After a long hiatus in posting due to [ insert random reason here ] i decided i should finish the account of the Euro Trip so here goes
Day 13:
Checked out of the hotel and proceeded to Gau de Nord train station where we were to board the Eurostar train to England .. Said goodbye to Alessandro our adroit bus driver over the last 13 days and went into the station .. Hunted for trolleys in vain at the station .. None were to be seen .. Considering that each trolley cost 1 euro to use , you would think that they would be well stocked .. Apparently this was not the case and we had to drag the suitcases by hand except for one guy who paid some dude 10 euros to take his trolley .. Passed through Customs and emigration and got to the terminal where , as we were early , we had to wait for some time
The EuroStar is a high speed train service connecting London with France and Brussels .. It Crosses under the English Channel by means of an undersea tunnel .. We boarded the train ,stowed our luggage in the luggage rack and settled down for the journey ahead
Was really hopin to catch a glimpse of the English Channel .. Was not to be though as we entered the tunnel well ahead of the starting point of the channel
We entered England and disembarked at Waterloo Station and got onto the bus .. Proceeded straight to Lunch where we had the local Meal .. Fish n Chips with salad ..
After lunch we went to Madam Tussauds Wax Museum which is a delightful place for people to get their photographs taken with famous " people " ..They keep shuffling the statues and replacing them with more up to date personalities from time to time... When we went they had the Indian special with statues of Aishwarya Rai , Shahruk & Amitabh
The cool thing about this place was how life-like the statues were and how difficult it was to distinguish flesh from wax ... There was even a statue of a photographer opposite one of the celebrity statues and it was so lifelike that whenever ppl walked in between the 2 statues , they would apologize to the photographer , only to realize ( or not ) later it was all a deception .. There were many rooms in the museum , each containin people from different fields .. There was a room dedicated to the POTC with Johny Depp and co
In some popular rooms such as this one there were professional photographers on hand to take ur pic and sell it to u .. Movie Stars were probably the most prolific category with statues of actors and their props present everywhere ... Even ghost rider and his bike were in attendance
There was Spiderman, Terminator , James bond , even Charlie Chaplin .. We then moved onto sports personalities .. There was Mr and Mrs Beckham ( obviously ) , Owen , Rooney , Tiger Woods ,even a replica of the football world cup .. There were some interactive games in this room like shooting a football onto a projected goal .. Sittin in the tennis umpires chair and testing if u can spot where the ball was in or out .. There was Lance Amstrong and you leading the pack at the Tour De France
The next room was musicians , of which there were surprisingly few ,and politicians .. There was Bush n Blair
Indira Gandhi & even Hitler
We saw the first statue ever made by Madame Tussaud , rode a mini train through a depiction of Britain's history and got thoroughly lost before we could find the exit and get out in time
We then went to the London Eye , which is this Ferris wheel type observation ride , which rotates extremely slowly , constructed by British Airways ..The wheel carries 32 sealed and air-conditioned passenger capsules attached to its external circumference
Got some pretty good photos from the top of the city of London
At the base of the London Eye , we looked at some exhibition phamplets , includin one of Star Wars and also saw a trampoline which had been set up .. We dint have any time to do anything more than look @ these though as it was gettin late and we had to head to the hotel
We had all wanted to explore the Champs Elysee in Paris but were unable to do so due to time constraints .. So to make up for that we wanted to go to Picadilly circus , a similar sort of place with all night activity .. Formed a group of interested people and went and enquired as to whether Thomas Cook would provide transportation .. The answer , sadly, was no .. We decided to take the underground railway , the famous Tube system ..After some map reference we set off to the nearest station , bought a day pass from the machine and boarded the train .. There are many lines that operate the underground .. Central Line, Picadilly line etc each havin its own colour red ,blue , yellow etc and many stations are served
Reached Picadilly Circus in about 20 mins ..The Latin word circus (meaning circle) refers to a "circular open space at a street junction" .. Walked around here for a while , saw the sights , lots of theatres ( both plays and movies ),Restaurants / pubs and other entertainment venues are present here .. Lots of people up and about the town at this time enjoying the night life
Stayed here for about an hour , then caught the tube back to the Hotel .
