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