London - Day 6 (Borough Market - Southwark Cathedral - Tower Bridge - Tower of London - St Paul's Cathedral - Westminster Abbey - Palace of Westminster - St Margaret's Church - Hyde Park - Marble Arch - Rock Shop - Lego Store - Road House)

It's our second day here in London and we have one full day to explore the city. Our stay in Premier Inn London County Hall do not include breakfast and we plan to have our brunch at Borough Market. We left the hotel around 10am and walked to Waterloo Station just 6 minutes away from Premier Inn London County Hall. We bought an Oyster card - £20 including £5 refundable deposit at the ticket machines with the help of a friendly staff. Oyster is a plastic smartcard that can be used on London underground (the Tube), overground and National Rail trains in London, London buses, South London trams, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and The Thames cable car (Emirates Air Line).

A single journey on the London Underground in central London costs £2.40 and maximum £6.80 per day in Zone 1 & 2. If you travel by bus or tram with an Oyster card, it cost £1.50 per journey and maximum £4.50 per day. You can also make unlimited bus or tram journeys in one hour for the price of one. In another words you can hop on and hop off any bus or tram for free within one hour of first touching in. Since it's my first time here in London, I wanted to experience their London tube and we took the tube from Waterloo Underground Station to London Bridge Station. It's just a 2 minutes ride with 2 stops that cost us £2.40.

London Waterloo Station

Waterloo underground station

Waterloo underground station

Tube

London Bridge underground station

Oyster card

Borough Market is just 4 minutes walk from London Bridge Station and located next to London bridge. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London. There's stall selling chocolate, cheese, meat, fish, sea urchin, fruits, vegetables, food from Ethiopia, France, Spain and many more. The first food that we had was hot sausage roll. It's good. Flaky thin and crispy pastry that's not very puffy.

Just few stall away from Mountain's Boston Sausage, we saw an Ethiopian flavours stall. The food looks so tempting and we tried their mix combo comes with halal chicken breast & thigh, prime steak meal served with two vegetarian side dishes and rice or injera bread. You can also order their vegetarian combo, chicken combo or beef combo. It's our first time having Ethiopian food and it's good. The blended spices makes the taste of the food unique. We had our brunch on the patio beside the market.

Borough Market

Mountain's Boston Sausage

Food display

Sausage roll

Roast Hog roll - £6

Ethiopian flavours

Chicken

Mix combo - £6.95

Patio beside Borough Market

Borough Market

Borough cheese company

Strawberries

Sea urchin

Paella (Valencian rice dish)

Address:

Borough Market

Borough High Street,

London

Opening hours: Limited market - Mon to Tue - 10am to 5pm

Full market - Wed to Thu - 10am to 5pm, Fri - 10am to 6pm, Sat - 8am to 5pm. Close on Sun

After we had our brunch it started raining when we walked to Southwark Cathedral, located next to Borough Market. The Cathedral was close for visiting due to services until 12.30pm and since it's still raining outside we decided to wait for the service to end. Southwark Cathedral is London's oldest Gothic church and it has beautiful interior.

Southwark Cathedral

 Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral

Southwark Cathedral

Address:

Southwark Cathedral

London Bridge,

London

It's still raining when we came out from Southwark Cathedral. Hence I didn't get the chance to walk across London Bridge and missed the opportunity to take photos. We walked to the nearest bus station and took London bus - bus no: RV1 (A single London bus fare cost £1.50) to Covent Garden. Both of us were so blur that we couldn't find the market! Ended up we took the same London bus to Tower Bridge. There's many small carts selling caramelised peanuts & almonds on Tower Bridge. We bought one cup but sadly we couldn't find any almonds in it! It's kind of sweet and some of the peanuts turned soft. Since both of us can't finish it, we fed it to the pigeons and they loved it.

While hanging around Tower Bridge suddenly the sky turned grey and it started raining again. The rain came so sudden and I almost got drenched. The nearest place that I can look for shelter was the City Hall and I almost got blown away by the strong wind! I stood there for half an hour patiently waiting for the rain to stop at the same time enjoying the view of those rain drops.

Spotted my dream car on Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

Caramelised peanuts and almonds

Tower Bridge

Address:

Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge Road,

London

Finally the rain has stopped and we took a bus to Tower of London just 5 minutes away from Tower Bridge. You can also walked across the Tower Bridge but we were too tired to walk anymore. The bus stopped right in front of Tower of London. I just took some photos of the tower from far and hop back onto another bus.

