Guess where I'd been to? yes, London ,it is! Ever since I got my tourist visa late December '10, I've been waiting to travel to this place. And finally, the opportunity came and I grabbed it. And What a wonderful holiday, it was!! (I'm beginning to get some belief that things really do happen at the RIGHT time, and this time is not decided by us, but by a Highe Supreme force). Though I had a dozen things listed out to shop before the vacation, I didnt buy a thing , courtesy, S's work schedule during the days preceeding to the travel. Nevertheless, I used the clothes, bag, shoes and other paraphernalia that was bought years ago and they were put to good use,especially the shoes.

Saturday dawned bright , we did the packing and were all set to catch our early evening flight. We had a comfortable two-seater and reached Dubai at midnight and spent time around the terminal doing some window-shopping. The next leg of our journey was spent having a good sleep to be ready to spend the Sunday sight seeing in London. Though the hotel that we were booked into stipulated a check-in time of 12 noon, we managed to checkin at 10AM itself..Freshened up, we left the hotel to explore London. Firstly, we went to tesco, then bought our sim cards , and then went to Sainsbury's  and bought some salad/muffins. Came to hotel, finished up whatever edible we bought and left for the proper touristing ..

We went to the Thames alongside the Big Ben, went to the London Eye, saw the Big Ben and walked along the Westmister Abbey, Parliament Square and took in the beautiful but unpredictable english weather while we went to the Buckhingham Palace via Downing Street ,House Guards Place and St.James' Park. There at the palace, there was a huge crowd gathered to witness the parade of the 120th year of the Salvation Army and we joined the crowd to cheer the parade from 12 countries. From there, we marched to Trafalgar square , ate at Mc.D . This was the first time in my whole little life that I've walked so much for about 3 hours, and I felt my legs were beginning to call out for help..Hence , we took the tube and reached Gloucester Road (this is where we were put up). We walked the stretch in G.Road to check out the restaurants and took away pizzas for dinner.Reached hotel and called it a day.

S had to visit UK on a business visit and I tugged along with him. Hence, the next day, on Monday, S had to go to office and I was all mby myself to explore the city.Since it was raining non-stop ,I was a bit hesitant to venture out .hence, walked to the Natural History Museum in South Kensington. Was surprised to find a loong queue even before the museum was opened. However, got a map, and covered all the zones (orange, red, blue zones). Needless to mention, all the models were working perfectly and there were good explanation for all the artifacts displayed. It was close to 1 PM by the time I was done with the musuem . Walked over to Albert Memorial Hall via Imperial College of London , visited the Albert Memorial too and clicked a few pics. Since my stomach was calling out and there were no McD or Subway or Burger King around, I walked over to Siansbury's to grab a salad , bread, muffin and a smoothie. Only later I realsied (tubelight flickered and started to emit light :-)) that I could have taken the bus from museum to Sainsbury's. Anyways, on the way back, took the bus and went to Victoria and Albert Museum. The museum was too huge to cover in half a day. Got the map and decided what all sections I wanted to cover and visited them. Both the museums were wonderful and awesome. A good experience. In the evening, mu cousin suggested that she would come over to meet us. Hence waited in the South Kensington tube station for a while, and once she arrived, we went to Pret a Manger and caught up on each others lives to some extent and she suggested a few places to visit too. From there, we headed to the hotel where she said a quick hello to S too and left. Now, S and I went to Oxford Circus, walked through Oxford Street and when it was time for dinner, we had a fight on where to have dinner (Baaah..The last thing I expected in the vacation..I think it was a kala tikka, as my cousin was like all praise for S !!) ..Finally, went to Mc.D(could have gone here even without that silly quarrel), came back to the hotel and called it a day..

Day 3 in the next post. And the pic is slightly skewed..Will correct it later