| Finally I succeeded getting to London after my one day delay in Salzburg. After arriving late on May 9, 2008, I got a good night's sleep at the Zetter Hotel, a hip boutique hotel in the Clerkenwell area. The next day, after a delicious breakfast, my travel partner Andrea and I got going early to start our discoveries. We walked past historic medieval St. John's Gate and admired the Victorian era Smithfield Market. From here I took my first ride on the Tube (London's famous subway system) to the historic St. Pancras Railway Station which is now the terminal for the Eurostar Trains, connecting London with the Continent. We then walked over to neighbourhing King's Cross Railway Station where we checked out Platform 9 3/4 of Harry Potter fame. Our next destination was the Portobello Market, an ecclectic mix of fresh vegetables, fruit, baked goods, enticing aromas from all sorts of delicious freshly made street food, funky clothes, furs and antiques. After our interview with Michael Williams, one of the organizers of the Notting Hill Carnival (a Caribbean-style carnival and Europe's biggest street party) we walked through the serene streets of Notting Hill and Kensington before we embarked on a brief tour of Little Beirut, a heavily middle-Eastern influenced area on Edgeware Road. A tube ride later we arrived at Hyde Park Corner where to my disappointment nobody was giving any speeches or ranting about anything. Only two older gentlemen were sitting on two soap boxes and ... |
