A tourist's view of London, York, and Cambridge

03/22/2008 04:25:52 PM · #1

....(complete with your tourist type snapshots!)...

I arrived in London on Friday, found my way from Heathrow to the Waterloo station, then on to my hotel for that night. The Union Jack Club is there for the British military - primarily enlisted - but allows members of other nations' services to stay as well, which was good for me. I had a room that was not "en suite" (no bathroom in the room) and had you told me I'd get that a year ago I'd have laughed. But hey, the bathroom was not 100+ yards away, nor was there gravel involved, and lo and behold, it was even on the same floor! I could walk in socks to it! So hey, no en suite (for at least 10 pounds less a night) was just fine by me. The shot was taken from my room's window, which sadly wouldn't open very far... (though probably good, since either I'd have fallen or the camera would have fallen.)

Didn't do much except find dinner (fish and chips, of course) and get some sleep (though I did try to meet up with Antony but apparently was in the wrong place). Saturday morning I found the closest Starbucks, walked around just a bit.
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Then I headed back to Waterloo station to meet Natalya (

talj). From there (after dropping stuff at the hotel we'd be at Saturday night) we got on the "tube" and headed to St Panras station to meet up with Sara (

SaraR). Natalya had put together a wonderful day - very well planned out with sights to see, places to go, and trains and boats to ride.

Second stop, after another tube ride, was the British Museum which I recognized not from literature but from DPC challenge entries. A wonderful building!

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After that, we wandered over to a very cool camera store/cafe. Had tea. I highly recommend London DPCers give it a visit.

On our next tube ride, we ran into some masked men who were apparently protesting against Scientology. The did look rather cheerful about it.

Our destination was the river, where we boarded a boat and took a cruise to see the sights from the water. Natalya has the best shot of the poor harried gentleman who was working on our boat, though we all were shooting at him quite unmercifully. :-) I do recommend a boat tour - gives you a nice view of London from a different perspective.
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Then it was off for high tea at a very posh and elegant tea room. This was quite a treat for someone who'd never had high tea before!

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And finally, before we called it a night, we wandered down to Picadilly Circus.

All in all a VERY good day and I'm quite grateful to Natalya for her planning and guidance through the day - it was most excellent! (Next up will be a tourist's trip to York, followed by a tourist's trip to Cambridge - still working on those.)

03/22/2008 04:45:36 PM · #2

A very busy and interesting trip so far, Deb. I see you picked up some of the language as well...posh! And, you refrained from using most excellent DUDE!!

London is a great place to visit, but very tiring. I look forward to the next installment of your journey:)

Jedusi

03/22/2008 06:03:35 PM · #3

You forgot to mention how many Starbucks you stopped at ;- )

03/22/2008 06:07:17 PM · #4

Ummm.... I think three all told. The Waterloo station, and two near the place we stopped for lunch. I do find it amusing how closely they tend to be clustered. Oh, and in the continuing sagas, one in York, and one in Cambridge, along with a Nero's in Cambridge. :-)

03/22/2008 06:11:58 PM · #5

Originally posted by Melethia:

Deb, with your love of coffee, you need to visit a humble cafe in Ottakers Bookshop here in lowly Bracknell, Berks. Santa Fe coffee is the best ever:) Columbian coffee in 3 strengths and strong is a real buzzz!! I have sampled coffee in London, other towns, but they are super. Also, they do a great Egg Bendidict Bagel.

Leica 50mm f/1.4 Summilux M MF - Chrome

03/22/2008 06:28:18 PM · #6

Here's the problem (and it's becoming less of a problem as I find new places that cater to my problem): oddly enough, I drink decaf coffee. I love the taste of coffee, but don't tolerate the caffeine as well as I used to. Starbucks, bless their profit-earning heart, makes decaf mochas. I have a slight addiction problem with mochas. OK, a SERIOUS addiction problem with mochas. I have learned how to make them at home. I did discover that Nero's will do decaf mochas, which is quite nice (and they were very good, too!) Now to find suitable alternatives in Germany...

signal2noise

Leica M9

03/22/2008 06:40:05 PM · #7

Nice shots Deb. I leave for London tomorrow and am anxious for the free time I'll have to go shoot. I was there last year and hope to see additional sites this trip.

