Legendary sights of London

Most of the time when I go travelling, I'd need to research on the tourist attractions, since I wouldn't have a clue of what's worth seeing.

London, on the other hand, is different. Without being there, I knew that I had to see the Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace, red buses, red phone booths etc.... Ok, so I don't sound like the travel guru, but you get what I mean. There are so many world-famous sights and landmarks .This post is dedicated to these landmarks.

Hubby went to London 10 years ago, so he was our default tour guide - which is a great thing, because I'd rather be a follower than a leader. Of course if I got lost, I'm pretty sure I know how to use a map or navigate my way through the London underground network.

We covered some of the sights overselves while others were covered on a free tour from  http://www.neweuropetours.eu/ The tour guides are native English speakers who give very interesting portrayals of the history and quiry stories of London. 

The thing I liked about these tours is that one is able to savour the "product" first before deciding how much it is worth. Plus, there's no need to make any reservations. So one is not tied down to going for the tour if / when the weather is bad....which is I must say, is a pretty important criteria in the ever-rainy London. The weather stereotype of London is really true! Stuttgart does have better weather than London.

We stayed over at our friend's place, in Canada Waters. Its about 10 minutes away from the world-famous London Bridge. Actually its called "Tower Bridge", but most people think its the London Bridge. It is every bit as beautiful in real life as I had imagined it to be.

Evidence that I'm a tourist

Look at that massive volume of intertwining lines...

If public phone booths ever become obsolete, I'm sure these red boxes would continue to be on the streets just because they are so iconic. After more than 4 years of marriage, I'm always tip-toeing whenever I'm posing next to Stephan. He's just too tall!

Left: Standing next to some random guard. Right: In front of some random museum

Buckingham Palace - Really not impressive at all. It used to be a rich guy's house and the king just bought it over from him at a mediocre price.

The famous London guards with their huge mop of hair. We went for the changing of guards. Huge crowds of tourists for some 15min-marching ceremony. Worth seeing once, but not more.

In front of Big Ben, which is next to House of Parliament. Apparently, it is illegal to "die" in the House of Parliament because anybody who dies there has to be given a "royal death burial" in Westminister Abbey.

In front of Westminister Abbey, where Lady Diana was buried, together with other prominent people. I don't know why my brother was bending forward like that, looks like I was strangling him. Hah

House of Parliament. Its really huge! Apparently it survived an attempt to burn it down, because this guy tried to overthrow the government by placing bombs in the basement. This attempt was obviously foiled and the guy died a gruesome death.

Harrods!!! The Queen's playground.... Ooh, the signature green colour and their famous green bags. Nope, I didn't buy any of those green plastic bags to "show off". My Dad did buy me my first branded bag there though! None other than from Burberry...I'm waiting to go to Singapore to get it. Dad had to "export" it out of the EU to claim his tax refund.

In front of the London Eye, which Singapore "copied" too. The winds are sooo strong in London! And cold! I'm appalled at how women in London can walk around in super mini-skirts without any leggings! But then again, they are English after all.