Phew... Finally, have managed to put some keystrokes to MS word after almost 2 years. This post is to be read as a sequel, to my earlier one “New Year. Old habits” and half of it were written while I was still in Sweden.
The Ryan air flight from Gothenburg to Stansted, London was scheduled to leave at 9 15 pm, and perhaps as is the case with all the low cost airlines in the world, it took off 30 minutes late. Among the host of things that they sell onboard the aircraft, the most useful thing to buy is a ticket for the Stansted express - the train that you need to take from Stansted to London. It comes cheaper than the counter price at the airport and also you save time as you can head straight off for the train after you have finished your passport stamping. The trip from Stansted to London Liverpool Street took 45 minutes and from there, another 45 minutes before I could finally reach my hostel, which was located at west Kensington. It would be good to keep in mind that the underground stops after 1 am and so if you are dependent on it for reaching your hostel, plan accordingly. As I traveled on the tube and started hearing the public talk in English and noticed the signboards and announcements in English, I realized how much of a difference the knowledge of the language makes. It instantly puts you in a comfort zone and you tend to relax even though I was in a new city at it was half past midnight. While almost everybody in Gothenburg can speak in English, it is not the first choice. The announcements, the advertisements and the idle talk are not in English.
The hostel I was put up in was located in a good locality and also was extremely comfortable. It was a far cry from the small and slightly shady hostels I had been in some parts of Spain. This one had 80 percent rating on hostel world written all over it. The next morning as I drew the curtains out, I was half expecting sunshine and as I had thought it was raining. I had time till the evening to kill before my friend Rusa joined me from Gothenburg. Like a true tourist, my first stop in the morning was the Big Ben. The most definitive symbol for London , located right next to the Thames and with the Parliament house and the West minister Abbey nearby The most popular attraction of London this century - the London eye was my next stop. As luck would have it, they were closing it down for maintenance and I managed to get onboard the last flight before it shut down for 2 weeks. But it was still raining and in effect the so called spectacular view of London was ruined. After an uneventful 30 minute ride, I was back on terra firma and started walking further down along the Thames.
As the rain started getting heavier, I needed a place for shelter and I went inside the Tate Modern - the museum of modern art. A modest and ordinary looking building from outside, the Tate has about 6 levels of art and other exhibits inside its cavernous interior. As the name suggests, it comprises of modern art and I found it difficult to understand what on earth most of the paintings and art work meant. I remember seeing one huge canvas hung on the wall, entirely blue in color with a reddish line drawn through it. How much ever I try to interpret it, I could not come up with any meaningful ones. I continued my walk along the Thames covering the Globe theatre, the Millennium Bridge, the St.Pauls cathedral, then further down towards the HMS Belfast and finally the Tower Bridge. There was an exhibition of some fantastic sports photographs on the walkway near to the HMS Belfast and I spent the maximum time looking at them.
After Rusa checked in by evening, our first stop was the Piccadilly Circus. As we stepped out into the street up from the underground station, the first thing that we saw was the famous neon signs that have come to symbolize Piccadilly Circus. We walked along the public space, past the fountains and onwards towards Leicester square. The box offices were in full swing selling tickets for the weekend shows. We walked around the various by lanes, dipping in and out of china town, having a look at the various listings for musicals and movies playing and walked our way towards the Trafalgar square. Since it was quite dark and the rain had not abated, we quickly made our way back towards Piccadilly and further walked on to the Hard rock cafe. After a couple of drinks and some wasted food (thanks to a wrong decision with regards to ordering the food) we were back in the hostel.
Day 2 was a day of glorious sunshine. This made me believe that it doesn’t actually rain everyday in London. We started the day at the Big Ben again, and walked through the St.James Park towards the Buckingham palace. Since the palace interiors were closed for visitors during this part of the year, we had to make do with just a peep in through the massive gates and generally walk around. From the palace we walked along the red colored road called ' The Mall ' down towards the Admiralty arch and onwards to the Trafalgar square. Before getting to the square we stopped over at the Horse guards’ parade, where a change of guard ceremony was taking place. We had missed the more famous change of guard at the Buckingham palace, so had to make do with the one here. Trafalgar square was our next stop. This site celebrates the British naval victory in the battle of Trafalgar. The national gallery (a place which I have sadly missed, in spite of two trips to London) is at one end and the imposing Nelsons column is in the centre which is guarded by 4 giant Lions. It was interesting to note that the fountains in the square were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who later had designed New Delhi.
