London's Chinatown - One of the Best Chinatowns We Have Visited

We heard a lot of the Piccadilly District in London, therefore, we had it down as one of the places to visit on our trip to UK. While exploring the Piccadilly Circus district on foot, we also came across London’s Chinatown which is an area around Gerrard Street and Leman Street. Originated in the 18th century, Chinatown is one of the oldest areas of London and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The London Chinatown is a sizable area with numerous restaurants and eateries serving up a diverse of authentic Asian dishes.

What we found different about the London Chinatown was how modern the shops looked and its lively atmosphere. Even though it was not the weekend, there were still lots of people, tourists and locals alike in a party mood hanging out in bars, restaurants, meeting friends on the streets, shopping on its street market, and souvenir stores or lining up at bakeries and food stalls to try some interesting street food. There were people riding on beautifully decorated wagon carriages converted from tricycles serenaded by music as they were driven through the bustling streets of Chinatown. We visited a few Chinatowns in North American cities, the London Chinatown was one of the best and fun one to visit! Two thumbs up! RT, Chinatown, London 022025

Getting Admission Ticket to the British Museum on the Same Day of Our Visit Without Prior Reservation

There are a lot of things to see and places to visit in London. With only five days in this city, we had a long list of to do and to see things therefore the British Museum was not on our itinernary. But we changed our minds at the last minute and decided that we would like to visit the Museum before our UK departure.

When we went to the British Museum website, we were happy to learn that there would be no charge for admission to the Museum! Wow, how good was this? Everywere we visited in Canada/ US, there would always be charges and we hardly get anything free. Though admission to the Museum was free, one must make an online reservation and obtain a ticket. But when we went to make a reservation, we were told there were no more tickets available for the day we wanted.

Never one to give up so easily, we went to the British Museum anyway hoping to line up for some tickets reserved for last minute visitors like us. A long way before we reached the main entrance of the Museum, we saw a long line of people going around the block trying to gain admission to the Museum. The line was so long that I estimated it would be at least a 2 hour wait therefore I went up to the very front of the entrance to make sure that we were in the correct lineup. There was a couple of security guards there. I asked him the question if I was in the right line. To which he replied, ' This is the line for people with ticket reservations. Those without reservation, you need to go to the back door and line up there.'

Upon hearing this instruction, I and a few others hurried to get to our friends/ family waiting inline and askesd them to come with us to wait at the new location for visitors without prior reservations. We went to the back door of the Museum located at the side of the building. There were people waiting but this line was much shorter than the one for people with resevations!!! We were delighted as we waitied for about 20 minutes and were admitted to the Museum!!!

A lesson learned - Do not let people tell you that there are no tickets available for a certain attraction in your travel. There are always some reserved tickets for last minute visitors. We only need to be a little more resourceful and not be afraid to ask people about it!

Years ago when I was in San Fransisco, I was told the same thing about visiting the Alcartz. 'There was no tickets and that you needed to reserve weeks in advance.' I got the tickets for the next day. If you are interested to see how I got my last minute tickets to the Alcartz without prior reservation, please folow this link and read about it.

https://rtam1206.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-got-ticket-to-alcatraz-at-last-minute.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RT, British Musuem, London, UK

A Free Walking Tour in the City of Bath, UK

Our Third day in Bath -- We checked out of our hotel at 930am and joined a free walking tour hosted by the city mayor of Bath at 10:30am. The guest house management was kind enough to let us store our luggage until we came back for them before taking our train back to London. This free city tour was free, organized by the Bath Mayor and conducted by volunteer guides.

Anyone who was interested could attend this tour and there was no reservation or registration required. We just showed up at 10 a.m. near the Bath Site. Our group was divided into 3 smaller groups and we followed our guide who took us through a good part of the old city of Bath.

He explained to us some history of the city such as the development of the Queens’ Crescent, and interesting tales of Bath’s colourful characters such as John Wood and Beau Nah etc. Our guide was knowledgable and clearly passionate about his volunteer work helping toursits to know Bath better. We enjoyed the tour a lot!

Unfortunately we had to leave the tour half way in order to catch our coach back to London as we wanted to attend a tasiz service at the Tower Bridge church at 6p.m.

