theatre

  

Our hostel for the two nights was at Astor Queensway.  The beds are very comfortable although the stairway was very steep.  We were on the highest floor (the 6^th floor), but thankfully our room was next to the bathroom which made it very convenient to take our showers.

Astor Queensway Hostel

Monday morning, our initial plan was to have breakfast at The Muffin Man which was highly recommended by YC.  However, the shop opened later than usual.  Hence, we decided to change our plans and have breakfast at Marks & Spencer instead. 

I wanted to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, hence we hiked from Kensington Palace through Hyde Park to Marble Arch.   To my huge disappointment, there was no fountain in sight...

No fountain... maybe it only operates during certain hours

Upon reaching Marble Arch, it was shop till you drop at Primark, Marks & Spencer and Selfridges & Co.!

Marble Arch

Primark shopping for clothes

Breakfast at Marks & Spencer

Waiting at the luxurious lounge in Selfridges for KT to complete her tax refund

Old photo collection gallery

We had a quick lunch (which ended up to be not so quick after all, since the shop at a technical problem with their cashier) at St. Christopher’s Place.  Decent food, so-so service, probably due to the immense lunch crowd during the Bank Holidays.

Bruschetta

Fresh ripe tomatoes, roasted peppers, basil and oregano on garlicky chargrilled ciabatta

Pate di Fegatini di Pollo

Homemade smooth chicken liver pate, toasted ciabatta bread and onion relish

Penne alla Luganica

Tubes of pasta with a rich and spicy Italian sausage sauce

Tiramisu

Mele e Biscotti
Crushed hazelnut meringue biscuits with caramelised apple, vanilla cream and toffee sauce

Finally it was time to return to Munich!  Thankfully the flight departed on-time!  A minor grouse that I had was that although I had a Heathrow Express return pass, I still had to use my Oyster Card to enter the station before I could board the Heathrow Express.  This seemed like an additional step which was extremely silly to me, especially since Oyster cards are not allowed to be used on the Heathrow Express…   

Sadly, there were quite a few not-so-pleasant experiences in London during this particular trip, but it would still be nice to return in future to watch The Phantom of Opera, have another go at the Fig Tart from Chez Patrick and maybe have breakfast at The Muffin Man!  Till then, the London Bridge will probably stay as it is and unlikely to fall anytime soon!