After some uncomfortable journey as the Emirates Service in this sector was very poor, ( the seats were changed for us in the last minute even though we had web checked and had confirmed seat numbers. The flight entertainment which I had liked earlier did not work at all, and the attitude of the Flight Attendants were like we could not care less.) We reached London before time.
Surprisingly the Immigration Officer was very friendly contrary to my expectations, Welcomed us with a big smile, which set the mood for my whole trip I suppose.
We had made all arrangements (here we means my hubby and I just the nodding partner) , with the help of my dear Niece who lives in London Suburbs with her family who helped us plan the visits , buy tickets and generally telling us the not to be missed list .
We had booked for Taxi Service Online and the Driver was waiting for us even though the flight was before time.
We had booked our stay in Service Apartment in the City near Gloucester station .
The places which we passed while we rode , from the airport looked like some rundown cities of U.S.A., but I reminded myself that I just should not jump into conclusion by mere glance. We reached the hotel and had a room with a nice view of the road and an attached kitchen and arranged the things.
Hey and Presto my Niece arrived with her little kid to see us with flowers in her hand and home made food in her bag.
In the streets of London City.....
In Hyde Park.....
In Hyde Park........
All of us went by walk to the near by Super Market to buy some fruits, bread, milk, Yogurt etc for us. We proceeded to Hyde park. One of the entrances was near to where we stayed. We had a picnic dinner with the food she had brought and sat and watched the lovely geese in the water.
Deeps left for her place with baby Sanjana and We walked back to our hotel room from Hyde Park. It took me some time to get used to the feeling that I was walking in the streets of London in a very relaxed pace and manner.
The Actual Day One started today as our visits to different places of interest were planned from today only . It was 21st August 2012 and we had bought tickets to visit the Tower of London.
I got up early and made some rice in the micro wave oven. We had booked the service apartment as we wanted to carry our packed lunch so that we will not waste time and money in searching and buying food from outside.
I made some ready to eat Uppuma in 5 minutes. ( The ready mix I had made at home and brought Uppuma is Uppittu in kannada which is a breakfast/Lunch item made with Sooji/Rava). We packed some rice mixed with Chutney powder (which I had brought ) and also uppuma for our lunch and had Breakfast in the room . Bread, butter, jam, fruits cereals which we had bought the previous day.
We walked with the back pack (This trip helped me in teaching, how to walk with the back pack and more than anything how to hang it in the back! even now I struggle a bit to put it on my back ) to the Gloucester Station and bought the Oyster Tickets/ Cards for one week. for three zones. There are many zones in the London suburb which is called the Tube and also the other Railway lines. Almost all the attractions are within 1,2,and 3 zones and to go to farther places all we had to do was just to give this Oyster Card and buy the ticket for that place so that they will subtract the price for the zones we are eligible and we need to pay only the difference. So it was easy to visit the attractions within the zones by simply swiping the card and taking any train we want (there are so many connecting lines) and to go farther also was no problem.
It was very convenient and the deposit amount of about 5 pounds they took which they would repay when we give back the card after the week is over or when we are leaving. There are many trains and user friendly maps for the underground and you have to know which train you have to take to reach your destination and we kind of mastered it within one or two days as to where to change which train to take etc. I think I really got emotionally attached to the map and I still have it with me.
We knew that we had to go to Tower Hill Station and we got the right train and got down in the station. The people in the escalators just simply keep running and so you have to stay on the left allowing the regulars to run in the right side. Even for our own standards we walked fast but these Londoners , they simply run and run. We had practiced enough walking back in KL as we knew that we have to do lot of walking if we are to see places in London.
Being first day we got confused as to how to reach the London Tower even though, we could just look at it from the outside of the station . We walked in a very round about way to reach it. Later on another day we found out that we could have reached just walking in the underground walk way which just would have taken us there in two minutes flat.
Will talk about London Tower in my next Blog.
Surprisingly the Immigration Officer was very friendly contrary to my expectations, Welcomed us with a big smile, which set the mood for my whole trip I suppose.
We had made all arrangements (here we means my hubby and I just the nodding partner) , with the help of my dear Niece who lives in London Suburbs with her family who helped us plan the visits , buy tickets and generally telling us the not to be missed list .
We had booked for Taxi Service Online and the Driver was waiting for us even though the flight was before time.
We had booked our stay in Service Apartment in the City near Gloucester station .
The places which we passed while we rode , from the airport looked like some rundown cities of U.S.A., but I reminded myself that I just should not jump into conclusion by mere glance. We reached the hotel and had a room with a nice view of the road and an attached kitchen and arranged the things.
Hey and Presto my Niece arrived with her little kid to see us with flowers in her hand and home made food in her bag.
In the streets of London City.....
In Hyde Park.....
In Hyde Park........
All of us went by walk to the near by Super Market to buy some fruits, bread, milk, Yogurt etc for us. We proceeded to Hyde park. One of the entrances was near to where we stayed. We had a picnic dinner with the food she had brought and sat and watched the lovely geese in the water.
Deeps left for her place with baby Sanjana and We walked back to our hotel room from Hyde Park. It took me some time to get used to the feeling that I was walking in the streets of London in a very relaxed pace and manner.
The Actual Day One started today as our visits to different places of interest were planned from today only . It was 21st August 2012 and we had bought tickets to visit the Tower of London.
I got up early and made some rice in the micro wave oven. We had booked the service apartment as we wanted to carry our packed lunch so that we will not waste time and money in searching and buying food from outside.
I made some ready to eat Uppuma in 5 minutes. ( The ready mix I had made at home and brought Uppuma is Uppittu in kannada which is a breakfast/Lunch item made with Sooji/Rava). We packed some rice mixed with Chutney powder (which I had brought ) and also uppuma for our lunch and had Breakfast in the room . Bread, butter, jam, fruits cereals which we had bought the previous day.
We walked with the back pack (This trip helped me in teaching, how to walk with the back pack and more than anything how to hang it in the back! even now I struggle a bit to put it on my back ) to the Gloucester Station and bought the Oyster Tickets/ Cards for one week. for three zones. There are many zones in the London suburb which is called the Tube and also the other Railway lines. Almost all the attractions are within 1,2,and 3 zones and to go to farther places all we had to do was just to give this Oyster Card and buy the ticket for that place so that they will subtract the price for the zones we are eligible and we need to pay only the difference. So it was easy to visit the attractions within the zones by simply swiping the card and taking any train we want (there are so many connecting lines) and to go farther also was no problem.
It was very convenient and the deposit amount of about 5 pounds they took which they would repay when we give back the card after the week is over or when we are leaving. There are many trains and user friendly maps for the underground and you have to know which train you have to take to reach your destination and we kind of mastered it within one or two days as to where to change which train to take etc. I think I really got emotionally attached to the map and I still have it with me.
We knew that we had to go to Tower Hill Station and we got the right train and got down in the station. The people in the escalators just simply keep running and so you have to stay on the left allowing the regulars to run in the right side. Even for our own standards we walked fast but these Londoners , they simply run and run. We had practiced enough walking back in KL as we knew that we have to do lot of walking if we are to see places in London.
Being first day we got confused as to how to reach the London Tower even though, we could just look at it from the outside of the station . We walked in a very round about way to reach it. Later on another day we found out that we could have reached just walking in the underground walk way which just would have taken us there in two minutes flat.
Will talk about London Tower in my next Blog.
1 comment:
Suburban railways/ tubes, maps - are really wonderful. It is an experience.
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