London Feelings

We spent only three full days in London and it will never be forgotten.

We arrived there on Thursday evening the 22nd of August. We found our way to our home away from home until Monday. Right away we were struck by the varied architecture. This city of over 8 million people has been in existence for over 2000 years. Eras of building have come and gone and so many different styles can be seen here.

Besides the different buildings we were struck by the crowds. There were people everywhere, not just a few people but crowds of people. A sea of humanity in all shapes,sizes and colors speaking many different languages.
We were told there are more that 34 million vehicles in the UK. In most of the countryside the streets are very narrow. They were laid out in the age of horse and buggy. We had to close our eyes more than once as our tour bus driver manoevered the narrow streets at what we thought were excessive speeds. More than once Ken was relieved that he was not driving.

There is an amazing system of public transport and people are encouraged to use it. There is a large network of underground trains and they call it the tube. There are also many buses with routes that cover the city. we were told that you are seldom if ever more than 5 minutes from the tube or a bus. They have what is called a congestion fee. If you take a private vehicle into the city of London you have to pay a fee of twelve pounds each and every day. Parking runs about 1 pound for every 20 minutes.That is if you can find a place to park. Fuel for the car runs around 1 pound 35 for one liter. That would work out to almost 12 dollars US for a gallon.There are very few big cars. Most cars on the road that we saw were small compact ones. Driving out into the country we saw very few RV's and the ones we saw were small trailers being pulled by cars. We did not see a motorhome or a fifth wheeled vehicle.
To help with the congestion they have a system of rental bicycles. They are parked in many many places and if you need one you use a credit card to release a bike, and you park it again when you have arrived at your destination. We saw several of these bicycle racks.

Everything here is very costly by North American standards. For example a cup of regulaqr black coffee is a a bargain at six dollars.An egg mcmuffin meal with a mcmuffin and coffee and hash browns is a special at $7.75.
They also have a value added tax of 20% which is added to everything including food.
Because space is at a premium land is unbelievably expensive which adds to the cost of everything. Our very modest hotel was $250.00 a night.

We were struck by the ways that people have learned to share the space. Everywhere people line up in what they call ques. Queuing is a national art.

We also found the people to be surprisingly friendly. Ask anyone anything and they will stop to help you.
On Saturday evening we ended up walking home in the dark and we felt completely safe. This would not have been the case in many cities of millions of people.
We were prepared for lots of rain. It was a little cool but the rain stayed away until today. We had great weather for all of our tours and only the coach ride to Southampton was wet.

This is a city with so many things to see and do. In our three full days of touring we barely scratched the surface of what there was to do. You could spend months here, touring every day and not see all of the wonderful museums or churches or historical buildings. We definitely want to return.