SWITZERLAND
JOHN SWITZER
A ROAD TRIP TO London #21
Today’s adventure started at the
Heathrow Airport (the world’s busiest airport); it is just like the Ottawa Airport but bigger (a whole lot bigger). Heathrow is the gateway to London; which is Big! Busy! Beautiful! and Bountiful! (there is so much to see and do there). My friends said “don’t go – it’s too expensive”, but the kids found me the cheap (off season), but very funky, ST. ATHANS HOTEL; right on the Piccadilly Line (from the airport). I got a room on the fourth floor, with no lift (or elevator), a washroom down the hall, and walking distance to the BRITISH MUSEUM. On the day of my arrival I saw the actual Rosetta Stone, Lord Elgin Marbles (off the Greek Parthenon), Cleopatra’s Mummy; how cool is that! I could hardly wait to go back to the British Museum, but the next day was a busy Saturday, so I wandered down to the Thames River. I meandered (and sat) between Big Ben and Tower Bridge for most of a day, just marveling at
20 BOUNDER MAGAZINE
this 2,000-year-old city. The walk is just as awesome in the evening and, if ya get bored of sightseeing, you can people watch. Did I mention that there are 8.6 Million people in London (I think those may be just the tourists)?
London is so big and, with so many things to see and do, one has to be organized. Unfortunately, I am “organizationally challenged” but I did make a list/schedule of places to go and then kept reducing the list until it matched the number of days that I would be there. The traffic is crazy; so I purchased an OYSTER CARD, a redeemable smart card for the underground, that can be “topped up” whenever you want (also good for Double Decker Buses). OK!, a friendly agent sold it to me at the airport, but I’m sure I would have thought of it (possibly) and then hardly used it (I walked everywhere). The temperature is just a little warmer than Ottawa in the fall and has some rain and fog; so dress appropriately (bring good
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