Europe Travelogue Day 1: London

You can read my previous post here:
Day -1

Day 1:

I woke up really early at 5am. Tried to go back to sleep and thought I slept for a long while but I only slept 1.5hrs so I was up again at 6.40am. L got woken up by me so we decided to head out earlier. Our airbnb place is near Edgware Road station, which is pretty convenient!

Selfie at the metro. My lips got really swollen probably cus I didn't drink enough water on the plane. For each flight I had a 500ml filled bottle but I guess it was still not enough. The condition of my lips will continue to worsen throughout my whole time in London :(

I like their tube cus it feels old and vintage-y, especially with the brick walls. Even though their metro is old, it's quite efficient. 

We bought the 7 day oyster pass from the station, which will allow us to make unlimited trips on the tube. It cost £31 + £5 deposit. The transport there is pretty expensive compared to Singapore cus it's 60SGD (exchange rate is £1 = 2SGD) for a week of transport compared to 20SGD (I think?) in SG. However, this is the best option. The night before when we were trying to get to our airbnb place, we had to pay like £4 each for a single trip of roughly 4-5 stops! I was in denial when we paid for the fare cus it's so expensive?! Better to get this and try to forget how expensive transport is in London.

We took the tube to Leicester Square to get cheap(er) theatre tickets. We bought tickets for Phantom of the Opera for the next day cus I have always wanted to watch it!! I think it was since secondary school. I remembered they came to Singapore but I was so young and didn't have enough money and my parents didn't want to spend so much for me to watch the musical.

We walked to Covent Garden from Leicester Square and waited and waited for Saudemann's walking tour to start. We were too early so we took a few photos.

Saw the iconic red telephone booths everywhere!

Brought my trusty monopod along!

The tour guide brought us to St James' Palace, which is where the Queen and the royal family reside. It looks like a simple house, with the castle type of walls. When we reached there, they were in the midst of a guard changing ceremony. The police there still ride horses!

 Guard changing ceremony

We then walked to Trafalgar Square! The place I have heard from Monopoly. It was just a big square with historical monuments.

 We walked to the Buckingham Palace after that and the guide told us the flag on top will indicate if the Queen is in the palace. That day, she was in.

Nearby to the Buckingham Palace is St James' Park. It's a very nice park with squirrels and a lot more pigeons.

 We had to leave the tour halfway as L made a lunch reservation for us at Pollen Street Social. I didn't really enjoy the tour cus half the time I didn't manage to get what the tour guide was talking about due to his accent (my fault). He didn't give enough time to take photos as well. I had to quickly snap photos and brisk walk to re-join them a few times.

We tipped the tour guide £5 each and left. To fully make use of our unlimited oyster, we took a bus to the restaurant, which was near Oxford Street.

Pollen Street Social is a one star Michelin restaurant with a reasonably priced lunch menu. £22 for a 2 course meal and £26 for a 3 course meal.

Some complimentary starters.

Photos of us with our food. I forgot their names but the food was really nice!

L had the 3 course meal so I got to share this dessert with him! It's pretty good. I want to eat it again!!

The exterior of the restaurant

With that, we headed to Oxford Street for shopping. First stop was Clarks, where L bought shoes for his mum. Clarks shoes are like half priced there compared to Singapore. Too bad, they are still too expensive for my budget for shoes. After that, we headed to Primark! Sorry no photos cus I was too excited! I have been anticipating going to Primark for awhile cus I have watched famous bloggers post their haul video and their clothes were really cheap! Even by Singapore standards. However, when I went there, I was sorely disappointed. The entire shop was a mess, clothes were strewn all over the floor, and there were so many people in the store! It wasn't a good shopping environment and I could only pick out a few pieces. Meanwhile, L bought so many things! The pants/jeans there was only £10 each and he bought like 2-3 pairs.

After that, we headed to Duck and Waffle, which is located on the 40th floor of Heron Tower. L made reservations 3 months in advance cus it's very popular. 

Their signature. Duck confit on a waffle with a duck egg on top. I love how crisp the duck confit is, but that's about the only thing I like about the restaurant. The rest of the food was so so only.

This is the reason why it's so popular. The view!! 

This is the end of Day 1 in London!

p/s: blogging this post made me miss London sooo much! I definitely want to visit London again!