Saturday, January 02, 2016

Freezing London + Amsterdam Day 3

26/12/2015


Itinerary of today:
Breakfast @hotel 
Soho 
Liberty Department Store 
Hamleys
Oxford Street 
Piccadily Circus
Cool Britannia 
M&M World
Lunch @Burger and Lobster 
Spurs VS Norwich City @White Hart Lane  
Primark 
Dinner @Hyde Park Winter Wonderland

Boxing Day, gourmet day! Putting the 2 most popular restaurants together in one day, we decided to just have a quick simple breakfast instead. Sandwiches with ham, cheese and jam would be a great choice leaving room for the feast.

As we were gonna watch a football match in the afternoon, there was not much time left for sightseeing. Wandering around the Soho Area was probably the only option. 

Taking the underground to Oxford Circus, Liberty Department Store caught our sight right away. We didn't get a chance to go inside as it opened at 11am on Boxing Day, but seeing the spectacular on the outside was also enjoyable. I especially love the Tudor style outlook. It was wonderful to photograph. Even I am not fond of buying luxury goods, we had a thought that we needa come back again later on the day to see the inside.

Liberty Department Store
Address: Regent Street, London W1B 5AH
Opening hours: Mon- Sat 1000- 2000, Sun 1200- 1800

Same situation happened on Hamleys. Just 5 minutes walk away, it also opened at 11am on that day. Anyway, we had to come back here again for Liberty. Gave it a visit later as well.

Hamleys
Address: 188-196 Regent Street London W1B 5BT 
Tel: +44(0) 371 704 1977
Opening hours: Mon- Wed 1000- 2000, Thur- Fri 1000- 2100, Sat 0930- 2100, Sun 1200- 1800

Dropped by Burberry and wanna take a look at the bags for my mum. Thought there would be massive sale but I was wrong. Anyhow, happy to be able to see the nice store and experienced great service from the staff coz I really seldom get into high-ended stores.


Continued with our walk. Tourists and local people seemed to be unbearable with the boredom yesterday. Many of them were ready to go on a shopping spree. Piccadilly Circus was flooded with people as well. Saw Cool Britannia by accident selling cute souvenirs. It was also shown on the travel TV programme in Hong Kong. However, we ended up buying nothing there coz we had already got things to buy in our mind.



Cool Britannia
Address: 443 Strand, London WC2R OQU
Opening Hours: Mon- Sun 0800 -2300

Headed to the M&M's World then. It was absolutely amazing and successful way for marketing. It didn't fail to impress me! Once I stepped into the main entrance of this heavenly glorious chocolate mall, it was like chocolate has entered my soul! The colourful environment could definitely bring happiness to people in all ages. Other than chocolates, there were M&M merchandise. Lawrence wanna buy a pair of mugs for ourselves but obviously they were over-priced (with goods mostly made in China). Ended up buying nothing but even both of us are not fans of M&M's, we did have an enjoyable time in this 4-storey heaven.


































A machine that can tell your emotion.



































Beatles iconic walk.

Laboratory showing the process of making M&M's.

Recently theme is Star Wars.



































M&M's World
Address: Leicester Square 1, Swiss Court London W1D 6AP
Tel: 0207 025 7171
Opening hours: Mon- Sat 1000- 0000, Sun 1200- 1800

Swiss Glockenspiel clock was just right in front of the M&M's World.





































Back to Hamleys and I had a completely different feeling towards it compared with 7 years ago. Time and tide really waits for no man.



Seeing Whittard was on sale, we both were being tempted. Bought a few of them as souvenirs as they were not expensive. They looked nice in little tins as well. (GBP5 each) Those in paper boxes got a few teabags inside. More convenient though. (GBP2.5 each)

Whittard of Chelsea 
Address: 65-67 Regent St, London W1B 4DZ 
Tel: +44 20 7437 4175

Colourful Carnaby Street with lots of nice shops. 



































It came to the best meal throughout our trip! Burger and Lobster! This is the place where people can enjoy big feast yet affordable. We arrived there at 12-ish and there were already tons of people! Gotta wait for at least 30 minutes by then as there is no reservation service but it worths for sure.