03/23/2008 10:06:57 AM · #8

After Natalya wore us out on Saturday, we all got up bright and early Sunday and headed to the Eye to meet up with everyone else for the London GTG. Pictures from that are in the photo thread. I did get a few more on the way back to the hotel to pick up our stuff.
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Then it was off to York with Sara. On Monday she took me to see the York Minster. From the brochure: "York Minster is the largest medieval gothic cathedral in Northern Eurpore. Not all cathedrals are minsters, not all minsters are cathedrals - but York Minster is both." It goes on to explain a Cathedral is the mother church of a diocese where the bishop is seated, and a minster, formerly "mynster" is a missionary church. The first Minster in York was built in 627 AD; parts of this Minster were built around 1200 AD.

From a photographic perspective, it was a plain gray day, but the Minster is still quite an amazing structure to behold and the town of York is lovely.

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After the Minster and some sight seeing, Sara took me to Bettys for tea. Awesome place - a must if you go to York. The one thing I didn't get a shot of was the chocolate tart we had for desert, with fresh fruit and raspberry sauce. I highly recommend it.
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The next morning, Sara dropped me off at the train station and I headed to Cambridge to visit Jelena.

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03/23/2008 03:28:05 PM · #9

Cambridge is the home of Cambridge University, a collection of 31 different colleges. My host was Jelena, aka

purpleflutterby13. She is a delightful young woman! It was another gray day and quite chilly, so our first stop was for coffee (of course). Then we toured many of the colleges - lovely collection of impressive architecture and immaculate grounds. Cambridge is all easily accessible on foot and a very pleasant place to spend a day wandering about.

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This guy wasn't as fortunate as I was - he had no knowledgeable guide and was stuck trying to read a map.

Finally, it was back on the train and back to London. Spent the night at the Union Jack Club again, then headed to Heathrow in the morning to fly back to Germany.
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It was a WONDERFUL vacation - England is a lovely place to visit (albeit expensive!) and I again want to thank my hostesses - Natalya, Sara, and Jelena, for being my guides and VERY good company - far, far better than trying to read a map and see things on my own.

03/23/2008 05:38:20 PM · #10

Bump, and thanks, Terry, for changing the title for me!

Leica 18-56mm f/3.5-5.6 Vario Elmar-T ASPH

03/23/2008 05:40:05 PM · #11

I'm glad you enjoyed your holiday, Deb. You have some great photos there and I am sure you will look back on them in years to come. Hope you come back to visit us again soon:))

MAK

Leica M Monochrom

03/23/2008 05:52:46 PM · #12

Great collection of shots Deb a nice record of a super holiday. It was a plaesure to of met you.

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

03/24/2008 07:21:14 AM · #13

Bump for morning people on the east side of North America.

Valdo

Canon EOS-40D

03/24/2008 09:20:42 AM · #14

Hey Deb, thanks for all the narrative!! I really enjoyed your trip as well ;Â¬) Cambridge one of my favourite towns and York very close to my adoptive home, Manchester!

Indeed very expensive!!

ETA: it seems you missed the "punting" in Cambridge.

Message edited by author 2008-03-24 09:21:34.

03/24/2008 05:28:22 PM · #15

It was just a wee bit too cold for punting. Maybe I'll go back in summer when it would be much more enjoyable. Glad you enjoyed the trip!

Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM

03/24/2008 05:41:02 PM · #16

Originally posted by Melethia:

It was just a wee bit too cold for punting. Maybe I'll go back in summer when it would be much more enjoyable. Glad you enjoyed the trip!

That is the best thing about photography, Deb! It's the memories and enjoyment the photos bring later in life. I have just spent the past 2 days scanning old photos, but I kept stopping to show Beverley, my kids and my grandchildren. It starts many trips down memory lane.

Do come back to England when you get the chance, we loved having you here!

Jedusi

03/24/2008 07:01:29 PM · #17

Deb - you'll have to see if you can manage to get a posting over here for a while, then you can tour the rest of the country as well :- )

Great to have you over and I still owe you a coffee ;- )

talj

Canon EOS-40D

03/25/2008 03:33:42 PM · #18

What a great write up of your trip over here Deb! It was really great to meet you and I enjoyed showing you and Sara a few of the sights so much! I tend to get a little carried away with what the 'old me' used to be able to fit into a day and often forget that my poor legs wont carry me quite as quick anymore...and that most 'normal' people don't need to rush around so much either! ;o) I am so glad that you had such a nice visit with us all and I can't wait to see you again...here, in Germany or even in the US!

Oh and, wonderful images! Once I catch up on some sleep I'll make sure I take a proper look through them all! :o)

Quasimojo

Canon EOS-30D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

03/25/2008 03:39:54 PM · #19

Great photos... such a shame the weather wasn't better for you, but hey, that's London and the UK...

And Betty's RULES!! When I was a student at Leeds University we used to go there for Sunday tea. It's an institution/legend...

N