Day 7 (9th June): London Day Tour

On the 7th day, we did some last minute packing, ate our breakfast, and got on the bus that would take us to London. It took us about an hour or two to reach Stratford in London, before we stopped and our tour guide got on. She was extremely friendly and her vast knowledge on London astonished us. 



The bus driver drove us around the Olympic sites in Stratford and so we managed to see the different buildings that they've built specifically for the 2012 Olympics. 


Also, we stopped by the Buckingham Palace, which is where the Royal Family lives on most days. We were able to get off the bus here, take a pictures of the palace and learn more about the history of the place. 


After that, we drove around London to look at the other various tourist attractions, such as the Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and the Big Ben. Unfortunately, we were unable to witness the changing of guards at the Buckingham Palace as the celebration for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee caused it to happen at another place. Not only did we just take photographs for memory's sake, but our tour guide explained many important historical and interesting facts about the different places we visited, which captivated our interest. 


After the short but exciting tour, we went to Covenant Garden for some shopping and to have our lunch. There was a performance in the centre space of Covenant Garden and we stopped to watch it. One of us (Daryl) was even asked to assist the person in his act! The performance was quite interesting. 

After having our lunch and doing some shopping, we got onto the bus again. Some of us headed to a theatre to watch the musical, 'Les Miserables' while some of us went to the National Science Museum. The group that we were in watched the captivating musical based on the French Revolution many years ago. All of us can safely say that the musical was one worth watching. We enjoyed it thoroughly! The actors' and actresses' singing was absolutely amazing and the story line was extremely inspiring yet sad at the same time. They could potray their various characters tremendously and some of us even cried whilst watching the musical. 













After the musical, we went to the airport. Overall, our day in London was quite different to what we experienced in Cambridge. For example, being one of the more popular places in the UK, London was much more crowded with possibly hundreds of people crowded around a certain place whereas Cambridge was a quieter place. There were also more tourists in London, what with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and the upcoming London Olympics 2012, and it was a much more cosmopolitan city, as compared to Cambridge. 


We mostly saw students in Cambridge, since Cambridge had 32 colleges, but we could see a lot of people from all the different age groups in London. 


All of us were really reluctant to leave the UK as we had a great time there, gaining new experiences, enjoying the cool climate and making new friends. 


The one week seemed far too short and some of us were even hoping that the plane would be delayed! But as they say, all good things must come to an end.


- Sisyena, Claudia, Kristin (Cedar)