My time in the United Kingdom started in London. We got out of Baron's Court tube station and straight to the house in Kensington. It was just off the A-4. The UK classifies their main roads as M (Motorway) roads and A roads. The motorways are like the freeways in the US, but the speed limit is 70 miles per hour outside city limits. No motorway passes through London, so there are only A roads in the city. I visited the Science Museum later on and then we went for dinner to Nando's near Earl's Court. Nando's is a Portuguese place, and asking for the food to be spicy brings out the flavour of the Peri-Peri sauce excellently.
The next day, I woke up late and did the tourist thing - hopped on a bus. For 19 quid, this bus has several lines (like a subway). The yellow and red lines hit most of the heavily trafficked tourist regions. I caught the blue line from Hammersmith and got off at Hyde Park Corner to wait for a yellow line. I went on the complete bus tour once without getting off. I saw almost all the popular sites in London. I didn't go to Madame Tussaud's, because the entry fee was a prohibitive 20 pounds. I did get off at Buckingham Palace and wandered around there for a while. I toyed with getting down at Harrod's but I decided not to be elitist and got off at Piccadily Circus. I walked to Leicester Square and didn't realize that it was close to Covent Garden, because I got on the bus again. I got off at the Strand, and walked up the Strand, unable to find Covent Garden. I got back to the bus stop and saw signs for Covent Garden. I walked to Covent Garden and saw the marketplace. It reminded me of a bazaar in India.
Later, I got off at Tower Bridge, thinking I'll walk to the London Bridge. I was very lucky, for when I was on the Tower Bridge, sirens started sounding. Now this doesn't sound very lucky, but I realized that the bridge was folding upwards to let a ship through. Many people who have stayed in London haven't had this happen to me, and it happened to me on my second day. I walked to the London Bridge underground station and we walked to a pub on the south bank of the Thames. Deciding where to go for dinner, we settled on a Chinese place at the subway stop Elephant & Castle.
The next day, we went into one of the areas that has many Indians - Tooting. We ate lunch at a Lahori restaurant. Parking was a problem. The parking wardens in London are said to be the most strict. They give you a ticket even if you're one minute over the time. Conscious of the time, we bought some snacks for the onward journey and returned. The traffic out of London was awful. Even on the motorways, the traffic was totally clogged. Considering it was a Friday afternoon, many Londoners were probably going to the country for the weekend. We were to do about eighty miles on the M40 and about 200 miles on the M6. The speed limit on the M6 was 70, but there was bumper to bumper traffic for a long stretch. It took us about 5 hours just to get to Birmingham which is about 100 miles from London. After Birmingham, the road was fairly clear. So much so, that we managed the remaining 320 miles in under 4 hours. We arrived at Glasgow at 11:00 pm.
The next day, we set out for Inverness. Taking the M80, Inverness is about 170 miles - which should take less than 4 hours to drive. However, we decided to take a long scenic route through Western Ross, and the decision was more than vindicated. Our first stop was Loch Lomond. A Loch is a Scottish Gaelic word used to describe a water body similar to a lake, but not exactly the same. It could be used for some other types of water bodies common in Scotland. The scenery became progressively better and better, green mountains standing on Lochs became commonplace. Low lying clouds obscured the view of several mountains and only added to the beauty. At the start of the road trip, we all tried speaking in Scottish accents and pronouncing words the Gaelic way. In-vur-Nayss was particularly popular to roll our tongues round. I learnt the following conversions:
Inver : River
Ben: Mountain
Glen: Narrow Valley
Firth: Fjord
Strath: Wide Valley
My drive on the automatic two door VW Polo was from Loch Lomond to Oban. Oban was where we had lunch at an Italian place on the waterfront. From Oban, I handed over the driving duties, because I would be doing some driving the next morning. We wound on single lane roads through Western Ross going past Lochs, streams and the highest mountain in the UK - Ben Nevis. At a height of 1300m, it is about 400m higher than the altitude of Bangalore. It's cloud shrouded peak added an air of mystique and on the way back, we saw some snow near the peak. We reached Inverness at approximately 10:00 pm, a 12 hour drive from Glasgow. Went for dinner to a fancy Indian place called Cinnamon. Stayed at a hostel that was close to the city center. Our six peopl room was empty so it was just the four of us that slept on the bunk beds that were available.
The next morning, we set off back to Glasgow on the M80. Stopped at Loch Ness at Urquhart Castle. It was raining, but that didn't prevent us from looking for the monster. My next driving assignment was from Fort William to Glasgow in torrential downpour. The last twenty miles or so was on the motorway, so I felt almost at home going at about 85 miles per hour. Immediately as we reached Glasgow, we took the tube to the city center and then a train to Edinburgh. From the bus stop, we walked the Royal Mile, it stretches a mile away from the castle and terminates at the Parliament building with unconventional architecture. From there, we climbed Arthur's seat which offers a great view of Edinburgh. At this point, the fickle weather of Scotland decided to change and we battled gusty winds and torrential rain on the way down from Arthur's seat.