Day 14 :
Had the London City tour today .. We were joined for this by a local guide , a woman named Sally .. She was relating to us the story of London's past , its current standing,the various building and so on .. We first stopped at the Albert Memorial .. This was a statue commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her husband
Right opposite this is the famous Royal Albert Hall .. This very distinctive hall hosts more than 350 performances every year
From here we drove around a bit more , the guide explainin stuff to us on the way .. We passed Hyde Park which is is one of the largest parks in England and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner...Speakers' Corner is an area where public speaking is allowed and speakers are allowed to speak as long as the police consider their speeches do not breach the law .. We crossed Marble Arch
We crossed London Bridge , which thankfully , was not succumbing to gravity as the popular poem goes .. We passed Trafalgar square also .. Around this area , at that time there was a bomb scare so the police were evacuating all the people from the area .. It turned out to be a hoax thankfully .. We were waitin for the passing of the changing horse guards but it was not to be that day
We then passed Prince Charles' house and proceeded to Buckhingam Palace for the acclaimed changing of the guards
This is nearly an hour long spectacle wherein a new batch of guards come in to replace their compatriots going off duty .. First the new group of guards come down the road replete with a band playing music , then proceed into the palace itself .. After this the outgoing guards march out formally again and go back to their barracks
We dint stick around for the entire show but left after the new set of guards were ushered in .. We drove on past Westminster Abbey , which is is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English monarchs , past the well-known Big Ben and went for lunch .. On the way we saw a few typical english institutions .. One was the distinctive London cab , which looks a lot less roomy from afar than it really is . We also saw lots of old English bars .. Some even had floral arrangements , one which had even won an award for it for 4 consecutive years
Apparently during the happy hours these places are packed with people ,some even resigned to standing outside
We next visited the Tower of London , best known for its illustrious residents , The Crown Jewels ..The Tower's primary function was a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison ..It has also served as a place of execution and torture, an armoury, a treasury, a zoo etc .. This was founded in 1078 by William the Conqueror and is now a World Heritage site
There are many buildings that encompass the site ,each serving a different purpose .. Right opposite the tower is the majestic Tower Bridge , which has the ability to rise up any time a ship needs to pass under it
There were entire rooms devoted to showcasing the ancient armour and the guns , horse armour as well
We went around the Jewel tower ,where they had 2 screens of introduction to the Crown Jewels before goin in to see them .. The room where the Crown Jewels themselves are displayed has a moving travellator on which one stands and admires the jewels as we move past the glass cases that contain them .. Apart from the Crown Jewels Themselves , which are fabulous and obviously priceless , there are various other artifacts and royal memorabilia ..The crown jewels stay here under armed guard throughout the year unless they are taken out during the coronation ceremony and at various other state functions
Unfortunately Photography was not allowed in that room so there are no pics:-(
The Tower of London abounds with mystery and conspiracy theories as there are countless stories about it during its time as a torture and execution chamber .. They even found 2 skeletons when they were renovating the tower .. These were
allegedly the 2 princes who had disappeared while being held captive in the tower
There was even a voting machine on which visitors could vote for what they thought the most likely scenario was
We strolled outside , saw the beefeaters , who are the official guards of the tower and the ravens .. It had been thought that there have been at least six ravens in residence at the Tower for centuries. .. There is a belief that if the ravens leave , the Tower of London and the entire kingdom would fall .. Thus the wings of the ravens presently there are clipped and they are cared for by the ravenmaster which is one of the beefeaters .
It is possible to spend an entire day at this place , with many attractions like the torture chamber , a guided tour by one of the guards etc , but we were out of time and had to leave to go for lunch .
After lunch we were given some time off to stroll around the shopping area on Oxford Street .. As none of us wanted to shop we walked down to Picadilly Circus ,following the maps , mostly using the bus route maps pasted on the bus stops .. The walk took the best part of 45 minutes which meant that by the time we got there all we had time to do was go to a Japanese bookstore and eat some ice cream before we had to turn back .. On the way back we walked into a huge apple store where they had all the latest ipods, imacs and all the i-what nots possible .. After spendin some time there we went back and joined the rest of the group , got back onto the bus and drove off
To wind up the trip we were taken to the Swami Narayana Temple on the outskirts of London .. This was Europe's first traditional Hindu temple and was funded and built totally by hindus and took 5 years to build
After spending some time here and staying for the evening arti we left and went back to the hotel ...At the dinner , where free drinks were provided , the group signed and presented a card and a memento to the tour manager and sung his praises for the fantastic job that he did .. As this was the last evening of the trip , we spent some time sayin goodbye to all the members of the group , takin group pics , sharing contact details etc before heading to bed
We were woken up in the middle of the night at 2 30 am to board the bus to get us to the airport .. We were also provided with cakes, energy bars to tide us over until we got on the flight .. Went to the airport , checked in , Got the VAT refund for the stuff we had bought ( Some ppl could not do this as it was time for their flight and the guy at the counter was busy with a previous customer ) and boarded the flight to return to India .
And there u have it . The greatest, most unforgettable vacation of our lives had come to an end .. Europe , a continent unlike any we had ever seen .. From a bountiful dose of glorious history ,rich culture, great architecture and art to breathtaking natural beauty coupled with some great modern innovations and attractions , it has it all . Obviously touring 10 countries in 15 days meant that we could not do full justice to the various attractions available, but just get an essence of each country .. To explore all the places of interest in each country itself is the work of a matter of weeks .
Here credit has to be given to Thomas Cook , who planned and executed a remarkable schedule ensuring that we made the best of the time available ..Every half hour of the tour was planned and accounted for and they ensured that all the popular tourist destinations were visited , allocating more number of days for places with more to see and appropriately less where applicable .. The food provided was more often that not of very good quality .. The tour manager did a great job with respect to time management and here the group did their part as well , stickin to the time limits. Also the group as such was a very good mixture of people who got on well with each other and were generally in high spirits throughout... This trip was also a great oppurtunity for us to spend a lot of time as a family .
The posts have gotten bigger as each installment of it arrives , much like the Harry Potter series :P , and yet has many elisions.. All it proves is that words are not merely enough to describe this trip in its entirety .
I had mentioned at the beginning of this series of posts that i was writing these posts to serve as a memory aid in case i forget .. But 2 months on , i can remember vividly most of what transpired during the trip .. This , i believe, is testimony enough of the nature of this trip and the once-in-a-lifetime experiences we had .
So, like they say at the end of Euro Trip .. Best Trip Ever !