We walked towards Leicester square and after a quick lunch, we reserved tickets for Les Miserables later in the day. Since we could get tickets only for the afternoon show, we had to postpone Madam Tussauds for the next day. Colloquially knows as Les Mis, this is one of the longest running shows in the London west end - 22 years and counting. The story of Jean Valjean, Javert, Cosette and others set in 19th century France had us captivated and I was bowled over by my first experience of watching a musical.
Next was Oxford Street. Considered to be Europe s busiest shopping street, it was packed to its seams on that Friday evening. We walked the entire length of the street, gaping at the various marquee names that had their flagship stores along the way. Virgin, Disney, GAP, Marks and Spencer, UCB, Selfridges among others. Meanwhile Rusa s long running search for a new Digital camera continued in London as well, and as has been the case for a long time, the search ended with no purchase.
Next day was Madam Tussauds day. Guess for any first time visitor to London, this is a must visit place. And it certainly did not disappoint me, living up to the massive hype that this place has. Right from the moment you step out of the elevator to the light and sound of flashlights welcoming you like a celebrity ,till you come out of the place a couple of hours later, this museum does not disappoint. For me of particular interest were the Indian film stars, with SRK s statue placed right in front as one enters the Hollywood section!! Sports, movies, music, leaders, and royalty they were all there and sometimes we had to wait for a few minutes to get an opportunity to click a picture next to one.
By the time we had covered Tussauds it was too late in the day to get to the Tower Hill. We had to make do by just walking on the Tower bridge and taking a view of the city from there and retired to the hostel as we had an early morning flight to catch back to Gothenburg next day. But the drama was not over yet, the next morning we had to be at Liverpool street station early morning around 4 30ish in time to catch the Stansted express to the airport. We had to change buses twice to get to Liverpool Street, and we ended up missing one of them thanks to the fact that we are a stop where the buses stop only if you put your hands out and signal. Probably the bus driver mistook us for two homeless souls taking shelter in the bus stop from the rain and drove straight past us. We had to go through some tension filled minutes before the next bus came along. Thankfully we reached in time to catch the express and subsequently the flight to Gothenburg.
The hostel I was put up in was located in a good locality and also was extremely comfortable. It was a far cry from the small and slightly shady hostels I had been in some parts of Spain. This one had 80 percent rating on hostel world written all over it. The next morning as I drew the curtains out, I was half expecting sunshine and as I had thought it was raining. I had time till the evening to kill before my friend Rusa joined me from Gothenburg. Like a true tourist, my first stop in the morning was the Big Ben. The most definitive symbol for London , located right next to the Thames and with the Parliament house and the West minister Abbey nearby The most popular attraction of London this century - the London eye was my next stop. As luck would have it, they were closing it down for maintenance and I managed to get onboard the last flight before it shut down for 2 weeks. But it was still raining and in effect the so called spectacular view of London was ruined. After an uneventful 30 minute ride, I was back on terra firma and started walking further down along the Thames.
As the rain started getting heavier, I needed a place for shelter and I went inside the Tate Modern - the museum of modern art. A modest and ordinary looking building from outside, the Tate has about 6 levels of art and other exhibits inside its cavernous interior. As the name suggests, it comprises of modern art and I found it difficult to understand what on earth most of the paintings and art work meant. I remember seeing one huge canvas hung on the wall, entirely blue in color with a reddish line drawn through it. How much ever I try to interpret it, I could not come up with any meaningful ones. I continued my walk along the Thames covering the Globe theatre, the Millennium Bridge, the St.Pauls cathedral, then further down towards the HMS Belfast and finally the Tower Bridge. There was an exhibition of some fantastic sports photographs on the walkway near to the HMS Belfast and I spent the maximum time looking at them.
