After another very windy day, a visit to Borough Market and the Tate Modern, a nice sushi restaurant, an interesting expensive night out, a ‘morning after’, a last tube ride, a mean English breakfast and a frappuccino, it was time to travel back home again. With no delays and only one souvenir: a nasty cold. It’s good to be back!
Monthly Archive for August, 2009
OK, forget about yesterdays itinerary, if you’ve only got a weekend in London, skip that! Go to Greenwich. It might take you over an hour to get there if you’re staying on the other side of the city, but it’s worth it! Greenwich Market, the University terrain, Greenwich Park, the National Maritime Museum, Queen’s House and the Royal Observatory. It’s almost too much for one day! On the way back to the center also check out business center Canary Wharf and a piece of the Thames Path. Beautiful. Just a few tips: get a day pass for the tube, bring food for a picknick and bring some good company, that will probably make things even better!
I was so sleep drunk and so busy to get a taxi, that I didn’t even notice the ‘ driving on the wrong side of the road’ ordeal yesterday. Today I did, and although it seems easy to just look in the other direction, it’s not. I kind of felt like an owl or something, continuously turning my head to all possible sides.
But I did see a lot. First the Ferris Wheel the London Eye (Who pays 17 pounds to go in?!), then I walked across Westminster Bridge to the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (I’ve never seen so many police men in five minutes). I ate my 2 pound lunch deal (prefab sandwiches, crisps and Tesco juice) in front of the Jewel Tower.
While walking through St James’s Park (where I saw a pelican), the sun started shining. At the Queen Victoria Memorial next to Buckingham Palace (busy!), it was time to take off a shirt. Trafalgar Square reminded me of the Dam in Amsterdam, except for all the red double buses driving around. But unlike the Rijksmuseum, The National Gallery was free.
When I got out of the museum, the sun was gone and the sweater and umbrella had to come out. At the same time, the not so many hours of sleep combined with five hours of walking, made me feel super tired. When I met my friend L. around dinner time, I learned she had gone through the same.
But even so, after a big Chinese meal (with duck), we even managed to watch a movie and sip a glass of wine. Off to the next day!
I was at the station twenty minutes early, excited to start my trip to England. Luckily I didn’t know yet what the next fourteen hours would bring me…
The first thing happened soon. We had to change route because of an accident. That would have been no problem at all, IF there wouldn’t have peeped a stop train just in front of us…
The delayed minutes kept adding up, until we were forty-five minutes behind on schedule while arriving in Antwerp. There, the second thing happened. Another railway problem. Passengers to Brussels were advised to take the train on track X.
Which happened to be a stop train… It became clear that now I would definitely miss the Eurostar train to London. Eventually I arrived in Brussels 1,5 hours later than planned. Luckily I could just hop on the next train.
But you will not believe this, again, something happened. A train had a technical problem — IN THE TUNNEL. We couldn’t move.
We only got bits and pieces of information. The train before us had to be evacuated and this would take a long time. So long, that we were on this train for 6 hours instead of 2…
When I arrived at St Pancras it was 2am local time. I could close my eyes at 3am. Welcome in London…
I have been meeting travelers, reading travelers blogs and thinking about traveling. This resulted in a travel dream!
Some inspiration:
Backpacking around the world 2008 - 2010
The adventures of a 29-year old traveler
A technomadic life adventure
I want to do something like this myself! But I will have to start simple.
So what about the following… Three months, Two people, One car.
The goal: See every inch of New Zealand and do some mountain climbing, windsurfing, volcano walking, dolphin spotting, forest camping, wine tasting, Maori dancing and star gazing in between.
I vote for traveling in spring time, which is Sept, Oct and Nov in NZ. So I guess this year it will not happen. But who knows what 2010 will bring?!
Als een echte Nederlander weet ik natuurlijk al sinds mijn tiende hoe ik een band moet plakken. Maar ik weet nu ook eindelijk hoe je zelf een binnen- en buitenband kunt verwisselen. Bij deze beloof ik de wereld, de volgende keer dat dit nodig is bij mijn eigen fiets, zal ik het zelf doen!