London | the world of Hogwarts

This is a must-visit for big Harry Potter's fans. We were immersely excited for that day to come. The Warner Bro's Harry Potter studio tour was delightfully awesome and extraordinary.

We were getting good at using the tube service. We took 3 changes of tube (train) from our hotel to reach our destination. From Royal Victoria to Canning Town and then another line to London Bridge and change to Euston. From there we took another train to Watford Station, Watford. From the Watford Station, we took the special bus shuttle which cost £2.50 per person (return fare). It was about 7 minutes bus ride to the studio.

The entrance ticket to the studio was pre-purchased online in March after we booked our Europe tour. The tickets were selling like hot cakes so we got to buy many months in advance. Please take note that no tickets are available and on sale at the studio.

The place was packed when we arrived at the studio. I redeem my tickets from the ticket collection machine. And we had to queue for quite a while under the warm sun for our bags checking before we were able to enter the studio. And another round of queuing up to go into the designated place.

We waited for our time slot which was 230pm but we got in just slightly after 2pm. We were glad that we bought the tickets on our own and did not buy the studio tour package as we had good time enjoying the tour on our own. We bought a Harry Potter's wand and a wand stand as momento as well as a souvenir guide book there. A total of 2 hours were spent there and we couldn't get enough of it!!

In Watford, Hertfordshire

On our 2nd day in London, we were very adventurous to travel using the tube services. We changed few stations before arriving at this Watford Junction station.

This train station is the stop for those going to Warner Brothers studio to catch the Harry Potter tour. We had few hours to kill before our slot so we went to the town centre of Watford for sight-seeing and lunch.

Beautiful and quiet street eventhough it was after 11am. The weather was warm but windy. By then, I were tanned from all those walking and sun. Lol.

Walked and walked, we reached this place in about 10 minutes time, just like what the community polices told us when we asked them for direction.

The long street of restaurants, bars and cafes as well as street food and stalls.

After exploring the street, we decided to have our lunch in this place called Malloy's. They had set lunch of 2 mains for £9.50 only. That sounded economical.

We had to order and pay for our food and drinks from the bar. 

The waitress sent the food to our table. We had cheese chicken and classic burger for our lunch.

After filling up our tummies with food and beers, we headed back to the Watford station to catch our bus to WB studio.

London | night light

After a short nap to recover from the long flight and sleepless trip, hubby and I went for our own adventure.

We took the tube (train) to see the London Eye, River Thames, Big Ben and Tower Bridge in the evening.

By the time we reached the Eye, it was after 9pm and the day started to turn dark. Even that did not stop a big crowd of people at the park from enjoying their summer. The view from the park was lovely.

We then walked back to Waterloo Station which was about 5 minutes walking time. We had our dinner at the Black & Blue Restaurant (opposite Waterloo Station) before taking our train back to our hotel. It was after 11pm but the station was very packed with train goers. Now I knew what the meaning of "The city that never sleeps". ^^

London Eye

Big Ben and Tower Bridge across the Thames river

Ice cream truck

Waterloo station

Thames river from the park

My grilled salmon with chips

In Waterloo station at 11pm

London | feeling the first summer day

Hi guys! I have tons of photos and adventures to share with you. Let's get it started, shall we?? So, here begins my Europe travelogue.

Flew  from KLIA on 5th July late evening, we took a connecting flight in Istanbul to London. It was the start of my first Europe adventure (hope it wouldn't be the last!). Our destination is Central Europe.

Flying time of over 14 hours and covering over 6,500 miles, I found myself in another country in another continent with different timeline and different climate. That day when we landed, everyone was excited yet slightly jet lag. I hardly slept much on the plane. I was in need of a hot shower and body massage! I wonder how could a person get comfy in a long hours flight??

London!  The first destination in our travelogue. An amazing city. 7 hours behind Malaysian time. We arrived slightly after 11am on 6th (an hour delay in Istanbul) and stuck in immigration for more than 2 hours. We immediately driven to our hotel after claiming our luggages.  However it was traffic jam along the way and it took us over 2 hours to reach the hotel.

We spent 2 nights in London, free and easy.  Our travel package actually did not started in London; we were on our own so we planned our own agenda there. However, we were given 2 nights free hotel stay plus breakfast in London. 

Ibis London Excel Dockyards was located in Victoria Docks, the Eastern of England. I took some shots of the central London while on the moving bus.

I remember this was my first meal in London. We were very famished as it was 4pm London time and the last meal we had was in Turkish Airlines that early morning.

The weather was not too warm, around 24C and we could felt the breeze while we were dining.

Our late lunch. Fish N Chip for £4.95.

We had this in a convenience store cum cafe from across the hotel where we stayed.

The cafe

Menu board

Hotel

The dock from our window

And check out the view from our hotel room window. It is a dockyard indeed and how lovely was the river.

Oh yes, we saw so many old but elegant tudor style houses and building along the way. I enjoyed looking at these houses.

We caught on some sleep and also some live Wimbledon matches after the late lunch. Not going to catch the live matches in the stadium but on tv in the hotel room would do.

The day was longer here, and how unusual for me to feel the sun even at 8 o'clock in the evening!! Check out my next post on how we spent the rest of our first day in London.