Soaked to the bone, we went back to the railway station. In most parts of the UK, you are charged when you go to the toilet. I handed in my 20p and used the dryer to dry my clothes more than my hands. Quick train back, burger at Burger King and went to Glasgow bus station on Buchanan St. Took the overnight bus back to London. The sun rose so early, that when I woke up I thought it was 7 am and we were nearly at London. It turned out to be 4.21 am and I cursed the sun and tried to sleep again. Reached London and took the tube back from Victoria to West Kensington and slept the morning away. That evening we went down to Greenwich on a train called the DLR. The DLR passes through the newer financial district of London, Canary Wharf. At Greenwich, did the touristy thing of taking photos with either foot each side of the meridian. We then went to Wapping for a drink at quaint Captain Kidd's pub and then dinner at a pretty fancy Italian restaurant.
The next day, I went to the Museum of Natural History which has a nice dinosaur section. There is a mechanical T-Rex that scares the children with it's roar. I then went to the Victoria & Albert Museum and wandered around looking at sculptures and Indian paintings. Soon, it was time to leave and we took the tube back to Heathrow Terminal 4. A goodbye later I was on the plane to Mumbai. I must say that the food was much worse on this leg than the San Francisco-London leg. Moreover, the in-flight entertainment was scaled down to such an extent that I tried to sleep all through. A Gujarati woman with three kids befriended me and I filled out all their disembarkation cards to help out.
It struck me as I landed in Mumbai, how as soon as you come out of an international flight there are human vultures all over all ready to make a quick buck. Some guy wanted a 5 pound note just for pushing my trolley from the terminal to the taxi. Nearly showed him one of my fingers. Tipped the taxi driver 20 rupees. He baulked. Come on, that's half a dollar. What does he expect? At the Spice Jet counter, the lady charged for my excess baggage. I thought domestic was supposed to allow luggage when I've caught an international flight. After all the mess, it started raining when I had to get on to the shuttle that took us to the plane. Got wet while boarding and disembarking the shuttle. Patently irascible after this sequence of incidents, I nearly snapped at the air hostess who gave me just a mint. I could have bought that mint for 25 paisa. When she offered to sell me a sandwich or juice for 20 rupees each I was so frustrated that I pretended to sleep. Some semblance of normalcy returned when I was finally in Bangalore, and realized I was going Home.
The next day, I woke up late and did the tourist thing - hopped on a bus. For 19 quid, this bus has several lines (like a subway). The yellow and red lines hit most of the heavily trafficked tourist regions. I caught the blue line from Hammersmith and got off at Hyde Park Corner to wait for a yellow line. I went on the complete bus tour once without getting off. I saw almost all the popular sites in London. I didn't go to Madame Tussaud's, because the entry fee was a prohibitive 20 pounds. I did get off at Buckingham Palace and wandered around there for a while. I toyed with getting down at Harrod's but I decided not to be elitist and got off at Piccadily Circus. I walked to Leicester Square and didn't realize that it was close to Covent Garden, because I got on the bus again. I got off at the Strand, and walked up the Strand, unable to find Covent Garden. I got back to the bus stop and saw signs for Covent Garden. I walked to Covent Garden and saw the marketplace. It reminded me of a bazaar in India.
Later, I got off at Tower Bridge, thinking I'll walk to the London Bridge. I was very lucky, for when I was on the Tower Bridge, sirens started sounding. Now this doesn't sound very lucky, but I realized that the bridge was folding upwards to let a ship through. Many people who have stayed in London haven't had this happen to me, and it happened to me on my second day. I walked to the London Bridge underground station and we walked to a pub on the south bank of the Thames. Deciding where to go for dinner, we settled on a Chinese place at the subway stop Elephant & Castle.
The next day, we went into one of the areas that has many Indians - Tooting. We ate lunch at a Lahori restaurant. Parking was a problem. The parking wardens in London are said to be the most strict. They give you a ticket even if you're one minute over the time. Conscious of the time, we bought some snacks for the onward journey and returned. The traffic out of London was awful. Even on the motorways, the traffic was totally clogged. Considering it was a Friday afternoon, many Londoners were probably going to the country for the weekend. We were to do about eighty miles on the M40 and about 200 miles on the M6. The speed limit on the M6 was 70, but there was bumper to bumper traffic for a long stretch. It took us about 5 hours just to get to Birmingham which is about 100 miles from London. After Birmingham, the road was fairly clear. So much so, that we managed the remaining 320 miles in under 4 hours. We arrived at Glasgow at 11:00 pm.