After Rusa checked in by evening, our first stop was the Piccadilly Circus. As we stepped out into the street up from the underground station, the first thing that we saw was the famous neon signs that have come to symbolize Piccadilly Circus. We walked along the public space, past the fountains and onwards towards Leicester square. The box offices were in full swing selling tickets for the weekend shows. We walked around the various by lanes, dipping in and out of china town, having a look at the various listings for musicals and movies playing and walked our way towards the Trafalgar square. Since it was quite dark and the rain had not abated, we quickly made our way back towards Piccadilly and further walked on to the Hard rock cafe. After a couple of drinks and some wasted food (thanks to a wrong decision with regards to ordering the food) we were back in the hostel.
Day 2 was a day of glorious sunshine. This made me believe that it doesn’t actually rain everyday in London. We started the day at the Big Ben again, and walked through the St.James Park towards the Buckingham palace. Since the palace interiors were closed for visitors during this part of the year, we had to make do with just a peep in through the massive gates and generally walk around. From the palace we walked along the red colored road called ' The Mall ' down towards the Admiralty arch and onwards to the Trafalgar square. Before getting to the square we stopped over at the Horse guards’ parade, where a change of guard ceremony was taking place. We had missed the more famous change of guard at the Buckingham palace, so had to make do with the one here. Trafalgar square was our next stop. This site celebrates the British naval victory in the battle of Trafalgar. The national gallery (a place which I have sadly missed, in spite of two trips to London) is at one end and the imposing Nelsons column is in the centre which is guarded by 4 giant Lions. It was interesting to note that the fountains in the square were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who later had designed New Delhi.
We walked towards Leicester square and after a quick lunch, we reserved tickets for Les Miserables later in the day. Since we could get tickets only for the afternoon show, we had to postpone Madam Tussauds for the next day. Colloquially knows as Les Mis, this is one of the longest running shows in the London west end - 22 years and counting. The story of Jean Valjean, Javert, Cosette and others set in 19th century France had us captivated and I was bowled over by my first experience of watching a musical.
Next was Oxford Street. Considered to be Europe s busiest shopping street, it was packed to its seams on that Friday evening. We walked the entire length of the street, gaping at the various marquee names that had their flagship stores along the way. Virgin, Disney, GAP, Marks and Spencer, UCB, Selfridges among others. Meanwhile Rusa s long running search for a new Digital camera continued in London as well, and as has been the case for a long time, the search ended with no purchase.
Next day was Madam Tussauds day. Guess for any first time visitor to London, this is a must visit place. And it certainly did not disappoint me, living up to the massive hype that this place has. Right from the moment you step out of the elevator to the light and sound of flashlights welcoming you like a celebrity ,till you come out of the place a couple of hours later, this museum does not disappoint. For me of particular interest were the Indian film stars, with SRK s statue placed right in front as one enters the Hollywood section!! Sports, movies, music, leaders, and royalty they were all there and sometimes we had to wait for a few minutes to get an opportunity to click a picture next to one.
By the time we had covered Tussauds it was too late in the day to get to the Tower Hill. We had to make do by just walking on the Tower bridge and taking a view of the city from there and retired to the hostel as we had an early morning flight to catch back to Gothenburg next day. But the drama was not over yet, the next morning we had to be at Liverpool street station early morning around 4 30ish in time to catch the Stansted express to the airport. We had to change buses twice to get to Liverpool Street, and we ended up missing one of them thanks to the fact that we are a stop where the buses stop only if you put your hands out and signal. Probably the bus driver mistook us for two homeless souls taking shelter in the bus stop from the rain and drove straight past us. We had to go through some tension filled minutes before the next bus came along. Thankfully we reached in time to catch the express and subsequently the flight to Gothenburg.
2 comments:
your talents would be better served as a travel guide anoop.. not the first time im telling you this.
i started reading and just couldn't stop . It is one of the best blogs i've ever read.. The straight story line keeps you wanting for more .. i have to read last years' blogs too now.. its a pity the author isnt a professional writer - i'd be one of the first to gobble up his books. Extremely engrossing & entertaining .
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