Howwever,, our coach was late arriving back to London. By the time we got to the church, the service was finished. We went around the London Tower and enjoyed the night view of this famous landmark! The night view was beautiful in a different way. There were ferry services and ferry tours still available in the evening. It would have been a wonderful ferry ride or tour had we been there in the summer. Well, there would always be a next time.

We wanted to experience a British pub and enjoye a traditional local dinner therefore we went to the Wetherspoon Restaurant near the waterfront. We were surprised to see the restaurant and the pub area full of people on a week night. In North America, most people stay home during the weeknights, hardly going out to enjoy ourseleves except for some business meetings or special occasions. Majority of the people, the working people, myself included before retirement, live for the TGIF - Thank Goodness It's Friday when we can let our hair down and go out for dinner, movies or meeting friends. I think it's nice the Brits can spread out their social events throughout the evening during the week! RT, Bath, UK D7022025

A Memorable Visit to Bath, UK - A UNESCO World Heritage Site

S. did some excellent research and learned that going from London to Bath by train would take about an hour and cost over 60 lbs each for a return trip. However, taking the coach would be around 20 lbs each only, much less than the train. Not in a hurry getting to Bath and desiring to take in the scenery of the countryside outside of London, we took the scenic route option. The coach left Victoria Station in London in the afternoon and the ride was about three and half hours.

We arrived at the Bath bus terminal shortly after 6pm, a little too dark for us walking to our hotel though it was within walking distance. We ordered a Uber ride on our cell phone but had some difficulties locating the car. This was a problem for us when ordering a Uber rides on this trip. The Uber driver was smart enough to flash his vehicle lights so that we could identify the car. Our hotel was on Brock Street, a historical district and we retrieved our key from the lock box and got into our place without much difficulties. After dropping off our luggage, we went out looking for a restaurant for dinner. The area was dark, not very well lit. First night at a new city, we were cautious and didn’t venture out too far from our place. We found a decent looking Thai restaurant in the neighborhood and enjoyed our dinner there.

Day 6 – Our Second day in Bath -- Staying in a house within walking distance to the old town of Bath, UK, we were able to walk to the main city district. Bath is a beautiful city with numerous grand medieval buildings. Walking on its cobbled stone streets, we felt as if we were transported back in time. Bath was inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. In 2021, it received a second inscription as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe. We were glad that we made the decision of staying in Bath for a couple of nights instead of joining a day tour to this fabulous city.

There were many restaurants, cafes and pastry shops opened serving visitors delicious food of all types. Our favorite was the pastry shop just opposite the Roman Bath site serving different savoury pastries filled with lamb, beef, chicken, Brie and grapes, and salad etc! The pastries were so good that we went back there 3 times to order more of them! We planned to visit the famous Roman Bath after breakfast. It was good that we purchased the tickets at 1030am when we first arrived at the city centre in the morning. By the time we finished breakfast and went to our 11:30 am tour, the tickets were sold out for the day!

I could not find the words to properly describe what we saw at the Roman Bath site! The Roman Bath ruins were discovered and excavated starting in 1878 and continuing into the 1900s. With the admission tickets, we were given a set of earphones for a self guided tour. The explanations were clear. As we walked and marveled at the Roman’s ingenious engineering work in ancient times, we were blown away by how well the Romans were able to take advantage of their natural environment - the hot springs, and enjoyed a luxurious life style rivalling our modern one. Using the natural hot spring water, the Romans at the time came up with different ways to enjoy this gift from mother nature such as massages, hot water bath, cold water immersion and the various hot bath pools to relax and heal their bodies while socializing with others in the community.

We were busy looking at the exhibits and reading the information about the displays. Feeling a little tired, I sat down on one of the benches. A gentleman dressed in some special clothes was sitting next to me. I made some friendly conversation with him and found that he was a citizen from the ancient past. What a nice conversation I had with him about his life during the Roman time! There was one thing we were impressed by the Romans in the ancient time - all Romans, poor or wealthy at the time could enjoy the hot spring bath at the luxurious bath houses as long as they paid the fees. Even though one could be poor, but if he/she would work hard and save enough money, one could enjoy the benefits of these healing springs! That was fair. I think it would have served as an incentive for many poor people at the time to work hard so that they could enjoy something nice in life!

