We arrived at London St Pancras and for a split second we questioned ourselves, is this actually St Pancras. The train came to a standstill. Immediately we were overwhelmed with the swish new surroundings and by the grandeur of a once, shadowy and very old tarnished rail station; St Pancras had been transformed.
This State of the art new construction towered over us and blended in perfect with the old structure. St Pancras had become another world of unrecognizable architecture; it had been modernized and instantly brought into the 20th century, though still retaining the original character of old. We boarded our underground train, the northern line, the 3 D line, Dark; Dingy and Dirty. Next stop the jubilee line or could it be the orient express. What dissimilarity, It was far more contemporary than the northern line and significantly cleaner. The train pulled into canary wharf station surrounded by the shopping malls. Two sets of doors, one exiting the train and one on to the platform, very clever! I suppose these are to prevent the one unders, Suicides. The doors opened and we paced our way through a sea of suits as we were catapulted in to the commercial district of canary wharf. We had arrived in the city of London and were about to endure
this modern, man made urban life of Canary wharf and it certainly lived up to its name; it certainly had the wow factor. We felt rather out of place wearing our jeans with our backpacks full to capacity with our pick and mix. Business people, posh people; people of every walk of life all going somewhere in the same direction. Pushing and shoving from each and every direction, all with the same in mind. Running to catch the ghost trains, which were not even in the station? It felt reminiscent of the London marathon and we had taken a wrong turn. At one point I thought I saw Clarke Kent, but I was mistaken; only to find they belonged to the Suit men all looking like they all had inflexible necks. I soon realised that they were talking into their posh flip up 5 mega pixel orange mobile phones. In turn were ignoring folks around them and with tunnel vision believing they are the only ones on this globe, oblivious to the typical vacationer trying to We made progress towards the hotel crossing over a SmallThames Bridge and eventually arriving at our hotel, it looked rather dull initially; but not so. We entered the door of the Britannia International hotel. Wonderful! We thought, what an exquisite reception area, very flamboyant, we liked it! We all wished and hoped that our hotel rooms turn out to be as nice as the reception area. We checked in and directed to our rooms, a family room we had booked. Several minutes later after a struggle opening the door we were in. What a clutter. Net curtains shredded beyond repair and wallpaper hanging off the walls like Christmas decorations that went out of fashion 20 years ago, carpet frayed at the edges looking like someone had taken an axe to the Minster. My Impressions of London hotels are never really as good has your own home comforts unless you really pay top prices; the Ritz maybe? Affordable and family orientated hotels with swimming pools are very few and far between, The Britannia hotels have taken heed and know its time to make changes and this Hotel in canary wharf as realised that they are in an exclusive area, surrounded by an array of top businesses. Unfortunately the changes were happening during my stay here. London is great, a sanctuary of history and lots to see, if you can afford to stay in London that is. I would definitely avoid bank holidays in the future. Low flying aircraft with their roaring Engines, bringing more and more different Cultures into this huge city. Plane lovers you are in for a treat.
After our exclusive dinner in wait rosé! We boarded the underground train at canary wharf for our journey back to Leicester square; we were first on and lucky enough, first for the seats, hooray. We were plunged into an alien world aboard our underground train, passengers pretending to study their tabloid whilst peering over the top and psycho analysing all and sundry, tabloid in one hand and their mobile in the other. Cables hanging from their heads and some looked as though they were talking to themselves. But really trying to be clever, listening to their MP players and singing to them selves whilst talking through their 5 Meg phones. Jam packed like Hartley's in extreme temperatures whilst counting the stops until yours. Hanging on to the above hand rails while the train negotiates the bends.
Wandering eyes from the standing passengers, trying desperately not to fall forward into you and, just maybe there is a gentleman for our ladies in waiting or our dear pensioner, will someone offer their seat in this packed sardine can. Where have all the gentlemen gone? What happened to courteousness; Politeness of yesteryear?
We had arrived at our station with a screech and before we knew it we were in auto pilot following everyone else, we had no choice, and it was like a syndrome. I was more worried about the fumes than minding the gap. Trying our best not too inhales the grime created by the train that was helped along within the wind tunnel.
Leicestersquare and we are trying to find some tickets for Les miserables, I went along with my friends tip to buy them in Leicester square at one of the booths, I tried several and like always we always go back to our very first one. £30 for all of us, that's fine I said and highly recommended, but not on bank holidays.
The next day heading towards the millennium wheel, all excited, we had the wheel in view and wow it just was spectacular,
We carried on down the river Thames passing these robotic statues and--, wait a minute I said. They're not statues there real people painted pink, green. Throw some money my daughter whispered and watch them move, I did and they didn't move. My daughter told me to throw some large coins in the pot; I tried again and splashed out 50p, still nothing. Very clever I said, but not quite as clever as I. lets go I said. En route we tried to get on film when we came across a TVcamera crew but I still didn't make it to Hollywood. Eventually our journey had brought us to the palace and then along the mall, where I endured a run of bad luck, it was as though the man painted in green set is own gang on us for not throwing extra in the pot. Bikes heading our way with a bunch of thugs kicking up the dust on the sidewalk and maybe they will just do that. But to my amazement, their bikes skidded in front of us; deliberately trying to run us over. I tried to stop two police officers on horse back and tell them what had happened, to no avail. 10 minutes later we tried to cross on a zebra crossing and out of the blue came this transit van and again deliberately trying to scare us. At this point I really started to wonder about people in London. What's going on? London is a very special city and as so much to offer, but it's also a very lonely place and this is very apparent when you travel the underground. Back to civilization, our last stop was Harrods and our day had ended unexpectedly We had stumbled on Princess Diana's memorial site within the Harrods store. This was a very special end to our day. Canary wharf must be one of the finest places in London and it is much more affordable than the City. Canary wharf has its own character, with ample of water side restaurants and drinking places to visit which you can enjoy into the late warm evenings. With its many shops open till late. My time in London was electric and I encourage anyone to visit this wonderful city.
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Jun 14th, 2007
(May 17th, 2008)
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