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THREE PERFECT DAYS IN LONDON - By SATHISH BABU, DENVER, CO, USA
This is an excellent
travel review about London by One of my Close Friend and a Lollu
Express Fan who is in Denver Colorodo who made a business trip to
London. His name is Sathish Babu and he has already written a
review about Montreal, Canada. Enjoy his wonderful update on
London. - Prabhu
"Three perfect days" is part of a
travel program in United's in-flight entertainment network and so
it was, for us in London. Not so 
much a modern city that you would expect or
rather assume it to be. But does not fail to set your heart
aflutter as soon as you step in. Probably you would experience
the same in every new country you visited.
Nevertheless, its a great city to be in, on a vacation as long as
your paycheck has a $ sign at the end of the numerals. You get a
lot less in pounds, in fact almost just half, the US dees in
exchange. This is the obvious and expected. But believe me, hard
to take in. A meal in Indian currency is anywhere between 800-1000
Indian rupees. Eat there 3 days, I would have already
spent what I would spend in US for a month's grocery shopping.
To rewind a bit, we had to dust our blazers and ties for we were
eligible to travel business class in United. They should probably
send business class travelers for a course on how to use those
seats. It has so many adjustments to it that you keep discovering
what the seat can do all through the 7-hour flight. Not
to mention you would feel like a moron, when the seats ends up
doing some else than what you thought it would. Massaging your
back to stretching it to a bed to adjusting heights from bottom
to top. Huge experience in itself. Food is an added incentive.
Why is that you can't drink coke or a fruit juice when in
business class? The steward/stewardess, when you ask for a glass
of orange juice, look at you as though you are already drunk and
don't know what you are asking for. They go, "Are you sure,
Sir? How about some Chardonnay?" A cynical smile
would follow after you are served with the juice. Food is a
trade-off for sleep. We got into the flight at 5.00 PM at New
Jersey, in air for 7 hours 
and you land at 8.00 AM in the morning.
7-hours elapsed time ? drink, appetizers, drink, main course
meal, drink, dessert, water, 2hrs later breakfast, drink-
evening, night, mid-night, morning ? you would have seen it all
!!!
Heathrow airport is the second busiest, if not the busiest,
airport next to Chicago. Two flights land and three take off
every minute. Where do people keep travelling? So many different
airlines ? guess a word and its the name of another airline. They
range from 'Virgin Atlantic' to 'Spirit air' to 'Go Jet'.
"No way BA/AA" is the caption on every
Virgin Atlantic aircraft. You need a brave man to have
that as your logo.
Thanks to the renovation being done at 80 million pounds,
we had to walk 3 miles to get out of the airport. And
walk we did like we have not done in the past 8 months. The
airport is so full of people?you would almost choke. Right out of
the airport you have these Under Ground trains to take you where
ever.
Underground tube system amazed me no end. It is a huge concept
and it plays a big role in everyone's life there. I would be
interested to know how much time a day each Brit. spends on
average traveling in trains. 80% have books in their hands and
the rest sleep. There are 6 zones which 10 (or more!) of these
underground trains cover. They are named Picaddily line, Baker
Loo line, Northern line, Central lines, etc. A one-day travel
ticket which goes "travel any line any number of times after
9.30 AM" is less than a one-way travel ticket between two
points before 9.30 AM. You could imagine the crowd during peak
hours then. It seems they pump out 6 million tons of water from
down under to keep these trains running, else the underground
would be flooded. To think that they came up with this concept
many, many years ago!!!!
Most of the attractions are invariably next to an under ground
station. Were the stations built first? or was it the tourist
attractions ?
There are up to 5 underground levels in some stations. They are
like 10 storeys deep, under ground. To go from one underground
level to another is in itself a big journey. You would have to
walk at least a mile to reach the underground station one level
below. 5 
trains
going one below another simultaneously under ground would have
taken years of toiling, slogging, and sweating to achieve. And
they reap the maximum rewards out of it. Cars for commuting seem
to be exceptions rather than rule like in the USA.
Buses and trains hold the center stage. And yes, legs too. Any
distance is told in terms of walking distance. When ever
you ask "how far is this place from here?", pat
comes the reply "30 minutes walking distance".
No wonder you can never see any fat figures out there. Round the
corner would take 15 minutes to reach.
The people in London are almost a mismatch to the build up of the
city. Every building has a history. Each structure is at least
100 years old. But the people are all impeccably dressed.
3 piece suites, blazers, what not? With all this posh attire ? people
walk. I can't imagine someone walking down in the streets of
India wearing a suit. Thousand eyes would turn towards them even
if the weather would permit some one to do so. Here you would
almost go unnoticed with a perfect formal wear.
It would be quite strange if you go to London after spending some
time in the West, where you have to say hi, smile, nod to every
one who crosses you. People in London maintain a tight upper-lip.
No one would smile at you. Eye contacts mean nothing to them. A
little hello, a friendly nod, a small curve at the end of your
lips, can't see any of these. I am beginning to think if this
where, Indians picked up such habits.
