London Day 9: Borough Market – Part 1

After breakfast, we decided to explore Borough Market in Southwark.

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Borough Market is a wholesale and retail food market. We kind of regretted that we had breakfast earlier because there are so much food here to try.

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Borough Market is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London. It is a source of quality British and international produce. Look at the line to the above coffee shop.

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A sandwich in hand made a happy man.

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Some kind of grilled cheese sandwich. I had to stand in line for at least 20 minutes to get the sandwich. This is one of the popular stall.

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Although we already had breakfast, we just got to try it. The grilled cheese sandwich was 5 pounds. (more…)

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London Day 9: Breakfast at Cafe Sizzles in Petticoat Lane

Day 9 was a good day with great sunshine. We ventured to the Petticoat Lane for breakfast.

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Some of the clothes vendors in Petticoat Lane.

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We found a cafe with mostly locals in it. They are blue collar workers. As usual, I had coffee while Ben had tea. He likes to drink what the locals drink.

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Ben had a pub food for breakfast; bacon, liver with onions and fries. The above was 4.50 pounds. (more…)

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London Day 8: Let It Be Theatrical Musical

We returned to the Piccadilly Circus at West End for a musical.

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London has one of the world’s great stages. West End theaters offers an extraordinary range of theatrical entertainment.

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It’s not difficult for us to pick a musical to watch since it’s the 50th anniversary of the Beatles. We bought the tickets for the “Let It Be” for 150 pounds a pair.

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We were there early. It was full house when the show started. The old TV at the left corner of the photo above asked trivia questions about the Beatles while we waited for the show to start. Ben was able to answer most of the questions. He is certainly a Beatles fan.

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The musical is a 2-hour show. The people behind our row are certainly great fans as they sang along loudly most of the time. (more…)

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London Day 8: Natural History Museum

We had lunch at Pret’s before exploring another museum. This time we had hot items like wrap and soup. I ordered a Macchiato to give me a boost. I was surprised it came in espresso size with a just a dash of milk i.e. very strong and bitter. I was expecting it to be Cappuccino size.

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I also had a pastry from Paul’s when we picked up the tickets for a musical that night before we proceed to the Kensington South Station.

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There are 3 museums near the Kensington South Station to choose from, Science Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum and Natural History Museum.We picked the Natural History Museum. There is an open air ice skating ring located outside of the Natural History Museum.

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We entered the Natural History Museum from the Exhibition Road entrance to the Earth Galleries. The avenue of sculptures and specimens that shape our ever-changing planet. The Visions of Earth is in the Red Zone.

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The escalator brings us to the center of the globe. The giant Earth sculpture is made from iron, zinc and copper. (more…)

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London Day 8: British Museum – Part 2

Continuing the department of Greece and Rome; a huge room is dedicated to the Parthenon sculptures.

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The Parthenon Sculptures were brought to England by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in Athens. The British government purchased the reliefs from Lord Elgin in 1816. The sculptures also known as Ëlgin Marbles” have been on permanent display in the British Museum since 1817.

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Horsemen from the west frieze of the Parthenon.

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Wall lined with Parthenon Frieze. (more…)

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London Day 8: British Museum – Part 1

With the expiry of our London City Pass, we dedicated the remaining days on museums which entrance is free.

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If you only have time for one museum, British Museum will be the one. It is the oldest public museum in the world. The main entrance features a Greek facade that was based closely on those of the temple of Athena Polias.

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The Great Court is the largest covered public space in Europe; it was once an outside courtyard.

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There was a small exhibition of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater 3D paper architectures in the Great Court.

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We started of with the department of Ancient Egypt and Sudan. One of the famous exhibit is the Rosetta Stone. It is written in three languages, which enabled experts to decode Egyptian hieroglyphs for the first time. (more…)

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