Fly Me To London Part 8: Chelsea Football Stamford Bridge + The Shard + Shrek’s Adventure

More Sightseeing in London and A Little Fun Adventure!

Continuing my London escapade, here are few more sightseeing to visit in London. Some of these places are near to each other, so make sure to check and plan them prior to your visit to London. Head on over to Visit Britain website for more information and all the things to do and see in London. Though never a football fan, we was certainly really pleased to be able to visit one of the famous football club in London. We also visited one of the tallest building there and caught the amazing 3t60 degree view of the city. Then we had some fun adventures with an ogre, a donkey and a princess. Our finale was the majestic view of London’s top hot spot by the River Thames…

CHELSEA FOOTBALL CLUB, STAMFORD BRIDGE

First up, let me just say that even if you are not a football fan, you should still visit Stamford Bridge, home to Chelsea Football Club. It’s such an amazing experience to be able to see the stadium where the big leagues play. Located in Fulham, London, the stadium was opened in 1877 to another athletic club until 1905 where Chelsea Football Club was born and took over the stadium. After several remodeling work, Stamford Bridge stadium now has a capacity of slightly just over 40K.

It was a lovely morning as we arrived at Stamford Bridge together with Pilot Parker and Emma from Visit Britain. We had signed up for the morning fully guided one hour tour of Stamford Bridge and was pretty excited about getting to the stadium, home turf of 2014/15 Premier League Champions Chelsea FC.

It is definitely worthy to sign up for the tour as it takes you behind the scenes at the stadium and gives you access to areas normally only reserved for players and officials. There’s nothing like seeing the stadium from all the best angles through this tour. The tours runs daily on weekdays from 10am to 3pm except on certain specified dates. Find out more on the tour here.

Before we started our tour, we visited the Chelsea FC Museum, detailing over 100 years of Chelsea’s history and many other records as well as trophies and significant wins. There are also collections of famous footballer jerseys and their shoes as well as their footballs.

Stamford Bridge stadium is a sight to behold. Beautifully well-kept and maintained, the vibrant colors of Chelsea blue and lush greens are seen everywhere. We roamed everywhere, the Stadium to the Press Room to the Home & Away dressing rooms and the dugout areas, our guide kept us filled with lots of interesting information of the team and the rules and regulations of the games.

The lush green grass gets special treatments under specially controlled lighting and environment throughout the year.

Locker room has all the players’ pictures on their own locker. We were told that each player would have two new jerseys for each game and that they would leave both jerseys behind after the games as well… wouldn’t you like to get your hands on the jersey?

Before each game, there will always be a Press meeting held at the Press Room where the coach and sponsors will be present for Q&A to the media. We got lucky and even got to pose at the Press Room too!

If you’re hoping to catch the players, at last you won’t as they do not practice at Stamford Bridge but they have their own grounds for regular practice.

After the tour, no fans of football will ever leave without checking out the various souvenirs or memorabilia at the merchandise store. There are loads of every possible souvenirs for the hardcore football fans and even I was tempted to buy some. It was also here that Pilot Parker met up with the Chelsea Bear too!

STAMFORD BRIDGE

Fulham Rd, London SW6 1HS,

United Kingdom

Email: tours@chelseafc.com

Website: www.chelseafc.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Stamford-Bridge-155616251147810/

THE VIEW FROM THE SHARD

Next place is another must-visit when in London! After all, its got the best views of London from its 72 floor with unparalleled 360 degree views for up to 40 miles… yes, I am talking about The View From The Shard. The 95-storey skyscraper in Southwark is London’s new emblem. Besides its extraordinary and exquisite architectural design, The Shard houses many occupiers including the fame Shangri-la Hotel as well as retail, restaurants, offices, education, medial and more.

It took 12 years to complete this Vertical City and The Shard, developed by Irvine Sellar, was finally opened in July 2012. Shimmering against the sun light, The Shard’s designer Renzo Piano was inspired by the spires of London churches and the tall ships depicted by Venetian painter Canaletto. Visit The Shard website for the full details of the architectural design that includes ‘eight sloping glass facades’, the ‘shards’, the architectural shape and visual quality of the tower, the unique design of the glass to reflect the lights in unpredictable ways and more.

