Finding My Way To Paddington, and a Little Bit More of London

It was a Monday, and I was so looking forward to Scotland the next day. But first things first, I had to do some last minute shopping in Portsmouth, of course.  At 60% price off, I got a really nice dress for my brother’s wedding in October at Dorothy Perkins- good job!

Louie and I had brunch at Costa, then I went on to stuff back my things in my luggage, and then she dropped me off the train station.  The SouthWest Train operates the Portsmouth-Central London line. I got the direct train to London Waterloo, which took close to 2 hours, and the train fare was around GBP13.

I did some research the night before so I could easily find my way to Paddington station, where my hotel is (I chose the Paddington area because it is where Heathrow Express is and it will be very easy for me to go to the airport).  One useful tool for me is londondrum.com , which gives information of the tube line to take, the tube route, journey time, and fare zone.  From Waterloo, Bakerloo line will take me to Paddington, I will get off at the 9th stop, which is the Paddington station, journey time is approximately 16 minutes and my fare zone is in zone 1 which means GBP2.40 will be deducted from my oyster card credit.

Knowing that Waterloo is the biggest and busiest station in UK, I also researched about where to find the platform for Bakerloo line: 

• The first step would be to find out which direction to go by going to the london-tube-map.infolondon-tube-map.info : the northern terminus of Bakerloo is Harrow and Wealdston, and the southern terminus would be Elephant and Castle. From Waterloo, I were to go to the southbound platform to Harrow and Wealdstone direction and get off at the 9th stop, which is Paddington.

Image from Metrolodes.es

• The second step was to find out the platform number of Bakerloo line in Waterloo station.  I used describe-online.comdescribe-online.com to find out the platform number of southbound Bakerloo line.  Platform 4 it is! (Tip. Describe-online.com is a good tool for directions on transfer from one platform to another.Try it here) 

I was glad I did my research ahead of time-it was difficult enough having to carry around a luggage and a laptop backpack!

From Paddington station, the hotel was a few blocks away (2 blocks, taking the London Street).  It, however took awhile for me to get oriented with the place (my first time there!) and I walked a few blocks further.  I went back, saw a map on one of the posts, and found my way to Days Inn Hotel.

Days Inn Hyde Park Hotel is in Sussex Gardens street, which is a pretty nice and tranquil place , as opposed to the streets surrounding it, which I found chaotic.  There are several hotels in the same building as Days Inn.  The room size is typical of London (small) and it is expensive, but the room is clean and it is in a very good location. 

The building along Sussex Gardens where Days Inn and other similar hotels are housed.

After settling down and freshening up, I went for a walk at the nearby Kensington Gardens.  It is a free park and a huge one.  I went up to that area where I got a view of the Kensington Palace.

The Italian Garden at Kensington Gardens

One of the water fountains at Kensington Gardens

I went back to the hotel before 6:30, just in time for my reunion with my long lost friend, Herbie, who took me to a Persian restaurant , for some reason.(I kind of expected the fish-and-chips dinner haha!).  It did felt good to catch up, though. And one thing about friendship is: no matter how long you have been apart, you’re still able to pick up where you have left off, even if it was decades ago.

2 decades worth of catching up in London!

Central London: The Basics

How do you cover Central London in 3 hours?  The key would be to focus on what you wanted badly to see. In my case, since I have seen most of the sites during my previous visits, I was more interested in seeing the inside of the National Gallery. We decided on the said museum, and the different sights close to it.

When in London...

After our graduation ceremonies, we had only 3 hours to see Central London.  Together with my colleagues from our other Asian office, we had a quick run to Central London.  We took the underground train from Heathrow Airport to Leicester Square and reached Central London after an hour train ride. Good thing it was summer time, so the sun was still up, and the National Gallery was open until 9PM.  

On the way to Trafalfar Square.

We walked towards Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery is.  We passed by St. Martin-in-the-Fields church, which is the royal parish church which is well known for its orchestra. We missed their free noon time concert but we had the chance to watch their rehearsal for the evening performance, which was lovely.

With St. Martin-in-the-Fields church in the background.

From the St. Martin-in-the-Fields, we crossed the street to the Trafalgar Square where the Nelson’s Column is. Nelson's Column commemorates one of England’s heroes.  There are also other statues including the statue of George IV.

The National Gallery is in Trafalgar Square, a very huge museum housing 2,300 or so works of art. It is free of charge. The museum is divided into different sections based on the century the work was created.  The 13th to 15th century paintings are mostly of religious theme, and many are remnants of altars of old churches. The collection include works of Botticelli and Bellini. The 16th century collection include works of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael and the themes are mostly religious or mythology.  The 17th century paintings are the works of Claude and Rembrandt among others, and themes include religion, landscape and everyday life. The 18th to early 20th century paintings include works of Monet and Van Gogh and many are mostly about nature. Personally, I would advise visitors not to see the entire collection in one visit.  Where possible, spend time only on one or two sections per visit, in order to appreciate them properly. 

With a Monet work

After the National Gallery, we headed to the Covent Garden Market, which offers various gifts, crafts and other goods.  Across the Covent Garden Market is the St. Paul’s Cathedral, where we were to meet another colleague. St. Paul’s contain the grave of some 18th and 19th century actors.  In between the church and the market is a plaza with street performers.  It is definitely not a good meet-up place because it is way too crowded.  

A different kind of "attraction"

When we finally found our colleague in the midst of all those people, we  had dinner in a Mexican restaurant. Afterwards, we traced our steps back to the Trafalgar Square and onwards to the Houses of Parliament or the Palace of Westminster, for the view of Big Ben.  The Big Ben is the most iconic landmark of London, and a visit to London is incomplete without seeing it. 

Meet Big Ben.

We then crossed the street to the Westminster Abbey, which is said to be a 700 year old building and where coronations of the monarchs happen since 1066.

 

At the Westminster Abbey

By 9, we boarded the underground train for another hour of travel back to the hotel.

And that was our very quick run to/in Central London.