Blogs from London City, Greater London, England, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

I only ever go to London on short trips; get the train down, do something touristy, eat something foodie, see a show, sleep, go back home, cry when I see my bank balance. In truth I don’t know if I like London much. It’s crowded, and I find that overwhelming. It’s so focused on tourism such that I don’t believe I’m in the real London. You know the real London; Chelsea Pensioners, Pearly Kings, the cast of Eastenders arguing, doing the ‘Lambeth Walk’ (Oi!), flower sellers, the occasional ‘ore wiv an ‘eart of gowd, guvnor, Sid James laughing, the musical genius of Chas and Dave (that’s enough cockney clichés). The ‘City’ one visits is like a movie set surrounded by an ocean of suburbia where real Londoners live. It’s a ... read more

It's hard to believe that two weeks have passed. Today's our last day in London. Although I'm eager to get home to Andrew and the kids, I'm also sad for this trip to end. I've gotten to see and do so much. It's been incredible, and it's hard to have such an amazing experience come to a close. Today, we were on our own for the day. I think some people were excited to have the whole day to themselves, but I'd been dreading it for a while. We're supposed to stay in pairs, which means I have to find someone to tag along with. I'd passed along the message that I'd wait in the lobby at 9:30am for anyone who wanted to go out. At first, it appeared no one was coming. But then, thankfully, ... read more

Three days that did not exactly go to plan.... the itinerary not being written in stone has suffered many pleasant adjustments. Regent's Canal Towpath On Thursday the 14 I did begin the walk along the Regent's Canal Towpath at 10.20 beginning at Little Venice near Paddington Station and heading east with LimeHouse the intended final destination. There are masses of flat river boats moored along the edges of the canal. The centre of the water is still open enough for other barges to pass. Unless one has permanent mooring rights at the price of what a regular flat would cost in the city, ones barge must move every two weeks heading in the same direction for at least 20km/mi cant remember which. Penalties for not moving come to 25GBP/da.Along the towpath as far as I went ... read more

This time we had a short break in Poland only and I have to say that the excitement about heading off somewhere again simply wasn’t there... maybe it was the weather? Cold dark mornings, temperature dropping rapidly, sad grey days... and at the same time so cosy at home sitting by the fireplace... Croatia certainly seemed like a more exciting destination than London – there was a chance we could get some sun rays by the Adriatic Sea still, but London? Wasn’t it just another huge city? Loud, busy... and expensive! Weren’t we just going from one grey place to another? I don’t really know why but London simply didn’t seem attractive to me at all... I've been there once only and only for a day so there was plenty to explore still... yet I was ... read more

At breakfast this morning, we ran into Faisal who had shown up to the hotel to wish safe travels to those who were heading out today. We hung out with him for a bit on the outdoor terrace while having some morning coffee before Kevin and I were picked up by our taxi to take us to Queen Alia International Airport in Amman. Our flight to London was on Royal Jordanian Airlines. I had purposefully arranged our flights to ensure we had an overnight layover in London and some time to take in some of the important sights. Kevin had connected with some friends of his who lived in the area and they were going to pick him up upon arrival at Heathrow airport in order to hang out. That left me to explore London this ... read more