London - Part II

There are a few attractions in london that are a must see for travellers. Namely, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, River Thames and etc.


One of the special sight would be the taxi in London, it still retains the old looks. I took a snapshot of the taxi on the way to Buckingham Palace.



The london taxi. In case you notice, the traffic lights in london goes by red, amber and green not quite like what we have.

Walked down the buckingham palace road which is about 10 minutes walk from the famous Victoria station underground and you will reach Buckingham Palace.



Buckingham Palace front square.


Buckingham Palace, originally known as the Buckingham house was built during 1703, later it is converted to become "The Queens House". Adjacent to the Buckingham Palace is the Royal Mews or rather the royal garage where horses are kept in the oldern times. The "change of guards" event also takes place regularly, unfortunately, I have missed the event. Also adjacent to the Buckingham Palace is the St. James park.



St. James park with the gates closed. St. James park is one of the oldest park in London.


We then went to Westminster Abbey. This place served as a cathedral and it is also used as a coronation and burial site for english monarch. This is gothic structure.




The famous Westminster Abbey.


Walk another 2 minutes from Westminster Abbey and head towards the Thames river, you will notice a giant clock knowned as the "Big Ben" which is universally mistaken.



Big Ben is not actually the clock, it is the 13 ton bell in the clock tower.



Big Ben is located by the river Thames, there are a lot of attractions within the Big Ben.



Another shot of Big Ben.


British also favours road signs, I also took a hot of the different road signs.


Taken near Big Ben.


Walk across the Westminster bridge and you will see the huge london eye on the other side of River Thames. London Eye is also known as the Millenium Wheel. Sponsored by British Airways, the london eye visitors will get the chance to view the city of london. You can also book the ticket online to avoid queueing up.



The London eye (aka Millenium Wheel )


The wheel doesn't stop but it rotates so slowly that you can actually walk out of the capsule without stopping the wheel.



London Eye capsule


'Flying' at the London Eye, one can take some nice scenery of london city.


London bridge at the further side. The closer bridge is Grosvenor Bridge and Chelsea bridge.

Famous Victoria Station rail lines departing to Grosvenor bridge.

The other side of the Grosvenor bridge.

The London Eye capsule at the highest point.

After the London Eye 'flight', we then walked around Jubilee Gardens. On that day, there were star wars exhibition and also a host of 'hawker stall' available.

Burgers for sale with exotic meats.

London Eye is another view.

To be continued ...

London - Part I

A short trip to London is a must as a bragging rights for one that has travelled europe. Searched the web for a cheap flight to london, luckily Aerlingus has one, or you could try Ryanair, these are the cheap airline flying out of Dublin to elsewhere in europe.

Took an early flight out of Dublin to London Heathrow airport which is about 1 hour of flight time. Surprisingly, there isn't any immigration officers there to 'receive' us, a bit of dissapointment hit us as we weren't able to get a immigration mark on the rather clean and empty passport.

We exited the airport and rented a car to drive to london city centre, alternatively, you could take the underground(underground train). The traffic isn't that good at london city centre, parking lots are scarse and really expensive. It costs about 1 pound sterling( 7 ringgit malaysia ) for a 10 minute parking lot, crazy.


Houses at the Cromwell Road( I think ).



London signature red double decker bus.


Out first spot/destination is the famous Harrods shopping centre. It specializes luxury goods and situated at Brompton Road in Knightbridge, London, which is about 40 minutes drive from Healthrow airport. Founded in 1834 by Charles Henry Harrod but now owned by Mohammed al-Fayed which incidently is the father of the deceased lover of Princess Diana, Dodi al-Fayed.



Brompton Road as busy as ever, nice car too, the blue one is the Bentley. Side track a bit :) , the Bentley Continental GTC is a 6 litre, 12 cylinders with 550hp turbocharged engine, running from 0-100km/h in 5 seconds, top speed of 312km/h, all I can say is, these people are filthy rich.





Picture of Harrods which also can be reached using the underground, exit at Knightsbridge station.


So we went in and explored a bit. I managed to sneak a few snapshots while my wife shops for chocolates. The interior is quite amazing, I would say quite lavish, but typically british style with the ornate plaster ceiling and lights and also authentic old instruments from coffee grinder to old weighing machines.



Boxes of chocolates at Harrods food hall.


Harrods orientation is kinda different from the normal malls, all the shopping halls which is rectagular in shape are aligned next to each other, so you will have to walk through a few halls to reach your destination.



Another Harrods food hall with various mixes of coffee bean, even the sales person dresses smartly. Ambience is quite dim and I risked a shot without a flash.

It is Christmas seasons, Harrods is quite pack.

We ventured to the other food halls, the crowd in Harrods is quite bad. But we found a food hall selling asian foods.

Nice ambience in the asian food hall.

A closer view of the foods offered.

Ayam Mesak Merah selling at 1.75 pound sterling per 100g.

Outside the Harrods departmental store, there are high end shops too.

Another Bentley Continental GTC.

I managed to take another snapshot at the crazy real estate prices by Harrods Estate.

To be continued ...

