London Waterloo

The London Waterloo Terminal is hub for all trains travelling towards South of UK. One can get arial view of the London Waterloo station from the London Eye Ride. Most of the SouthWest trains start and end their service at this terminal. It was also getway for the Euro Star train from UK to Main land Europe. However now the Euro Star services start and terminate from the London St Pancaras Station. There are few London Underground servies such as Waterloo City Line, Bakerloo and Northern Line etc connecting the Waterloo Station to other parts of central London.

Boarding Southwest Train At London Waterloo Station.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle in Surrey, UK is located in south west of London. It is a thousand year old fortress which is converted into Royal Palace. Some parts of the castle are accessible for the tourist visitors. The remaining part is Residence of the British Monarch. The Queen spends many of her summer weekends at this Palace.
How to reach Windsor Castle : One can drive to Windsor or take Southwest train to Windsor and Eaton RiverSide from Waterloo. For those who are located near Heathrow, can come to Feltham and catch the same train to the destination. On reaching the final destination of the train, one has to walk outside the station following the signs to the castle.
Entrance Fee : The Castle visitors are bound to pay an entry fee at the entrance. There is concession for senior citizens and kids. All visitors are provided with audio guide which provides them with historic details of each landmark in the castle.
Galleries and State Appartments : Some of the galleries and state appartments are made open for tourist visitors. These display expensive valuables of the British Monarch and hence photography is not allowed inside them.
However the tourist can take snaps in the outskirts of the Castle.
At 11 o clock, the soldiers march in the courtyard of the castle. So if one has missed the Change of Gaurds at the Buckingham palace then this is one good opportunity.

London sightseeing itinerary

One can manage London sight seeing in a day with following list of attractions. Most of these attractions lie in London Tube's Transport zone one. So advise buying London TFLs Zone one Day Pass.

1. Trafalgar Square
2. London Eye
3. City of West Minster and Big Benn
4. Change of Gaurds at Buckingham Palace
5. Tower of London
6. Tower of London Bridge
7. Madam Tussands
8. Harrods Departmental Store
9. Mohamed Alfayed Statue at Harrods
10. Dodi and Princes Diana Memorial
11. London St Pancras

Miscellaneous:

1. Neasden Temple
2. Thames River Cruise
3. Walk along the River Thames
4. Trafalgar Square National Gallery
   

Diwali at Trafalgar Square

The Diwali festival was celebrated in Trafalgar Square, London with great pomp. The Mayor of London had hosted the Diwali celebration on Sunday, 19th October 2008. It is called Mayor of London - Diwali. I took Bakerloo line from Kenton to Charing Cross and took Trafalgar Square Exit. There were lots of Indians flocking around in that area, although I had reached the venue quiet early. There was huge Lord Ganpati Idol standing in front of the Trafalgar monument. The Diwali Celebrations Stage was put up infront of the Trafalgar Square Monument. There were tents setup by different NGOs on the square. They were distributing Diwali Greeting Cards and Balloons. After some time the celebrations started with prayer to Lord Ganesha and speech my Mayor of London.

The program continued with lots of Bollywood songs and dances. The place became crowded slowly. There were food stalls with Indian offering Indian food. I grabbed some food stuff to eat. Since I had to go to Birmingham the next day, I left for the day.

St Pancras

Everyone is proud of their baby and so am I. Well you got me wrong. Its St Pancras - London. Hmmm. I have seen the new St Pancras Station at London being built for almost every Monday morning at 7:30 am. I started commuting to London every Monday after I joined Xerox Project as Axon SAP CRM Consultant. I used to catch the 5:25 am train from Nottingham to London for almost eight months. When the opening of the London St Pancras came nearer, they had displayed a board. And I remembered counting the counter on that board which said '110 days to go'. In August 2007, I moved to new project of Birmingham City Council. Somewhere in my heart, I was feeling happy that I was going to be located near my home. But at the same time, I felt bad to know that I will not be able to see the grand opening of the St Pancras Station. Well, I wish, that I had not made this wish even in my wildest dreams. But it came true. I was assigned to Transport for London Project within months time and I was able to see the opening of the new St Pancras Station. :)

Dodi and Diana memorial

The Harrods Department Store has the created Dodi Al-Fayaed and Princess Dianas Memorial at the Basement section of the Harrods Super Store. The memorial is located in the Eygptian section of the Department. The memorial has pictures of Dodi and Princes Diana. There is fountain in front of the pictures and candels are lit in their memory.

Harrods Departments

The Harrods Shopping Mall is located near the Tube Station Knights Bridge on Picadilly Line and has three floors. The Mall is divided in different sections. The food section really appealed me. There were food stalls from different parts of the world. This distinguished Harroeds from other hi-tech Malls which I have visited in past. The other section which appealed me the most was the one which displayed collection of ornamental pens and chess boards. Each article in this section is just worth watching for a poor SAP consultant like me. For the simple reason, the cost of each article at display being exhorbitent.

