The whole family’s Europe trip won’t be complete without visiting London. I mean, getting our Schengen visa approved wasn’t an easy feat. I actually thought that this trip wouldn’t push through because the French embassy released our visa so late that we had to look for another flight!
But, so far, Europe proved to be worth it. On our eleventh day in Europe, we arrived in London. For our first day in London, we took it to ourselves to rest for the rest of the day. We didn’t stay in a hotel this time around. Instead, we rented out an apartment. This also gave us the freedom to cook whatever meals we wanted, so we also bought groceries for us to munch on for our entire stay in London.
Before we started touring, we first met with my Tita Anggie who was based in the country. She was kind enough to treat us for some fish and chips. If you’re planning to go to London, make sure that you have room for this famous snack. You really can’t afford to miss it and we recommend that you have a taste of it when you’re in London.
We finally got moving and exploring the beauty of this country on our second day. The first stop we went to was the Buckingham Palace. To be quite honest, the pictures I’ve seen all over the Internet and in books don’t do justice to this place. It was packed with tourists, but it was all worth it. We saw the queen’s life guards mounted on groomed horses with breastplates riding through the streets to Change the Guard on Horse Guards Parade. After Buckingham Palace, Tita Anggie took us to the Westminster Abbey which is another place famous among royals. We then transferred to the London Eye where we saw a bird’s eye view of the city.
Of course, a London trip wouldn’t be complete if you haven’t seen the Big Ben. It’s just a mere walking distance from the London Eye.
Man, was it such a sight! Who knew that clocks would be so fascinating. A that’s what we did before going to the London Eye. That concluded our third day in London. It was tiring, yes but the whole family’s happy that we got to explore the places we’ve only seen in pictures before!
The next day, we availed a hop on hop off bus tour to maximize our London trip. Then, we went to the iconic Abbey Road. If you’re a die-hard Beatles fan, you can’t afford to miss seeing this.
One of the last few places we visited in London is at the West End where we got to see The Lion King.
We enjoyed watching Harold Gossington play Zazu, King Mufasa’s advisor. His movements and vocals were extremely bird like to match his hornbill puppet. He had a fantastic relationship with the two young actors playing Simba (Shaquahn Crowe) and Nala (Kira Spencer Brown); the trio had a convincing chemistry on stage and carried the first half of the show extremely well. Although I think the costumes and impressive set outshone many of the other performers.
Most of the songs from Elton John and Tim Rice are soundtrack to the Disney film, but there are some written specifically for the live show. The hyena’s cheeky song “Chow Down” had the children in the audience in fits and the beautiful “The Lioness Hunt”, chanted in Zulu, gave a moment of relief in between energetic scenes. Songs from the film like “Circle of Life” and “He Lives in You” come into their own in the theatre, so much so that it feels like they were written for the stage.
The Lion King is one of those shows with genuinely universal appeal. If you see it as a child the sheer scale of the performance sticks with you, and as an adult you can appreciate a high quality show which is still at the top of its game.
Before heading home, we shopped at Oxford Street to get some souvenirs for our family and friends.
That concluded our five-day trip to London. It wasn’t that long, but it wasn’t short either. For us, we have covered almost every place we wanted to see in London, and it was all worth it.