Traffic signals are there and so are Zebra crossings. But the
crossing public never see the on coming traffic. It is almost
like, I'm using my legs to walk, who should I care for?
British attitude !!! Throwing trash on the road is
another common sight. Breaking queues and squeezing in ahead of
you ? they are the experts. I am very sure now of the origin of
bad habits in India. I must admit that, when it comes to helping
out, they do go out of their way. Aren't they still humans under
the stiff upper-lip?
At the risk of sounding cocky, I must admit I loved the slang of
the Englishmen. They pronounce each letter in the word like the
way it should be pronounced. Pure Wren and Martin stuff !!! Water
becomes Vota?Denver become Denva. It is so nice to hear 
them speak. Why
didn't the Indian's pick up their slang???
London bridge that all of us know is called the Tower bridge and
rightly so, as it is next to the Tower of London where all the
loots, oops, all the valuables that proclaim the famed rule,
prosperity, affluence of the kingdom of yesteryears are kept. I
don't know what it is about the London Bridge, but it never
ceased to astonish me whenever I had a look at it. It is of
course over the only river in London, the Thames River. I
should not forget to add that Thames measures up to our Coovam in
purity. Probably it is a touch whiter and doesn't
"smell". Weighing 1000 tons each side, it is incredible
how these structures on the London Bridge lift to let bigger
ships go underneath.
Tower of London is full of forts. The Kohinoor diamond is the
major attraction for all Indians. It is a huge irony that we pay
money to see our own jewels, that too in a different country.
Apart from the diamonds, the guides are interesting spectacles
there. It seems that the minimum qualification to be a guide is
that you should have served the army as at least a sergeant.
Their voices can be heard much beyond the big group of following
tourists listening to history of the forts. Our guide was
amazing. He finishes of the 45 minutes or so guided tour by
saying, "They say a guide is only as good as the tourists. Today,
I was excellent". Now is that what they call a punch line!!!
Picaddily Circus is the most happening place in London and that
is where you should be in a Friday night, they say. It is amazing
to see the crowd there. They have the biggest disco in the world
called the Hippodrome. Fashion street might have been a better
name. The place is so full of life, bands play in the streets,
and youthful exuberant crowds are on what they call
"Pub-crawling and Club hopping". Big queues in front of
every club. You find one restaurant at least from every country
in the world. But Indian food is declared the national food and
Friday night dinners are invariably Indian for them.
This place is THE recipe for a perfect, enjoyable, fun-filled
evening. Madam Thusadas ? a must in every travel book to
London. I wonder if this is the place where most number of photos
is clicked. Gandhi, Indra Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi are all there and
so is Narasimha Rao. He fits in perfectly with a stiff upper-lip.
Where did Cindy Crawford go? That was one of my two biggest
disappointments about London. The other is that I never got to
see that guy ? I mean the Sun. The light goes off at 4.30
PM in the evening and they all spend long nights. Don't they?
That is how they all speak. Every sentence ends with a question.
We went on a guided bus tour with an open top. Believe me the
guide was fabulous to say the least. He was the one who made
people sit on the top of the bus braving the cold, cold weather
and chilly winds.
We were, what they call, "at the right place at the right
time" ? Cruising on river Thames in the evening.
That was the day when a new Mayor was sworn in for the city of
London or was it West Minister? Did you know that the city of
London is only 
one square mile in radius, the rest of it is the
City of West Minister. Anyway, they were setting of fireworks as
the new Mayor was sworn in and it was quite a sight to watch at
the dusk, in the cold, sipping a hot cup of coffee.
The Sunday to follow was the remembrance Sunday where they
remember all the soldiers who lost their lives during World wars.
The ceremony takes place at White hall, a tomb, near the
Buckingham Palace. All of them from the Royal family attend,
Price Charles lays the flowers, soldiers march and bands play. So
we got to meet Prince Charles too. Isn't it that much sweeter
when the unexpected happens? Well, did I say we met Charles? The
harmony of the soldiers was a treat to the eyes.
The place where all the pigeons gather in Central London is
called the Trafalgar Square. It actually is the center point of
London. The pigeons there would have acted in more movies than
any of our leading heroes, I guess. But why do they crowd around
that place? I think that is the only place where they feed
pigeons free of cost. Anyway time for a few more clicks.
In retrospect, London is full of history but urbanized now.
People look stern but go out of their way to help. It has a
well-connected public transport system but you got to walk a lot.
Weather is drowsy but the clothes compensate. It is full of life
and fizz but expensive. Comedy Clubs, Theatres, Pubs, Movies,
Eat-outs, Tourist attractions, The King, The Queen, The Prince,
royal palace, massive public parks, designer clothes
? Choose your pick for a reason or pick all ?.. It is a
great place to be on a vacation ? and again, only if your pay
check shows a $ at the end of the numerals !!!
- SATHISH BABU, DENVER, CO