Project WWWT Day 28 ~ 34 - Belfast, Northern Ireland

15th ~ 21st June 2017

Finally, we are travelling to Belfast, Northern Ireland. This country has hold something dear to our hearts, our relatives and friends. My wife has two aunts here, 5 cousins from the two aunts, two cousins whom has also started their own family and from them, we had 2 nieces and 1 nephew. This destination was more like visiting family as well as to take a mid-project rest where we could relax a little more before we embark on the other half of our project's duration. As such, the post on Northern Ireland will not be as the previous postings which was on a day by day basis but rather, based on a single post of the POI that we have visited in this country.

Project WWWT Day 20 of 72 - Pisa, Italy

7th June 2017

Prego!

Finally, we are making our way to the land of fashion, pastas & piazzas, parma hams and parmagiano regiano! Before I go any further, I would like to record some incidents and information for our journey from London to this wonderful location - Pisa. We flew via RyanAir from London to Pisa and the flight is scheduled to depart from London Stansted Airport. We took UBER to the airport and the journey took around 90 minutes and costs £111.13. The reason why it cost that much is because we took UberVan i.e. a 6-seater vehicle to transport all 5 of us plus 8 luggages + a stroller. I know that is a lot but hey, we have 3 adults, 2 children and 72 days of travel? Besides, yours truly has some really good looking arms by now although my face remains the chubby fat me (its a gift). If you are opting for regular Uber, it will likely costs half of that and at that price, it is way cheaper option considering that you have the car all to yourself.

Project WWWT Day 19 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

6th June 2017

Today is a day for the family to be impressed and to act like arts connosieurs. We visited The National Gallery London and was truly amazed by the beautiful art collection in the gallery. The most prized piece are some painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Van Gogh and Rembrandt (To name a few) but we did not managed to see everyone of them as there are just too many paintings that caught our eyes. The children are not as interested in the paintings but the good thing is, Naaman brought his Dinosaur Lego book that we bought for him at the Natural History museum, so that book got him busy.  

Project WWWT Day 18 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

5th June 2017

I had always loved animals since I was a child and I am trying to instill the same to my boys. I brought Naaman to Antwerp Zoo when he was a little shy of one year old... or rather, I wanted to go and I made him accompany me.

Project WWWT Day 17 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

4th June 2017

Following the terror attack on the London Bridge and immediate vicinity of Borough Market, tourists is visibly avoiding crowded and popular places while flocking to less likely target site such as parks. We start our day as per normal although you can see the news reporting about the terror attach over and over again, almost similar to the 9/11 reporting. 

After my early breakfast, I ventured out to explore Hyde Park, all the way through to Kensington Garden on my own. The park is beautiful. I can only imagine for now how beautiful it will be during autumn (My favourite season!). The weather was kind with me that morning and I managed to get some saphire blue sky and beautiful clouds.

Project WWWT Day 16 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

3rd June 2017

Today is a full day for us. We visited Hyde Park, Natural History Museum of London and another extra place for the ladies, shopping at The Harrods. Hyde Park is huge! It looked so small in the map but when we are there it just seemed endless. Anyway, I would say I had a good time walking but I may not be able to say the same for the rest of the party.

Project WWWT Day 15 of 72- London, United Kingdom

2nd June 2017

Today is our last day in Marriott County Hall Hotel, so we did not do much except to spend time packing up, eating our last breakfast in that Hotel (It was a very pleasurable experience as compared to Park Lane Marriott Hotel although the latter being the more expensive hotel). We also spend some time walking across the Westminster Bridge, the Big Ben, and Westminster Cathedral. 

Our original plan was to stay in JW Marriott Grosvernor House but due to some miscommunication, intention to save a little cash on our accomodation, the omission of per night (£150 per night) cash payment on top of the Marriott Points redemption but more importantly, the photos of the room in Marriott Park Lane Hotel at Mayfair is more impressive, I decided to change plan and stay there instead.

Project WWWT London Terror Attack

3rd June 2017

London was under terrorist attach today. The attacker drove a van and plough into pedestrian at London Bridge and then, the attackers went on a stabbing rampage nearby Borough Market. At least 7 were killed and at least 40 was injured and sent to the hospital. I pray that they made it through the ordeal. 

Project WWWT Day 14 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

1st June 2017

I woke up early this morning and as my normal practice, slide open the window to check the weather outside. The past few days has been cloudy in the morning and slightly more sunny in the late afternoon, but not today. The sky was in its majestic cloak of azure blue that I wasted no time in washing up and changing into the next best thing I can grab from my pile of worn attires, took my camera and head out of the hotel towards the Westminster Bridge for a field day.

Project WWWT Day 13 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

31st May 2017

Everyone went to YL London today, except for me and the boys so I played the role of Mary Poppins for half a day. As a reward, I get to head out to take some evening/night photography and I opted somewhere nearby viz the County Hall/Westminster area. The weather was fair and I managed to shoot the photos below.

Project WWWT Day 12 of 72 - London, United Kingdom

30th May 2017

London truly has an erratic weather. One moment it is cloudy, the other moment it is sunny sky and another moment it is raining. So whenever you visited somewhere indoor, try to go in rainy days less you will miss the sunshine while you are indoors and raining when you are about to leave.

Project WWWT Dining @ Maze Grill by Gordon Ramsay

Gordon Ramsay has been one of the chefs that I would go out of my way to see. Four years back in 2013, Gordon Ramsay visited Singapore in an event organised by SingTel whereby the Singapore Citizens are engaged to vote for Singapore's top local dish cooked by respective local chefs or experts and GR will cook off with the local experts/chefs on the top three highest voted dish viz. the Chili crab, Laksa and the famed Chicken rice.I recalled that I almost got into a fight with someone just to secure a spot to photograph GR in action.

Project WWWT Day 11 of 72 - England, United Kingdom

29th May 2017

Today is a shopping day. I rented a car to drive to Bicester Village, which is about 60 miles away from London city. The drive is quite comfortable and it takes approximately 80~90 minutes to reach. Nothing much to note on the driving style if you are coming from a commonwealth country, it is pretty much like driving in Singapore or Malaysia for me. A couple of interesting points to note while driving in Zone 1 is that 1) There is a traffic light in almost every 50 meters; and 2) There is a concession fee to drive in Zone 1 which costs £11.50 during working days and free when it is public holiday (Why can't Singapore follow this type of system? Why???).

Project WWWT Day 10 of 72 - England United Kingdom

28th May 2017

It's time to bid Disneyland goodbye and we need to take a train from Gare Du Nord to London St. Pacras International station. In order to reach Gare Du Nord, we need to take a RER A from Marne La Vallee Chessy station to Chatelet station and from there, cross over to the opposite station within the same platform and take RER B to Gare Du Nord. The trip took around 35-40 minutes and costs €9 per adult. We took Eurostar and children below 4 years old is FOC.