RT, Bath, UK

Do People Really Need to Buy a Ticket to Watch the Changing of Guard at Buckingham Palace ?

Monday, Day 5 – After enjoying our buffet breakfast at our in London, we stored our luggage at the hotel storage room and checked out of our hotel where we called home for the first part of our UK visit. Having stayed in London for a few days, we were able to take the underground train and went to different parts of London. We prebooked a tour online for the Changing of the Guard at the Buckingham Palace - 14 British lbs each for the ticket. I was a little concerned when we read our confirmation email from the tour company. It said on our electronic confirmation that the receipt we received was not a admission ticket but a voucher. We would meet with our tour guide at the Duke of York Column at the St. James Park where we would be issued a ticket. We were given the feeling that we might be watching the changing of guard inside a place where you would need a ticket for entry.

Locating the DUKE OF York Column was not easy even though we asked a number of Londoners after leaving the subway station. It was a frustrating experience. Everyone knew where the Buckingham Palace was but few had heard of the Duke of York Column. Why the tour group didn’t choose to meet closer to the palace was a puzzle to us. Finally we located the meeting place and met up with our tour guide and the group.

Instead of being a little closer to the palace and be able to watch the changing of guard from a reasonable distance, we were a long way away from the palace! Our guide told us that to be close enough to watch the ceremony, people would have needed to be waiting in line for two hours in front of the Palace. Well, we could have come on our own earlier and watch the ceremony much closer than from where we were. Therefore, the 14 lb spent on a ticket to watch the guard changing ceremony was totally not worthy it. The only thing we got from this tour was a few stories about Charles and the current queen’s residence – Clarence House.

Since we were so far away from the Palace that we could hardly see or hear much of what was going on. We could only see the old guard leaving the palace and we followed them to their barrack, the Wellington Barrack where they were dismissed. There was not much else to see at all from that tour.

After the tour, we walked around the parliament area and learned about The Red Lion Pub, a place popular among British politicians. Some of its famous patrons included Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill. How could we pass by the opportunity of eating something at the same place where these famous people frequented before? We did go in, order a beer, some food and lingered a short while. This action almost cost us missing our coach bus to Bath. We arrived at the Victoria Coach station at the nick of time, just before our coach was pulling out of the station. I thanked God for listening to our prayers and not missing our bus to Bath and He listened! Praise God! RT, Near Buckingham Palace London, UK 022025

Where is the Real London Bridge ? Not in the UK!!!

As a child I had learned and memorized from an early age the song; London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down. London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady. I had played with my friends upteen times the London Bridge falling down game. Therefore, it has always been my dream to visit London n see for myself this famous Bridge I have known so well since childhood.

Years later, currently in my retirement, I finally was able to visit London and to see the Bridge. While in London, we went looking for the London Bridge. After a few minutes's walk from our central London hotel, we saw a beautiful majestic bridge appearing in front of our eyes. I was very excited! At last, I could have some pictures taken in front of London's famous bridge! We took a long good look at this fabulous bridge admiring the structure and the design.

I posed in front of it asking my hubby to take numerous pictures of me with the Bridge as the background. Desiring to learn more about the city of London and its world famous Bridge, we looked to join a local tour. Imagine my surprise when we were told that the fabulous bridge standing in front of us was not the London Bridge!

It is called the Tower Bridge as it is right next to the Tower of London. "Where is the London Bridge?" I asked with great anticipation. "Over there!" We looked to where we were directed.

A plain looking modern bridge came into view. I was shocked! " Where is the old London Bridge then? What happened to it?" I was very curious. " By 1962, the 1831 London Bridge was not sturdy enough to carry the increased load of traffic. It was sold by the City of London in 1968 to Robert McCulloch, an American entrepreneur and real estate developer. McCulloch installed the Bridge in Lake Havasu City to attract tourists and retirement home buyers to his properties. The old London Bridge is now in Arizona and is a tourist attraction there!"

Wow, what an interesting story about the London Bridge! All this time while we were in London, we mistook the Tower Brige as the London Bridge.