The basement section is comletely created in Egyptian theme.
Yes we did buy chocolates from Harrods as momento of our visit and gifted it to our dear friend Onur at Covent Garden.

Harrods - Mohamed Alfayed

I had been to Harrods with Abhi once we were in London. Everyone had recommended me to visit Harrods and I was wondering why? With so many malls sprung up in last few years in Mumbai, I was not keen to go and visit Harrods in London. For most of the Bollywood fans, there is high possibility to sight one of your favourite stars at Harrods. As most of them visit Harrods to buy some exclusive jewellery, accessories or something else.
During my first visit to Harrods, I was hoping to see one. We roamed all three floors of Harrods and were not able to site any Bollywood star. On the ground floor we sighted the wax statue of Harrods owner – Mohamed AlFayed. And Abhi asked me to get satisfied with statue.
On my request, we then went to see the glassware section. As usual Abhi was being extra cautious and taking full care that I do not bump into one of the costly artifcats displayed in that section. In an attempt to be away from the displayed artifacts I moved behind a step and Abhi pulled me back. I was going to bump into one man in grey suit. There were body gaurds roaming around him. Within splits of seconds Abhi shouted and me, as usual you were going to hit him. That man smiled and walked around and every member of the staff was greeting him. To my surprise he was the Harrods owner, Mohamed AlFayed. Wow!!!
My visit to Harrods was successful. :D
I wanted to show it to my parents. We took bus from Bakers street to Harrods – Knights Bridge Tube station.
It was long day and we were tired so we wrapped up quickly.

Madam Tussands

From the Cathedral, we took bus number 63 to Kings Cross St Pancras and then Circle line tube to Bakers Street. We had bought Madam Tussands after 5 saver online tickets. After the booking is complete you need to print the confirmation immediately. So keep that in mind while making the booking. It is cheaper option and you can visit all attractions in given time before the Museum closes for the day. I would highly recommend one to buy these After 5 saver tickets.
Important: I had delayed buying the After 5 online tickets and I got 5:30 pm slot. However the when we reached the attraction at 5 o clock, they allowed us to enter the museum. You need to provide your credit card with which you booked the tickets at entrance.
Madam Tussands Tickets can also be bought in combination with London Eye and other attractions. Also you can get Madam Tussands tickets from Tesco Club card Vouchers. However you need to keep this in mind that the Tesco will send you the attraction vouchers in the next club card statement. So one needs to plan this in advance in one months

Tower of London Bridge

The Tower of London Bridge is just in front of the Tower of London museum. This bridge opens up from between when a high steamer or cruise boat passes below it. I was privileged to see the London Bridge opening in my second trip to the same attraction. The architechture of the Tower of London Bridge appealed me more then London Bridge. The nursery ryhme, 'London Bridge is falling down' has made London Bridge much more popular then the Tower of London Bridge for common man around the world.

Tower of London

From the St James Park west bound district line will take you to Tower Hill Tube station.
You need to walk out of the tub station and walk to the Tower of London Museum.
Admissions to Tower of London for an adult cost 16.50 GBP, however with London two for one voucher you can get 50% discount. The prerequisite for getting two for one deal is that you need to have rail tickets or London Tube day pass. At the ticket window, you need to fill in the voucher and they will give you two tickets at rate of one. One can provide the hotels address where you are staying in as contact address in UK.

There are guided tours available at the entrance of the Tower of London Museum and these are included in the entrance charge.
The Tower of London museum hosts the Queens Crown with Indian Diamond Kohinoor studded in it. It also has some other crowns and jewels on display.
You can take your picture with the Bobby standing in front of the Museums gates.

Change of Guards and Buckingham Palace

To reach the Buckingham palace from London Eye, one needs to walk towards the bridge near Westminster Abbey. There are many local buses from the bus stop on the bridge which will take you to the West Minster Abbey entrance or St James Park Tube station.
After a long walk through St James Park you will reach Buckingham palace.Change of Guards ceremony takes place every day at 11:30 am in front of the Buckingham palace.
You need to reach there well in advance to secure the right position to watch the ceremony. I would recommend you to go and stand on the steps of the fountain in front of the Buckingham palace entrance. The guards march from the Palace along with the band. The band plays music in palace courtyard and then march out of the palace again.
We sat on the steps of the fountain munching some snacks and watched the guards march out. As the procession comes to an end, you can walk back to the St James Park Tube station. There is toilet facility available in the St James Park.

