Sunday, September 21, 2014

London-Dream come true destination

                        This time the destination is such a place which blessed us with loads of memories to be treasured for a life time. Many moments where we felt "how lucky we are, having such a time in our life!", made our trip a grand success. Though the plan got postponed many number of times for no specific reasons, at last it proved again- God plans everything in a very perfect way, blesses us with the best outcome.
                   Till the moment we both were together  in the sky towards London, Sreeram was not relieved- see how blessed I'm to have him in my life. I was the culprit, discouraging him many times for my inclusion in the plan, being a typical housewife, calculating the expenses to be faced. But, it was a nightmare for me to be away from him for 2 long weeks. So, everything went well starting from my passport renewal (because of a small editing in my long name), fast track visa and purchase of the ticket. We were very excited, as it was our first out of India tour, the moment when we were in the airport. But Sreeram a little upset when we were informed about the delay of the flight. I was, as usual, ready to enjoy whatever way it comes.
                         The delay at Bangalore airport turned our onward journey into really enjoyable, as we were totally making use of the new camera as well as the Longue in the Abu Dhabi airport. That was in fact a perfect delay that left us with enough time in the transit to just grab the happiness in the unknown place.
                                    
                                        

 At last we safely landed in our destination Heathrow airport, of course with an expected delay, by late night. But the relatives there were so cooperative to meet us even at that odd hour and supply us with dinner, milk, curd, vegetables and especially the basic necessities like sim card, credit and debit cards.
                 The studio apartment we were provided with, was a very nice one in the heart of Central London, fleet street. Sreeram's office was 3 minute walk from the stay. That was really a joy for me since we used to have lunch together, which was a dream for me (sounds silly, but true). From my window it was the perfect view of buildings, restaurants, people running after the unseen time, people enjoying the tours in busses etc.......I grabbed the joy of each moment there peeping from the window with a hot tea of typical London flavour and variety of fruits.
                    The stay of 2 weeks there was just like 2 moments at the end. We didn't realize how it passed, but were at last left with a very refreshing and memorable time. One more dream of mine which came true there, was Sreeram returning home early in the evening. Wish, this happens in India too. The very next day we landed there, we had other relatives who were all set to dedicate the entire day to us with their kids Sravya and Anirudh. It was a very long walk to places like Trafalgar Square, Buckingham palace and other sites near by to our home. The strange thing I noticed was, we never realized how far we were walking, we were just enjoying every sight of the nature, buildings, people and everything around us.
                                      


                               With this inspiration, in the week days too we walked towards destinations like St. Paul cathedral, Thames river, Canon street and other places around us. Destinations like Piccadilly circus, Tower bridge, Shard, Eastham were reached in tubes (local trains as we know them). The tube system there built underground provides excellent connectivity to each corner of the city with very good frequency. It might be walking under the umbrella in the rain or sitting in the tube or walking in the cold breeze, but going together on the totally new streets, holding each other's hand and chatting about everything possible was just a feeling to be treasured for ever. The big sized coffee added real flavour to all those moments. 
                                The series of tours in London started with Brighton where Sreeram's friend Pavan was the navigator for us in all the ways. We felt really lucky to have him there since the short and sweet tour left us with great collection of memories, in the form of photos as well as heart-filling scenic views. The Stone henge, Durdle door, 7 sisters country park and devil's dyke were the major places covered which were stunningly beautiful, each competing with itself. The drive through the country side was really a fantastic experience. This was just a 2 day tour in the week end, but proved to gift us memories for ever. The train journey from London to Brighton was a feast for eyes and refreshing for mind. Greenery spread everywhere was felt as if a carpet was placed all around. This, we felt, everyone must go through once, definitely.
                                           




                                     The view when the Bridge of London opens to give way for larger ships, was again a master-piece. We were lucky to get a chance to grab that view in the very first time we went there. The night view of the buildings around the tower bridge was sparkling. This was the evening of a week day when Sreeram was a little early home.
                                            
 On other such day, we went to Piccadilly circus. The name circus was not actually what we mean circus here. It was the very big hoardings in a junction which shine very bright with lights all along the street. People spend time just sitting there, enjoying the view all around. Shard was another day's evening visit, suggested by my friend Pavan. It was the view of the gigantic city of London from a 62 floor building, with open top on the last floor. What a view! The beauty of the surroundings makes us feel the worth of the costly entrance ticket. As the night approached, it became still beautiful.
                                              
  
                              After Sreeram finished his official purpose of the visit, we started exploring the city locally as we went to Madam Tussads Museum and London eye on Saturday. The purchase of national rail ticket to Scotland, offered us the 2 for 1 scheme for the museum visit. It was a museum bringing all the celebrities alive into wax statues to give us chance to take photographs with them leisurely. The very huge London eye gifts us the 360 degree view of London where the wheel moves very slowly to facilitate us enjoy the view.
                                              
 We even enjoyed the drives of Cruise and cable car which provides almost equally beautiful views of the city, each leaving us with an experience of its own worth. The Greenwich was a place rich with museums containing the stuff used for the scientific inventions of all time. It was also a very refreshing place with very big park as well as restaurants.
                                               
                          During the conclusion of the tour, our relative accompanied us to other shopping complexes along with the glassy buildings of Kennery Wharf. The lively and energetic people all around were bade good bye silently on that night. We were all set to leave the British for reaching the Motherland, ever respected and richly cultured.                
   

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