Tower of London

Tower of London

Tower of London overlooking The Shard

Address:

Tower of London

St. Katharine's & Wapping,

London

St. Paul Cathedral is just 12 minutes away from Tower of London by bus, one of London's most iconic buildings. There's admission charges of £18 per adult and photography is not allowed inside the Cathedral. The Cathedral is closed for sightseeing at 4.30pm. We reached there before 4.30pm and coincidentally there's some special service and we were allowed to go in. We just took a quick look and the interior architecture was amazing.

 St Paul's Cathedral

St Paul's Cathedral

Address:

St. Paul Cathedral

St. Paul's Churchyard,

London

We had a quick bite at McD just 2 minutes walk from St. Paul Cathedral. I had my favourite chicken McNuggets happy meal comes with 4 pcs of nuggets, small fries, Robinsons fruit shoot and a free toy. One thing I love about happy meal here is you get to choose your side either carrot bag, melon fruit bag or small fries. Apart from that you get to choose your drink as well. You can choose either organic milk, Tropicana Orange juice, Robinsons fruit shoot or Buxton mineral water.

I ordered my favourite McFlurry as well. They have 5 types of McFlurry for you to choose from - Flake Raspberry McFlurry, Flake Chocolate McFlurry, Oreo McFlurry, Cadbury Dairy Milk McFlurry or Cadbury Crunchie McFlurry. I ended up with Cadbury Dairy Milk McFlurry. My partner on the other hand had The Classic burger, one of McD's signature collection only available in selected restaurants. It comes with 100% British & Irish beef, bacon, cheddar cheese, wholegrain mustard mayo, ketchup, lettuce and red onion in a Brioche style bun.

 Happy meal - £2.99 & Cadbury Dairy Milk McFlurry - £0.99

The classic - £5.09

Address:

McDonalds,

Unit 3, 1A Ludgate Hill,

London

After our quick bite, we took London bus from St Paul's Cathedral to Parliament Square. Big Ben is under major construction until 2021. Hence I was only able to take photos of Westminster Abbey, Palace of Westminster and St. Margaret Church. It's all within walking distance and St. Margaret Church is just 1 minutes walking distance from Palace of Westminster. 

HMRC office

Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey & Palace of Westminster

Statue of Richard I outside the Palace of Westminster

Big Ben under major construction

St. Margaret's Church

Address:

St. Margaret's Church

St. Margaret Street,

Westminster, London

Right in front of St Margaret's Church there's a bus stop (Parliament Square Stop P) and we took bus no: 148 to Marble Arch. The bus stopped in front of Hype Park approximately 10 stops from Parliament  Square. Marble Arch is just 2 minutes walking distance from the park.

After that we hop on to another London bus and stopped by at Rock Shop followed by Lego Store. This store is the largest Lego store in the world featuring a Lego model of Big Ben and London Underground train. 

Hyde Park

Marble Arch

Hard Rock Café London

Rock Shop London & British's classic red telephone boxes

Address:

Hard Rock Café

150 Old Park Lane,

Mayfair, London

Lego Store

Big Ben & London famous red telephone box

London underground train

Address:

Lego Store

3 Swiss Court,

London

We had our late dinner at Poppies, one of the best fish and chips in London. It's just 4 minutes walk from Lego Store. We ordered 1 set of hot seafood platter comes with cod bites, scampi, calamari, whitebait and fries. It's fresh, fast and the staff were all very friendly. Fish and chips is the nation's favourite dish you can't leave London without trying it...

Poppies

Tap water

Hot seafood platter - £14.90

Address:

Poppie's Soho

55 Old Compton Street,

Soho, London

Opening hours: Mon to Thu - 11am to 11pm, Fri to Sat - 11am to 11.30pm, Sun - 11am to 10.30pm

Finally we met up with the rest of the gang at Road House after our late night dinner. It's our last night here in London and glad that I'm able to experience their nightlife. I love music and I really missed our clubbing days. I can't imagine a day without music! Before we went inside the club, the staff scanned our passport into their system. There's a live band karaoke that night and crowds were cheering with excitement. The night ended well. We left the club after midnight and were not allowed to bring any unfinished bottle beer out from the club. We walked back to our hotel from the club which took us around 18 minutes. It was a windy and cold night... (Total spent on London buses & underground - £6.80)

Road House Bar and Club

Road House Bar and Club live band

Let's get this party started...

Address:

35 The Piazza,

London

Hungerford Bridge & London Eye (night view)