We have learned a bit more about the London Bridge. It appears that Americans seem to have a penchant for buying everything famous in other countries, including the London Bridge! RT,London, UK 022025

Learning a Lot About the Magna Carta at the British Library, London!

Though I enjoy learning about the culture, customs and the people of the countries where we visit, I do not normally visit a local library. But this time, my hubby insisted on going to the British Library, so I obliged and went along with him just to keep him company.

We took the tube and visited the British Library. It is a fairly modern building with lots of books, space for poeple to read, do their reserach and work on their computers like any other libraries we visited before. What really stood out for me was the Library's generous allocation of space for displays on various topics related to history, human rights and the environment. They were all very interesting and informative read and these were relevant social topics that should be addressed and be made aware of.

The reason for my hubby's instistence on visiting the British Library - to see the Magna Carta being displayed there. The Magna Carta - also known as the Great Charter, is one of the most famous documents in the world. I have heard of it many times being referred and quoted here and there. Not an enthusiastic student in history, I never had the interest to learn more about this document. But at the British Library, the displays and real objects added much interest to this subject and they piqued my curosity about this document.

"...The Magna Carta began as a practical solution to a political crisis for King John, who reigned from 1199 to 1216. John's reign was dominated by his prolonged struggle with the church, disastrous military campaigns in France and a rebellion by many English barrons. His extortionately heavy taxation and extreme disregard for justice led the barrons to seek a charter of liberties to defend themselves. In June 1215, negotiations at Runnymede culminated in the granting of Magna Carta which limited unjust and arbitrary behaviour by the king. It also established the prinicple that everyone was subject to the rule of law..." source - British Library display

I loved our visit to the British Museum as I learned so much about the Magna Carta and other topics such as the Proclamation of Emancipation issued during the American Civil War. Also on display was a calligrpahic portrait where the Proclamation was personified in President Lincoln encircled by 36 state seals sitting beneath the Great Seal of the USA.

The British Library is not just a library filled with books but a great storage house of tremendous wealth of knowledge of the past, present and the future ! There were so much on display and so much to see and learn! We could have spent a whole day there. If you are a curious person and love to learn, the British Library is definitely not to be missed while you're in London! Thank you to my hubby for taking me there! RT, British Library, London, UK 02162025

Attending a Sunday Service at the Westminster Abbey, London

Day 4 I have been attending Sunday Service on Sundays since I was young. Regardless of where we are in the world during our travels, we try our best to attend a Sunday Service at a local church. This time we were in London and of course we would not miss the Sunday Service at the Westminster Abbey!

We were pretty excited at the thought of attedning a Sunday Service at Westminster Abbey - a UNESCO World Heritage site, it is a significant national landmark in London. The Abbey has been the coronation church for English and British monarches since 1066. The coronation ceremony has kept a similar form for the last 1000 years. Many of the members of the royal family, sixteen of whom were married there. It is also a final resting place for seventeen monarchs as well as for more than 3,300 prominent political figures, poets, scientists and writers. It is a majestic building, a prime example of English Gothic architecture with numerous statues decorating its grand interior space.

Westminster Abbey is easily accessible via the tube. We got off at the Westminster Station and we were pracitically there. The area was busy with locals and large number of toursits. There were many pubs and restaurants in the neighbourhood.

There was a short line ready to go into the Abbey and we didn't have to wait for long at all. The interior of the church looked awesome with walls decorated with stained glass windows, statues, cravings and high vaulted ceilings. People dressed causally waititng quietly for the service to start. Picture taking was not allowed during the service at Westminister Abbey so that congregants could focus on the proceeding and the sermon. The choir sang beautifully that morning and the entire service lasted for about an hour.

I was sitting there listening to the sermon and at times wondering about all the famous people, rulers, kings and queens, political figures gathering here for various important ceremonies. Westminster Abbey is a huge place but the number of people attending the service was not a large numbrer unlike the images we saw on TV when the Abbey was packed to the rafters during special occasions.

People rushed to take a few pictures as soon as the service was over. We were happy to know that after the Sunday Service, the Abbey restaurant was open for lunch! We were delighted that not only had we attended a service at the famous Westmineter Abbey, we also had a British lunch there as well! What a nice experience!

RT. Westminster Abbey, London, UK