One cannot go to London and NOT SEE Westminster Abbey !  To do so would be a grand disservice to your trip. I mean how can you not experience the  most important (and heck, oldest) church in London :  site of coronations, burials, memorials, and lookalike to every Citadel in our dreams?! Yeah, I'm a big fan of this place. So big that I purposely and happily went here thrice in the two times that I've visited London! *  Taking the tube  to Westminster and  getting off Westminster Station , short and sweet!! While I greatly appreciated the presence of English all around (compared to everywhere else in Europe), I must say that  I found the Paris Metro to be more navigable compared to the London Tube . Must be because the Metro uses a numbering system (Get off the 6, Hop on the 9) compared to the system of the Tube which uses named lines (Jubilee Line... Jubilee Line.. Wait, what I am doing on the Metropolitan Line?!)

Across the river from the London Eye stands  Westminster , England's  political and religious center . Since the  11th Century , Westminster has proudly been the center of power for the English people from the moment  King Canute built his palace  here and his successor,  Edward the Confessor , founded Westminster Abbey right beside it . On a regular day, expect to see crowds of civil servants and tourists coexisting in this tiny yet hallowed area. * Taken from Parliament Square is this shot of  Parliament on the right  and the  Norman Shaw Buildings , the original site of the famous  Scotland Yard  synonymous with Sherlock Holmes and detective work,  on the left .

Being a big fan of  Sherlock Holmes , the movie  Eurotrip , British musicians such as the  Beatles , Coldplay  etc, and  British imperial history , I knew that  London  would be the  pinnacle of any European sojourn.  There are just too many places here that I wanted to see! However to have the chance to  visit the city twice in two years  (one with family in 2012, the other for work in 2013), gave me a good appreciation of what this city has to offer. And like any traveler in the good old days, I did what any newcomer in a strange locale was expected to first do upon arriving, and that is to   pay my respects to the Sovereign . *  Buckingham Palace  is known the world over as the  official residence of the British Monarchy . As you can see in the succeeding photographs, there is a  huge difference   between the size of the crowd last year (2012) and this year (2013). When I visited last year, it was about the time that the London Olympics had just ended and for some r

As an added bonus to what was already an awesome trip, we were able to visit an honest-to-goodness  Scottish castle ! Built in  1546 ,  Ballindalloch , known affectionately as the  Pearl of the North , is one of the more beautiful and romantic-looking castles in Scotland. Having been continuously occupied by the  Macpherson-Grant family  since its inception, the estate and its grounds are now open to the public as a museum, distillery, public garden, golf course, dog walking park and ranch serving its own renowned Angus beef. * Driving by  Lord of the Rings-esque   landscapes  on the way to the castle. I'm pretty sure that there are orcs / barbarians / vikings hiding in that forest.

The second stop on our whiskey tour was the   Glenlivet Distillery , producer of the renowned Glenlivet single-malt (duh!). Known as the  "single malt that started it all,"  Glenlivet is currently the  biggest selling single malt brand in the US   and is personally my favorite single-malt scotch. * This sign goes to show how all of our beloved scotch whiskey brands are just literally,  neighbors .

For  my profession , I find that I am extremely lucky to be able to call myself a  salesman   of some of the  world's finest brands of spirits and liqueurs . It's one thing to care about what it is you sell, may it be a service, smartphone, shoes, food, but  to actually LOVE what you sell   (and I do love my booze)  is an entirely different thing. It is in this spirit that I, along with my officemates, was very fortunate to have been sent on an   educational trip to Scotland , where our beloved scotch whiskey brands are produced. * On the road, we passed by  warehouses full of Chivas Regal , definitely  my preferred blended scotch  due to its  sweetness  and  smooth finish  as compared with other scotch brands. It was surreal to realize that a bottle of scotch that I will enjoy years from now, is currently in one of these warehouses. 

In between the company scheduled tours, dinners and activities, I found some time to walk around and explore the area our hotel was located in. To my surprise, I found out that  Elgin  was a former  cathedral city   (town built around a medieval cathedral)  created as a  Royal Burgh   (official royal town)  in the  12th century   by  King David I of Scotland . So historically, there are a lot of places here to whet one's appetite. On a pop culture note,  the Beatles, The Who, Pink Floyd and The Kinks  all performed in a  d ance hall  here back in the  60's ; so, add extra points for coolness!! * The view of the town from my  attic-style hotel room's window !

After 13 hours, 3 movies, 5 TV shows, 2 full meals, 1 in-flight magazine (read from cover-to-cover) and numerous conversations with my colleagues, we finally arrived in London.. just in time to catch our connecting flight to Scotland! * Thank God for the gift of   aisle seating  as I had the chance to stretch every few hours. I could have happily walked for miles upon arriving in Heathrow after that grueling flight duration.