Atmosphere was great. We ordered one grill and one steam lobster. (GBP45) They were both incredible and most importantly, the good sized lobster came with a side salad, good portion of fries and some garlic butter. In my opinion, lobster would probably the only logical choice but I have heard fantastic things about the lobster roll, too. Seeing the couple sitting next to us ordered 2 lobsters and 1 roll to share. Really wanna try but we were already stuffed. Leaving us a reason to come again next time?







































Burger and Lobster
Address:36-38 Dean Street Soho, London W1D 4PS 
Tel: 02074324800 
Opening hours: Mon-Wed 1200- 2230, Thur- Sat 1200- 2300, Sun 1200- 2200

Another most exciting programme for hubby! Football match with Spurs VS Norwich City. Lawrence bought the tickets online and they cost GBP95 for 2 with charge included. We took the underground to Seven Sisters and planned to exchange to White Hart Lane via overground. Unfortunately, the overground was CLOSED due to Christmas holidays! We were both freaked out as it was 30 minutes to go until the game started! In the end, we followed the instruction of the metro staff and took a bus there. We thought we were gonna be late but seeing many fans of Spur on the same bus, we were both relieved. 


It was our second time watching live football match. Unlike last time in Munich, Lawrence said England Premier League is another story. I didn't believe it at the beginning but it proved me wrong once it started. I could feel the energy of the crowd. There was a deep passion for teams. They sang their club anthem and cheered loudly together. Emotions were very obvious. The sound at the match lifted outside of the stadium and could be heard for miles. At the very first beginning, I spent more time watching the crowd than the game. Later on, I also became very into the game! 
Bought a bottle of coke (GBP2.9) during the halftime. Gotta queue for long but everybody was so well-behaved. That's another experience of local culture. British are always very polite.
After all, I have a feeling that seeing a top match at a major stadium somewhere in the world should be on everyone's bucket list.





Happy moment didn't last long however. It was another disaster leaving the stadium to the city. Again, train didn't operate. Bus couldn't run properly as the road was blocked. We walked for almost half an hour to catch a bus which was not affected by the game on another main road.

Of course, plan changed coz it was too late to arrive at Flat Iron for dinner... My Flat Iron!!!! I was so upset and eventually we made up our mind to eat at the Winter Wonderland instead.

Before heading to Winter Wonderland, Primark was just around the corner. We spent less than an hour, splitting up to look for our own goods. It was crazy finding socks for GBP1 only! I bought another sweater for GBP10. The most unbelievable thing was Lawrence buying socks, knitted hat and a scarf with GBP5 each! See how hot he became!

Actually there was a story before taking this photo. Lawrence was so into shopping and he took off his coat with the camera putting aside, but he didn't notice before he left! He got into panic coz the photos inside were more valuable than the camera itself! Again, British culture saved us. The staff took it to the lost and found counter and we were able to get it back! Another incident proving how lucky we were during the trip.

Primark
Address: 499 - 517 Oxford Street London, W1K 7DA 
Tel: 0044 207 495 0420
Opening hours: Mon- Sat 0800- 2200, Sun 1130- 1800

Became really exhausted and hungry by the time we arrived at Winter Wonderland. The first thing we did was buying a hotdog (GBP5.5) and orange juice (GBP2.5) to feed ourselves a bit.



Couldn't believe that we got much energy after this little treat. Wandered around then seeing people going on different rides and playing different games. It was kinda similar to the AIA Carnival one in Hong Kong. We were in not much interest at all. Maybe we are way too old.






Bought a crepe with nutella (GBP4.5) to end our day. Looking back and wonder why we ate just a little but still could carry on with this long day.



Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
Address: Hyde Park
Opening hours: 1000- 2200

Total expenses for 2 =GBP186.99
Breakfast @hotel                                     /
Soho                                                       /
Liberty Department Store                         /
Hamleys                                                 /
Oxford Street                                          /
Piccadily Circus                                        /
Cool Britannia                                         /
Water @supermarket                               GBP1 X2 =GBP2
M&M World                                             /
Lunch @Burger and Lobster                     GBP45
Spurs VS Norwich City @White Hart Lane  GBP95
Primark                                                  GBP5 X4 +GBP10 +GBP1 =GBP31
Hot chocolate @McDonald's                      GBP1.49
Dinner @Hyde Park Winter Wonderland     GBP5.5 +GBP2.5 +GBP4.5 =GBP12.5

4 comments:

  1. 間餐廳全部都係華人咁款喎!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 真係好多台灣香港人!不過local都唔少! 我地去係peak hour, 走個陣比較多local, 佢地應該識避開唔洗等位! haha!

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  2. Europe is definitely in my list next. Thanks for sharing. Will surely want to catch an EPL match in my lifetime. Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy Chinese New Year! Can't wait to see your blog sharing your Europe trip! Yes! Even I am not a fan of football, EPL is worth to watch!

      Delete