London underground or the tube is a rapid transit system in London and the oldest underground railway station in the world. When in London, it is more practical to ride the tube when getting around the city. For us we purchased "day tickets" -- cheaper than buying individual tickets for every station-to-station trip. Also, we don't bring a car in London because a "congestion fee" is charged to motorists that passes major traffic areas. One has to pay the fee online prior to the trip and it amounts to around 8pounds. So... to avoid the traffic and the congestion fee, the tube is the best alternative!
Below is a quick rundown of the rest of the travel treats we had in London, through, with no less than, the city's tube stations:
Victoria.
Victoria is a central railway terminus and London Underground station complex in the Westminster City. It is the second busiest railway terminus in London (and the UK) after Waterloo, and includes an air terminal for passengers travelling by train to Gatwick Airport.
For us, this is where we usually take our quick lunches whenever we are in London.
This is also our main thoroughfare to the city, aside from the Charing Cross tube station.
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| Tube entrance at the Terminus Place |
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| ▲ The main entry facade of the London Victoria Station. ▼ |
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| The Victoria Palace Theatre, playing Billy Elliot, The Musical. |
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| The Apollo Victoria, another famous west end theatre in London. It is a venue for musical theatre, beginning with The Sound of Music in 1981. The theatre is now the home of the musical "Wicked". |
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| The Cardinal Place, a prominent retail and office development in Victoria. |
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| Britain is the home of Marks and Spencer. Its stores are bigger and the prices are far more cheaper than in Manila. It sells everything from clothing, footwear, kitchen wares and food, plus many many others! Argh, I miss the M&S chocolate muffins! |
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| Inside the railway station are food establishments and stores. It's like a mini-mall inside. |
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| Busy queue for passengers heading to Gatwick Airport |
Alvin brought me to Leicester and treated me with an authentic Asian food. You see, Chinatown in London is located in Leicester, hence, we settled with no less than a Chinese restaurant! It was funny because it really felt like we are suddenly transported from London to Binondo, hehe. Everyone's starting to speak Chinese and stores of Chinese goodies are all around the corner! Not to mention the breeze and the smell that only Chinatown has!
The lunch we had was definitely satisfying, how we missed noodles, dumplings, chili oil and rice!!! Oh my, I suddenly realized how much I missed home-cooked meals. :-(
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| The Leicester Square with Shakespeare's statue at the center. |
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| Hmmm... where to now? |
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| The Empire, proving how Leicester remains to be London's prime cinema area. It is the second largest with more than 1000 seats, next to Odeon. Leicester cinemas has been the location of international film premiers such as Harry Potter and James Bond. |
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| Flags of Switzerlands's cantons in Swiss Court, Leicester. |
Piccadilly Circus.
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| The Prince of Wales Theatre, home of Mama Mia musical. ▼ |
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| ▲ Half-price ticket booths for London's Musical Plays. We regret not finding time to watch. :-( ▼ |
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| Piccadilly Circus, built in 1819, is a road junction of London's West End in Westminster. It is cramped by huge volume of tourists because it is close to major shopping and entertainment areas. |
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| At Piccadilly Circus underground platform. |
Knightsbridge.
Knightsbridge is the nearest tube station going to the famous Harrods in Brompton. Harrods' salesladies all looked like live mannequins for me -- really tall and skinny ladies! Hehe. We didn't spent to much time in Harrods because its a bit cramped inside; instead, we went to my favorite Zara store right beside it. ;-)
South Kensington.
"As I come out of South Kensington tube, the sun’s shining brightly and I stride along, feeling pleased with myself..."
-Rebecca Bloomwood, Confessions of a Shopaholic
Unlike Rebecca, we come out of South Kensington tube harassed and sweating because our bladders will be exploding pretty soon! Haha! Oooh, the Starbucks across the street delightfully saved us from our agony, yesss! As a way of saying thank you, we got from the store an addition to Alvin's Starbucks city mug collection - London!
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| Rebecca, is that you??? I'm Rows! Alvin here got me a whole set of your shopaholic series. I think we have to thank him together, bigtime. ;-) ▼ |
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| It's not too obvious, isn't it? |
Ooops, Chatham is no longer a part of London underground tube... it is instead a train railway station.
We are already back in Kent, super dooper tired of today's happenings!
:-)
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| Chatham Railway Station and Fort Pitt Tunnel |
:-)
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