- Noisy - although at the moment I'm staying with rellies in a nice quiet street
- Big - it takes you ages to get anywhere - like an hour and a half on a bus the other night from one part of NW London to another!! It didn't help that I sat up the top of the double decker bus and the driver didn't realise I was up there and I didn't realise the bus was terminating its route early until I found myself at the bus station!!
- It takes a while to get used to all the people - I have never seen people running and literally jumping onto trains before as they are about to leave! Having so many people around you seems to encourage people to interact as little as possible - everyone is either listening to their IPOD, reading, doing sudokus, or all three at once! Particularly talented individuals can read and listen to music and stand all at the same time - I have not perfected this art yet and consequently have been laughed at when spotted trying to turn the page of my book, hold my handbag and hang on all at once! Making eye contact is not the done thing.
- People are always in a rush - beware if you stand on the left hand side of an escalator where people run up/down to get the next train.
- On a more positive note... there are some massive beautiful parks in the central city to relax in - Hyde Park, St James Park etc... and they even have squirrels which are so cute! (See above for squirrel in action shot). The other day at St James Park I caught the end of the commemorations of the 25th anniversary of the end of the Falklands War. There were members and ex-members of the Navy, Army and Airforce all in full regalia who marched up to Buckingham Palace, as well as at least 3 brass bands and a airforce display.
- London is very multicultural and in that respect it reminds me a lot of Auckland. Most of the time when you walk down the road there are people speaking in several different languages around you. The interesting mix of people only adds more flavour to this bustling city.
- The museums are excellent! So far I have been to the Natural History Museum and also the British Museum. All over London there are always heaps of interesting exhibitions/cultural films / shows on which is cool. I'm about to move to a flat next to an arty, independent theatre so hopefully I'll get to see some great films and plays.
- And of course there is the iconic buildings and landmarks - Westminster Abbey (above), Tower of London, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, London Eye etc.. I haven't actually properly explored many of these places yet but there is plenty of time. Above is a pic of me in front of the billboards in Piccadilly Circus. They turned them off recently for the first time since the 1950s as part of a campaign to encourage Londoners to save power and think green.
The rest of my Europe trip was great - after Florence, we went to Rome and Venice before heading into Austria. A rainy afternoon was spent in the small town of St Johann, and then an extra day unexpectedly there the next day when the bus broke down. Then it was onto Prague - the city of 100 spires which had a fairytale like air to it with the Hadry castle overlooking the river and the old beautiful buildings and cobblestoned streets. The Jewish Quarter was a highlight also. After another day of driving, the next stop was Berlin where I enjoyed soaking up all the history of the Third Reich and East/West Berlin. The last sleeping destination was Amsterdam where we stayed for two nights. A place to let your hair down thats for sure. After a 4:30am effort on the last night, it was back on the bus to Belgium for a quick lunch in Brugge before heading to Calais and crossing the channel to Dover. Then it was back to London where the 20 day whistlestop tour was finally over. With hugs and laughs, I farewelled my new buddies. It was good to catch up with two of my TopDeck tour friends, Kristy and Joyann for a curry in Brick Lane on the weekend. For more pics from my Europe Trip click on these links - Part 1 and Part 2
