November 26, 2010
Twelve Days in England
Compared to earlier entries on this trip to Europe, this will be extremely brief, because we are really taking it easy for the first time.
Pinu, Nilu and Bill |
Cambridge Bidge of Sighs  |
Javier and Bill with the Nine Ladies |
On Sunday the 14th, we crossed the English channel on a French boat. We had planned to cross with the chunnel train. Unfortunately, we had no idea that you must book weeks in advance to get the low price for crossing. Weeks ago, I had read the price was 39 euro. Great, I planned on using the train, instead of the ferry, which cost 43 euro reported on the internet. WRONG on both accounts! If you pull up to the chunnel entrance and ask for a ticket with out booking ahead, then you are going to pay more than 220 euro; in other words, 180 euro more ($240). And the 43 euro ferry was really 106 euro, which we reluctantly paid.
I was surprise how quickly that I adjusted to driving on the left side of the road, especially with the steering wheel on the left side too. The most difficult road maneuver is passing through a roundabout, which is used extensively throughout Europe and even more so in England.
Press HERE to see a slideshow
from England.
In Front of the Lichfield Cathedral |
The Lincoln Castle |
Our first stop was to visit the parents of Sanj in a suburb of London, called Canvey Island. Their names are Pinu and Nilu. Pinu is a semi-retired doctor. They were simply wonderful. Pinu was kind enough to cook a really great Indian dinner.
On Monday we pushed on to the north. We stopped in Cambridge for a brief hike around the town. We looked in on several of its famous colleges. After a couple of hours we continued north, heading for Nottingham. We were going to the home of two of our best friends, Javier and Guillermina. What? you may ask because you remember that they lived in Buenos Aires. Not so anymore, Guille got a post-doc position doing plant research at the University of Nottingham.
We have not been doing a lot. We have visited Nottingham and several of the nearby towns, including Birmingham, Lichfield and Lincoln. Javier took one day off work and we visited two ancient stone rings that had been created some four to six thousand years ago by the inhabitants of the region. It was a foggy day on the moors, which added a lot to the atmosphere.
We are sailing for Denmark later today. It is an 18 hour journey from Harwich to Esbjerg and we have a berth. I will let you more on my next posting.
Gille, Joaquina, Javier, Fermin and Betty
Hi guys,
thanks for the weblog. That's actually always the case: if you are in a hurry they make you pay a lot more. The best case if in a hurry is to pretend not to be, sometimes it works. Or even better, not to be in a hurry at all.
Cars are also a rip-off in Europe. You will be forced to pay road tolls, expensive ferry crossing, high fuel prices, parking, etc. Luckily public transportation works well almost everywhere and there are nice side-walks for walking in North Europe.
Cheers,
Päivi & Santeri
Posted by: Päivi & Santeri at November 26, 2010 03:40 AMVery nice snapshots. If I ever go to Europe, England will be my first stop. By the way, who is "Sweatty Betty"?
Posted by: Martín at November 27, 2010 05:56 PM