City of Westminster and Big Ben

Some parts of the City of Westminster are accessible by public, however I never visited it.Its worth taking photograph of the amazing piece of architecture from London eye ride or foot of the London eye. My father took some good pictures of the City of West Minster with his new Nikon D80 SLR.
If one is has allocated more then one day for London Sight seeing, then they can visit the City of Westminster.

London Eye

We took Bakerloo Line and alighted at Waterloo station. Then we walked towards the London Eye. The London Eye ticket counter opens at 9:30 am and its services start from 10:00 am everyday. Being amongst the early visitors of the day, we could skip the long queues for tickets of London Eye. One can buy London Eye tickets online in advance. These online tickets are 10 % cheaper then regular price. They will give you confirmation and you need to be present 15 minutes earlier to collect the tickets. If you do not reach the venue in given time, then your reservation will be void. I personally did not prefer to buy online tickets because we were travelling from Nottingham the same day. The London Eye tickets come in combination with other tourist attraction and offer handsome discounts.
The ride is of about 15 minutes. During the ride you can see spectacular views of London City.

Trafalgar Square

From Kings Cross we took Northern Line to Tube station Leicester Square.
From Leicester Square, we took Bakerloo line to Charing Cross Tube station. Then take exit to Trafalgar square. Surprisingly we were the day’s first visitors to Trafalgar Square. We reached there by 8:15 am. We took some snaps of the place. Usually tourists climb the square monument and take snaps of themselves with any of the four lions. Some even climb sit on the lions back.

I got chance to visit Trafalgar Square thrice.
1) Normal Tourist Hours - with Abhis parents
2) Early Birds in Morning - with my parents

3) Completely packed - Diwali at Trafalgar Square

We then moved on to visit London Eye.

London Zone 1 Day card

All major attractions covered in London Sight seeing article lie in Zone 1. So if you travel to London Zone one by some long distance train in UK or Europe, then please buy Zone 1 day travel card. This will cover transportation by London Tube and local buses in London.
We bought the Travel card for Zone one at Kings Cross.
One needs to tap the oyster card or the Zone one ticket on the ticket machine at the entrance of each station or after entrying the London Underground Bus.
Note: Please don’t forget to collect London 2 for 1 pamphlet at the Tube Stations Ticket counter

Nottingham to London

I had booked train tickets quiet well in advance on East Midland Train site. If you book in advance then the train tickets are very cheap. The National Rails site provides you exhaustive list of train times. The Mega Trains site also provides you cheap train tickets on selected train journeys and is worth visiting. You might save almost 50 to 60 percent on the train journey fair if you plan the trip in advance.
We caught East Midlands train from Nottingham to London St Pancras International at 5:29 am. This train reaches St Pancras at 7:38 am. For those new to London, Kings Cross (Tube station and long distance train) and St Pancras International (Euro star and Midlands Station) are geographically located at same location.

London Sight seeing in a day

Besides working in London for more then year as consultant, I got opportunity to explore the local sight seeing attractions thrice in same period. Immediately the next day after joining Axon, I was on bench for a day and was waiting to be assigned to project in couple of days. The recruitment team had asked me to stay in London. So rather then sitting at home, I decided to roam around central London. I took South West train from Feltham to Waterloo and reached Waterloo central station. I entered travel information office, immediately after getting out of the train platform. I was compelled to buy day pass for hop-off bus in London. I was new to London and was unaware that the zone 1 to 6 day travel card could take me to different destinations in London L and save my 25 GBP for Bus pass.
The second time I toured London attraction with Abhis parents and third time with my parents.
Over period of time, I have listed down an itinerary to cover major attractions in London central in day with cheapest travel and entrance ticket options.

Neasden Temple

I had always heard of the Neasden Temple in London back in India and intented to visit the same one day. I had the seen the temple on TV show, The World This Week by Pranay Roy for the first time in 1990's. The show covered visit of Princes Diana to the temple. After being in UK for almost two years, I never had time to visit London and the temple on weekend. After moving to Kenton, London, I had planned visit to temple several times but it was always post-poned due to bad weather or health. Ultimately, I visited the temple on Sunday, 14th December 2008, in the morning. The weather forecast was predicted to be foggy all day long and was not good day to take nice pictures. Well, I never intented to visit the temple for pictures though. I do strongly belive in God but do not belive in praying and chanting for long hours. So was my visit to the temples a short and sweet one.

Temple is huge structure made of Marble and other precious stones. According to the Posters mounted on the walls inside the temple, it holds Guiness Record for one of the biggest temples outside India. Many other Guiness World Records set by the Swami Narayan Mandir are displayed inside the temple.

Go Green - Northwick Park, London

An attempt to capture the botanic beauty of the street, before the start of winter season.
A walk through greener side of the Ridgeway Road, Kenton, London.
Exploring the green, red, yellow, orange, pink, purple side of the city.