“T
he city is amazing!” Zhang Tian Jiao exclaimed as we looked upon the city so many had fallen in love with. There was a certain charm in its oldness, something you can never find in a young nation like Singapore. “Despite being a buzzing cosmopolitan city like Singapore, London’s historical buildings seem to have brought us back to a whole different era,” tells Too Jue Ying Joan. We were really thankful that STA Travel organized us a tour guide, Konrad Welkowinski, who managed to show us the most beautiful landmarks such as the Big Ben, Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey and St Paul’s Cathedral, all in a day! For the past 13 years, STA Travel has been heavily involved in planning valuable learning trips for schools in Singapore, and this enriching trip was certainly testament to their efficient and meticulous planning. For me, watching the guard mounting at Buckingham Palace was a spectacle unlike any other I have ever seen. Tourists from all over the world visit Buckingham Palace in hope of catching a glimpse of the guards, clothed in their famous sleek, bold red uniforms and topped with their smartly matched bearskin hats, marching in perfect synchronization.
The Big Ben Theory
One can never quite get used to how large London is or how old her majestic buildings are. By Nina Gee
The irrepressible guards in action at Buckingham Palace
Gearing up for the Doctor Who Experience
THE DOCTOR WHO EXPERIENCE The next day, we headed down to West Kensington for the Doctor Who Experience. Hailed as a multi-sensory interactive journey packed with amazing special effects and exclusive filming, the experience was certainly worth its weight in gold. “Is Doctor Who a big thing over at Singapore?” the Ticket Master asked us
(Start planning your next school trip with STA today, visit statravel.com.sg/education)
as he scanned our tickets. “Not really,” replied one of the girls. “We haven’t seen an episode.” “Well, I hope you still have fun then,” he replied with the broadest smile as we walked into the studio. It was what one would expect from a museum like this - all the costumes from the First
Doctor, played by William Hartnell in the ‘classic’ series way back in 1963, to the current Eleventh Doctor of the 2005 reboot, played by Matt Smith. What we saw next was unlike anything I’ve ever seen in an ordinary museum, we were treated to a video of the Eleventh Doctor himself inviting everyone to step into a crack in the hole of time and space to join him in an adventure. We were also given the opportunity to pilot the TARDIS, Time and Relative Dimensions in Space - the Doctor’s spaceship, which we did with unabashed glee. After the interactive portion was over, there were still lots to see. Actual set pieces from the show’s long history were littered throughout the museum. One could have their pictures taken in the console rooms