Le Royaume-Uni....
Le Royaume-Uni, thats French for "The United Kingdom". Spent the Easter weekend in London. Established one hard fact about my tourism in Europe, "The European weather is not very fond of me". It either has to be raining or snowing or it'll be very windy or simply too cold to step out whenever I try visiting a nice place. It happened in Rome, 3 times in Paris, now London, wonder what else is in store for me in the coming few months. I was in London for 3 days, and it rained on all three....What the hell????
Fortunately the Rain Gods left a big part of the days for me to visit the main attractions of the city. We got the daily passes for the buses in London so it helped to make up for the damage the rains were causing. We used to get on the double-decker buses on the main line and just look around the city while traveling towards uncertain destinations. There are two very big advantages of doing this, one you get to see literally the whole city even when its pouring and two, its the cheapest mode of tourism. :)
The best thing I liked about London are the parks. Hyde park one of the most peaceful places to walk around in one of the busiest cities of the world. It is just too huge for words and inspite of large number of people in the park you get a lot of space to just sink in your thoughts for as long as the guards don't throw you out of the park. The picture below is sunset as seen from Hyde park.
The one thing that is amazing about all the major cities in Europe is the amount of work the government puts in to ensure that the Historical Landmarks and architecture stays intact even with the heavy modernization of these cities. I was surprised to see that all the Taxis, Buses and telephone booths in London, old as well as new look exactly the same. I'm sure the machinery in the new one's is of the best and latest technology possible but their exteriors remain unchanged since forever.
I couldn't visit one very important place in London, "The Lords Cricket ground". People who know me know that I'm a cricket fanatic and visiting Lords has been one of the things I have always wanted to do. Perhaps I will put the six months validity of my UK tourist visa to good use and make another trip to London again, specifically for this purpose. Another cricket fanatic friend of mine is going to be in London on a work permit soon, so hopefully I will be able to make my next visit soon.
Fortunately the Rain Gods left a big part of the days for me to visit the main attractions of the city. We got the daily passes for the buses in London so it helped to make up for the damage the rains were causing. We used to get on the double-decker buses on the main line and just look around the city while traveling towards uncertain destinations. There are two very big advantages of doing this, one you get to see literally the whole city even when its pouring and two, its the cheapest mode of tourism. :)
The best thing I liked about London are the parks. Hyde park one of the most peaceful places to walk around in one of the busiest cities of the world. It is just too huge for words and inspite of large number of people in the park you get a lot of space to just sink in your thoughts for as long as the guards don't throw you out of the park. The picture below is sunset as seen from Hyde park.
The one thing that is amazing about all the major cities in Europe is the amount of work the government puts in to ensure that the Historical Landmarks and architecture stays intact even with the heavy modernization of these cities. I was surprised to see that all the Taxis, Buses and telephone booths in London, old as well as new look exactly the same. I'm sure the machinery in the new one's is of the best and latest technology possible but their exteriors remain unchanged since forever.
I couldn't visit one very important place in London, "The Lords Cricket ground". People who know me know that I'm a cricket fanatic and visiting Lords has been one of the things I have always wanted to do. Perhaps I will put the six months validity of my UK tourist visa to good use and make another trip to London again, specifically for this purpose. Another cricket fanatic friend of mine is going to be in London on a work permit soon, so hopefully I will be able to make my next visit soon.