The next day, we set out for Inverness. Taking the M80, Inverness is about 170 miles - which should take less than 4 hours to drive. However, we decided to take a long scenic route through Western Ross, and the decision was more than vindicated. Our first stop was Loch Lomond. A Loch is a Scottish Gaelic word used to describe a water body similar to a lake, but not exactly the same. It could be used for some other types of water bodies common in Scotland. The scenery became progressively better and better, green mountains standing on Lochs became commonplace. Low lying clouds obscured the view of several mountains and only added to the beauty. At the start of the road trip, we all tried speaking in Scottish accents and pronouncing words the Gaelic way. In-vur-Nayss was particularly popular to roll our tongues round. I learnt the following conversions:
Inver : River
Ben: Mountain
Glen: Narrow Valley
Firth: Fjord
Strath: Wide Valley
My drive on the automatic two door VW Polo was from Loch Lomond to Oban. Oban was where we had lunch at an Italian place on the waterfront. From Oban, I handed over the driving duties, because I would be doing some driving the next morning. We wound on single lane roads through Western Ross going past Lochs, streams and the highest mountain in the UK - Ben Nevis. At a height of 1300m, it is about 400m higher than the altitude of Bangalore. It's cloud shrouded peak added an air of mystique and on the way back, we saw some snow near the peak. We reached Inverness at approximately 10:00 pm, a 12 hour drive from Glasgow. Went for dinner to a fancy Indian place called Cinnamon. Stayed at a hostel that was close to the city center. Our six peopl room was empty so it was just the four of us that slept on the bunk beds that were available.
The next morning, we set off back to Glasgow on the M80. Stopped at Loch Ness at Urquhart Castle. It was raining, but that didn't prevent us from looking for the monster. My next driving assignment was from Fort William to Glasgow in torrential downpour. The last twenty miles or so was on the motorway, so I felt almost at home going at about 85 miles per hour. Immediately as we reached Glasgow, we took the tube to the city center and then a train to Edinburgh. From the bus stop, we walked the Royal Mile, it stretches a mile away from the castle and terminates at the Parliament building with unconventional architecture. From there, we climbed Arthur's seat which offers a great view of Edinburgh. At this point, the fickle weather of Scotland decided to change and we battled gusty winds and torrential rain on the way down from Arthur's seat.
Soaked to the bone, we went back to the railway station. In most parts of the UK, you are charged when you go to the toilet. I handed in my 20p and used the dryer to dry my clothes more than my hands. Quick train back, burger at Burger King and went to Glasgow bus station on Buchanan St. Took the overnight bus back to London. The sun rose so early, that when I woke up I thought it was 7 am and we were nearly at London. It turned out to be 4.21 am and I cursed the sun and tried to sleep again. Reached London and took the tube back from Victoria to West Kensington and slept the morning away. That evening we went down to Greenwich on a train called the DLR. The DLR passes through the newer financial district of London, Canary Wharf. At Greenwich, did the touristy thing of taking photos with either foot each side of the meridian. We then went to Wapping for a drink at quaint Captain Kidd's pub and then dinner at a pretty fancy Italian restaurant.
The next day, I went to the Museum of Natural History which has a nice dinosaur section. There is a mechanical T-Rex that scares the children with it's roar. I then went to the Victoria & Albert Museum and wandered around looking at sculptures and Indian paintings. Soon, it was time to leave and we took the tube back to Heathrow Terminal 4. A goodbye later I was on the plane to Mumbai. I must say that the food was much worse on this leg than the San Francisco-London leg. Moreover, the in-flight entertainment was scaled down to such an extent that I tried to sleep all through. A Gujarati woman with three kids befriended me and I filled out all their disembarkation cards to help out.
It struck me as I landed in Mumbai, how as soon as you come out of an international flight there are human vultures all over all ready to make a quick buck. Some guy wanted a 5 pound note just for pushing my trolley from the terminal to the taxi. Nearly showed him one of my fingers. Tipped the taxi driver 20 rupees. He baulked. Come on, that's half a dollar. What does he expect? At the Spice Jet counter, the lady charged for my excess baggage. I thought domestic was supposed to allow luggage when I've caught an international flight. After all the mess, it started raining when I had to get on to the shuttle that took us to the plane. Got wet while boarding and disembarking the shuttle. Patently irascible after this sequence of incidents, I nearly snapped at the air hostess who gave me just a mint. I could have bought that mint for 25 paisa. When she offered to sell me a sandwich or juice for 20 rupees each I was so frustrated that I pretended to sleep. Some semblance of normalcy returned when I was finally in Bangalore, and realized I was going Home.
