Yesterday (monday July 21st) I took the train from Croydon, up to Prestatyn, North Wales.
After dinner that evening we drove around the area which generally confirmed my early statement about the U.K. being “enchanted.” Simply beautiful country, and even in a tiny area like this, there’s an amazing local church.
Anyway, today I took the train into Liverpool, saw the two cathedrals, then went down to the albert dock to see the beatles museum, the maritime museum, and the international slavery museum. Then I took a quick stop on the train back to see the Lady Lever Art Gallery (on recommendation from paul.)
Tomorrow its off to Alton Towers for a day of “relaxing” if I can call it that, then thursday I head into Manchester.
Friday is undecided, but saturday is a day-trip to Dublin, Ireland… St. James Gate (makers of Guiness) factory tour here I come!
Title says it all, simply breathtaking!!!
I’m uploading some pictures to flickr as I type this (click the “flickr” link in the top menubar to view my photos.)
Mostly panorama’s I shot today at the tower bridge, and the tower of london. I’ve got some regular still shots too, they’ll be up later as well as a couple HDR’s if they turn out ok.
Mind the ghosting in the panorama’s, it seems impossible to get a clear shot without somebody walking in front of my lens, let alone 4,5,7,10,+ shots to stitch together to make a nice panorama.
London is totally enchanted, I feel as though I should take a picture with every step.
Well, after the last minute scare a few days ago, everything worked out, and I’ve arrived in Croydon, England.
The flights were long and boring, but business class is truly another world, totally plush.
So far the Croydon area is nice, a pleasant mix of old and new, and as always the public transport is superb.
I realized that my choice of purchasing the £50 oyster card was a bit of a mistake as the national rail lines are a better option, so tomorrow its off to purchase a sim card for my phone, a 7-day travel card, and then into central london to be an annoying tourist.
I’ll hopefully start taking pictures tomorrow and uploading them to flickr.
cheers!
… just dropped.
So after perhaps the worst possible news regarding my trip to England (there’s no way whatsoever that I’ll make it to continental Europe now), I have two options:
1) try to fend for myself in England for food, lodging, etc. for 14 days (5 days are covered by the c.s. lewis oxbridge 2008 conference) on approximately $600 USD / £300 GBP
2) not go entirely, even though the conference fees ($2500) the airfare ($225 + 80,000 frequent flyer miles) and the rail transport fees (approximately $500) have already been paid.
Any thoughts? Is it possible to survive in England, in the summer for £20 per day?
And of course, if it is possible to physically survive on £20 per day (food and lodging) does that leave anything at all for entertainment or sightseeing / tourism?
Honestly though, I need to stop getting my hopes up (ever) because seriously, the whole “Mallon luck” joke that my dad always made is true…
“If we didn’t have bad luck, we wouldn’t have any.”