The main reception area is designed with contemporary minimalist. Its dark interior exudes a sense of the unknown thrill of heading up The Shard. There are over 300 languages translation available for visitors as well. Service was excellent and efficient!

Visitors are transported by super-fast elevators to the three levels of viewing deck – 68th, 69th and 72nd floors. We did change elevator half way and even the elevator had soothing music gearing us up for amazement. The whole experience is well planned out and there are plenty of staffs around to guide the many visitors going up The Shard each day.

Once we arrived, our group disperse right away and everyone was just amazed at the gorgeous view of London! My inner shutterbug passion took over and I went nuts clicking away. The endless views of London from The Shard was breath taking. We even had several weather change from sunny to rain and then it was back to sunny again.

I started at the 68th floor and slowly made my way up to the 72th floor. Even though I had fear of heights, the view was worth it. The 72th floor had a small drink and snack bar. This floor had open spaces and we had a light breeze sweeping across the room, making the whole experience even more surreal.

One can see the Tower Bridge that crosses the River Thames as well as the other bridges such as the London Bridge too.

The London Eye stood out too besides all the skyscrapers…

We also caught views of the trio of the Cheesegrater (The Leadenhall Building) and the Gherkin (30 St Mary Ax).

The Shard is utterly impressive and certainly a vision of inspirations. End your visit with a quick stop at their gift shop as I did to bring a little piece of The Shard home…

THE SHARD

32 London Bridge St,

London SE1 9SG,

United Kingdom

Website: www.the-shard.com

SHREK’S ADVENTURE

Our last adventure in London was a fun one. A Dreamworks film that soar to fame came to life in this indoor walk-and-ride attraction located in the Riverside Building. This 75-minutes interactive adventure brings out the fun in the young and the old. Quirky characters in Shrek are played by many talented artists and certainly had everyone enjoying some honest-to goodness fun.

From our Mis-adventures in the kingdom of Far Far Away with witches on the 4D ‘Dreamworks’ Tour Bus driven by Donkey to Shrek’s Swamp to finding your fortune with the Esmeralda and her crystal ball, getting lost in the Mirror maze, The Poison Apple Pub encounter with a witch, The Wheel of Torture with Pinocchio and Muffin Man’s bubbling cauldron episode with Gingy, it’s going to be a thrill ride all the way.

So grab on to your inner fun self and let Shrek’s Adventure bring out the little kid inside us all….

SHREK’S ADVENTURE

Riverside Building

County Hall

Westminster Bridge Road

London SE1 7PB,

United Kingdom

Website: www.shreksadventure.com/london/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/shreksadventurelondon

While visiting Shrek’s Adventure, we were also thrilled that this attraction is located by the River Thames and The London Eye! So we did get to take our photos of Big Ben by River Thames as well as London Eye…

Oh course we couldn’t resist taking more photos and the rest as we say is history but definitely an unforgettable experience in every possible sense… missing London dreadfully as I am writing this post and looking at all the photos of our visits….

This is trip was made possible by Malaysia Airlines, UK Visit Britain and Dorsett Shepherds Bush London. All stories and comments in my posts are purely derived from my own experiences through the trip.

*Next up, let’s eat London!

London Stories

FlyMe To London Part 1 - Malaysia Airlines Berhad + KLIA Golden and PlatinumLounge

FlyMe To London Part 2 – Dorsett Shepherds Bush, West London

FlyMe To London Part 3 - Good Eats at Dorsett Shepherds Bush

FlyMe To London Part 4 – Asian Art Exhibition at Dorsett Shepherds Bush

FlyMe To London Part 5 - Bicester Village Outlet Shopping by Chiltern Railways +Lunch at The Farmshop

FlyMe To London Part 6 - Shopping at Burlington Arcade & Westfield London +Kidzania London

FlyMe To London Part 7 – Sightseeing at Blenheim Palace + Charlie & TheChocolate Factory

 Fly Me To London Part 8 – Sightseeing at Chelsea Football Club, Stamford Bridge + The Shard + Shrek’s Adventure