The HDB Lady: 4-Day London Itinerary on a Budget

London Day 2: 22nd May 2018 Tue

We reached The British Museum at 10.30 am. On the way, we saw a class of young students with a few teachers exiting the Tottenham Court Rd Station. I guessed they were on the way to the museum, and I was right! So next time, if you get lost on the way to the museum, consider following the kids.

The British Museum

At 1pm, we went to Burger King to eat lunch. The toilet in the basement can be used. Though it was for customers but there wasn't any lock or password. Burger King has free flow of soft drinks. So drink to your heart content. We filled up our water bottles with the soft drinks before leaving the restaurant.

It's quite nice

At 2pm, we decided to make a quick stop at Primark instead of coming back late at night. There was some crowd but not shoulder rubbing crowds. I didn’t see any super cheap deals. Their price range are like Cotton On. The place was big though.

Would like to spend more time here!

The next stop, we took the Metro to Charing Cross Station then walked to National Gallery. We entered through the side entrance. You will go through the security check but they didn’t really check.

The front of National Gallery

We rested on the sofa at the lobby before walking around.

We saw Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers.

Vincent van Gogh Sunflowers

There are many big paintings. The details in the painting were fascinating. It even looked like 3D image. Be aware of your standing position though because the reflection from the lights may hinder you from viewing it at its finest view. There are benches around, so you could always seat and admire the painting while resting your feet.

Note: There wasn’t any water fountain at National Gallery and the tap water in the toilet was not potable. Luckily, we filled our water bottle with juices at burger king previously. There is a free toilet to use though.

Around 4.45pm, we exit the National Gallery. There were some performances right outside the National Gallery, before moving down the stairs to the fountain.

Walking down the stairs is the Trafalgar Square. There wasn't anything much. Just a place where people enjoy the breeze and watch people. We lingered there for awhile and took photos.

Then around 5.20pm, we went to the left of the Gallery (facing the Gallery), and realized there looks like another wing that we didn’t seem to walk to. We re-enter the Gallery. This side of the Gallery was much quieter. Outside of the toilet at this wing, we found water cooler! Time to refill our water bottles again.

After browsing through we make our way to the Piccadilly Circus. On the way, we saw The Majesty Theatre (5.38pm).

The Majesty Theatre

We reached Piccadilly circus at 5.50pm but there wasn’t anything much too. Just another people watching place. There were the Eros statue and the large billboard. We didn’t want to sit on the steps as it didn’t look very clean. There were many people sitting at the steps though. As we were leaving, we saw some musicians setting up their stuff. Perhaps it will be more happening at night.

Eros statue

Piccadilly Circus

We traveled from Piccadilly Circus to Shoreditch High Street. Around 6.30pm we reached Boxpark Shoreditch near Brick Lane. We window shopped for a while. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be. There were some small shops at ground level and on the second level was the F&B restaurants.

We were thinking of what to eat but in the end, we decided to walk to the famous Beigel Bake. We bought one Beigel to share and try. It was part of our dinner. It was nice as the meat was salty enough and the bread was warm. Do eat as fast as you can as the cold weather can make it turn cold within 20 minutes.