Crazy Cliff of Moher

West coast of Ireland has many scenic attractions and one of the famous attraction is the "Cliff of Moher" which is about 45 minutes drive from Galway. The drive to Galway from Dublin is quite relaxing, having highways and road signs. It's a challenge to drive to the cliff after Galway. Narrow roads with speed limit of 100 km/h which is impossible to reach :)

It's a good 3 hours drive from Dublin and Galway heading east taking the motorway[motor way means tolls and dual lane highway :) ]


Snapshot from Google maps from Dublin to Galway.

Cliff of Moher is a high cliff between Ireland west coast and the huge Atlantic Ocean where the next land would be the United States. During end of the year the sea is particularly rough with very strong winds. The Cliff of Moher is quite a stretch as seen below:


Cliff of Moher with very strong breeze.

I didn't manage to take more photos as I wasn't able to take out the camera, the gale force winds were just too strong, we had also suffered some injuries :) even the 'mat salleh' also huddled together clinging to the rails for safety. Crazy winds.


Another shot of the Atlantic Ocean near the Cliffs of Moher.


Calmer areas but the breeze is quite strong too.


Nice houses at Galway.

I have an impression that the people staying at Galway particularly the stretch at the Cliffs of Moher are rich people. Houses are nice and neat, nothing too big but just nice with ample of land.


An artistic shot of flowers.

Had our lunch at the restaurant with some ratings, it was an Italian Ristorante. Look at the award below:


Best restaurant award ?? Really ??

As usual, Italians like pasta, so I order the 'something' pasta, sorry I have forgotten what I have ordered. The food was okay, probably because my tummy was hungry due to the cold weather.

Some pasta but a bit too oily, I say.

On our way back, we stumbled across another castle, although not in ruins it isn't open on winter months, only summer, bummer. However, I managed to take a nice pic.

Hehehe, CY's egyptian pose.

Knowth

There is this place called "Knowth" at around 2 hours drive from Dublin. This place is some burial grounds dated a long time ago. Unfortunately, the place is closed and an entrance fee is needed in order to access to Knowth


You need to go to the visitor centre to get a ticket in.


The Knowth at evening time.

Too bad that this place is closed when we visited.

Crazy Cork and Kerry - Part II

After visiting the Gap of Dunloe, we drove around to the nearest town which is Kilarney. The southwest of Ireland is predominantly strong christian settlement, here I took a picture of Christ church in Kilarney, I hope I had remembered it correctly.

Christ church at Killarney, Ireland.

Bulding next to the Christ church.

We also went to another spot in Kerry, the Ballymalis Castle. Unlike it's british counterparts, majority of Ireland Castles are now in ruins and inhabitable.

Road to the Ballymalis Castle is actually like someone's backyard road.

Ballymalis Castle description.

Ballymalis Castle.

The castle interior.

Finally, we drove around the famous Ring of Kerry. The scenic drive will take you through various country side spots, like the Rosbeigh beach near Killarney.

Rossbeigh beach with winds forces up to 50-60km/h.

Another shot of Rossbeigh beach with very strong winds.

I struggled to get out of the car as the wind kept pushing the car door. It was that strong. I had to stand at 45 degrees just to stay still or not I will topple over, crazy stuff. We drove another 5 hours back which is why I said it is Crazy Cork and Kerry. The trip is a memorable one though.

Lastly, before we headed back, we stopped at Ballycarbery Castle

Ballycarbery castle, still in ruins though ...

Crazy Cork and Kerry - Part I

What's so crazy about Cork and Kerry? Well, someone said it couldn't be done in a day but we did it :) Still confused? Managed to go through county Cork and Kerry and visited some interesting places in Ireland.

We got ourselves a compact car as the country roads in Ireland is pretty narrow and in the winter season it is wet too. We had a Ford Focus Zetec Manual and black in colour.

Ford Focus Zetec ( I think it is a 1.5 or 1.6 litre), quite fuel efficient.

But where the heck in Cork and Kerry? It's at the southwest of Ireland and it's considered as a countryside with nice scenery and also the place where the Atlantic Ocean meets Ireland.

Map of Cork and Kerry.

Pushed off at about 5.00am, Cork and Kerry is about 4 hours drive from Dublin. We drove through Tralee and I took some pictures of an old castle at Tralee.

Tralee Castle at castle street.


A church beside the Tralee Castle.

We kept driving on and finally reached our first destination, Kilarney lake. Took at shot at the lake hotel at Kilarney.

Lake Hotel by the Kilarney lake.

We also stumbled across a ruined castle.

McCarthy Mor Castle introduction.

The lake area is rather windy and cold. The lake is quite choppy probably due to the strong winds. Took a panoramic view of the Kilarney lake.

Panoramic view of Kilarney lake. Kilarney lake is rather huge, this is just a portion.

Took a closeup shot at the wild flowers at Kilarney lake.

A big tree by the Kilarney lake.

Another shot of the trees by the Kilarney lake.


A view of the lake hotel from McCarthy Mor Castle.

We spend a while enjoy the strong breeze in Kilarney and then drove to the Gap of Dunloe. We couldn't drive right through the the Gap of Dunloe, we parked the car and took a horse carriage ride to the gap. It's my first experience with hailstones too.

Gap of dunloe.

Another shot at Gap of Dunloe.

The trail at the Gap of Dunloe is done with horse carriage :) The Gap of Dunloe is a scenic 13km trail through horse carriage or walk across the Muckross lake. I experienced very strong breeze at the Gap of Dunloe.

The opposite view from Gap of Dunloe.