On-board the London Double-Decker

London is just beautiful! It was such a pleasant and entertaining ride up on the open-top, double-decker sight-seeing bus together with Sarah Stucki (a former Cebu resident), Andy Pfister and Wolf Kekert. It was a two-hour journey that will make you experience all of London’s most essential highlights! This city has definitely so much to offer! Let me tell you about it.

We first boarded the bus at Buckingham Palace Road and took over the whole of the back row seats since these are best viewing seats on an open-top bus. The first important sight we saw was Buckingham Palace – the Queen’s residence. It will always be London’s finest palace especially with its great surroundings and fine structure. It was only this time when I clearly took notice of the obvious palace structure – lavish and very impressive.

Another major highlight is the Royal Albert Hall – one of the world’s most famous concert venues. If anything is playing at this grand hall, it definitely has to have quality. Sarah made a comment that it was such a pretty looking hall on the outside and would love to see more of it on the inside!

Further along the road, we passed Kensington Palace – the former home of Princess Diana. It is now part museum and part office. I can clearly remember the huge amount of flowers and cards (from what I saw on television) and it seemed as if I was brought back to 1997.

Going round and round through the different boroughs of London gave each of us the impression that the buildings in this city all look exactly the same! I think you would seriously get lost if this capital didn’t have any street names to guide you! Andy was just amazed as to how organized London really is – every street has a name and you can locate each one by using the north, south, east or west postcodes.

Moving on, we reached the Speaker’s Corner – a famous place for public debate, a place to let your anger out! You can scream, shout and swear at the Speaker’s Corner about anything or anyone except The Queen. It’s a fun place and an absolute head turner to passers-by.

Then there is Oxford Street – London’s longest and busiest shopping district and also one of the most overcrowded streets you will find in this city! I could clearly see aboard the double-decker that people really try to make their way into the crowd to simply get into a shop! But London is not London without Oxford Street – you have to see it to believe what I’m trying to say.

We then turned left towards Baker Street, where Madame Tussauds – a celebrity waxwork attraction— is located. It certainly took us to such a famous worldwide attraction and both Sarah and Andy were very impressed!

Shortly after, the bus went through another important street – Regent Street where you will find London’s biggest and most extravagant toy shop, Hamleys. Hamleys is the perfect place to let time pass because they cater to all sorts of items for anyone at any age!

We then drove through the Westminster and City side of London where you will find the Big Ben (where the bus passed right in the hour for the bells to clang), The London Eye (where we took a flight to see the rest of the city on a higher point), The Westminster Abbey, The Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, 10 Downing Street (where the Prime Minister lives and just along this road, we met one of the Royal House Guards who kept a straight face although Wolf and Andy were trying so hard to at least make him smile just one bit, but he never did), Royal National Theatre, Royal Opera House, The Royal Courts of Justice, The Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, The Gherkin, Bank of England, St. Paul’s Cathedral and more! Whew! There were so much to see as we drove through the city and, apart from that, it was very interesting to know the significance about every single one of these attractions. And guess what? We learned it all, thanks to this absolute brilliant and very informative tour!

But shortly before this tour ended, we still drove though the London Bridge area where you can get the best view of The Tower of London, The London Dungeon and The Tower Bridge (London Bridge, as we would like to call it).

As we walked out of the bus, we went directly to the Greenwich Maritime and Royal Observatory where the Universal Time for the world can be found. You can stand in the middle of the time line and say that you were in two different time zones at once! Very interesting!

It was a very satisfying tour of London and I am sure that Sarah, Andy and Wolf all felt the same. If you ever plan a short visit to London, the best way to get around the city would certainly have to be the London sightseeing bus. It’s very entertaining, flexible (it runs every five to seven minutes at every bus stop), works at your own pace (you can hop-in and hop-off at anytime as tickets are valid for 24 hours) and well, worth the price you pay! Apart from that, you also get a FREE river cruise on the River Thames! It is a great experience and is absolutely worth it! Best of all, it was great to become a tourist once again! It was when I realized how enjoyable it is to be living in such a city like London!