Tag: London

UK Flashback 2023!

The Memories, come flashing back!

The vivid details, the signages, The bustling streets, the hop on and hop off buses,

The Lego store, Leicester Square and Times Square coming together in my memory!

The M&M World! Piccadilly Circle written faintly!

And the huge square, Trafalgar Square with the lion roaring.

The London Bridge! All that meets the London eye!

The erratic weather changing, like mood swings for humans in the city!

Brexit has happened from the last time we visited,

Still trying to figure things out here! 

UK! LONDON! Seems …

Can’t get over it it’s been a decade since I visited London!

The memories seem crystal clear, walking up the bridge and witnessing the Thames…

Felt like a Lord! After taking them through the cricket ring that has so much history in the sport and St.John Woods Brownish, Beige rooftops and homes with a little redness never felt the same again!

Walking through the dining room and changing room of the Lord’s Stadium was a Kodak tour in so many ways! The sport that I couldn’t breathe & sleep without in childhood is a distant reality in my adulthood!

The Marketspace CAMDEN! IN Yellowish brown BOLD Font, was an interesting space of shops and cafes!

The London Tube and the Big Red Bus! Through Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Notting Hill!

The Tourist’s ness was rubbing on our shoulders, Afternoon tea and scones at Claridge’s was one splurge we did on our trip!

Oh! The now famous Pret A Manager that has India sipping and eating was one of our hangout spots after we strolled through Oxford Street!

Oh! We passed through Covent Garden which years later became a hub for Contemporary interiors and places to eat! Like the BKC In Mumbai.

London, The UK! Hadn’t seemed to have changed much! But, what had changed was it had become expensive to live and holiday here! Transport fares had doubled, and the pricing of basic goods & services too had doubled. And on the other side, Ireland was thriving with tourism, and had seemed a better bet for the UK Locals to move there! Irish Cream was a nice country with beautiful bookstores and odd-looking people with colourful hair. The Vibe & energy in Ireland felt more for youngsters and youth. With Good food options and not just 90 minutes by Air from London City Ireland indeed became a good option for UK residents to shift.

Galway & Cork were two small towns, each having their charm & differences.

The Bars were hangout spots to enjoy the Guinness Beer or have a cup of Irish coffee.

A pizzeria in Galway was also not just in Ireland but had been accoladed with the 16th best pizzeria in Europe in 2022 and 37th best in the world in 2022.

Well! Ireland is also well known for Bailey’s liqueur – A popular coffee-based alcohol and Butlers chocolates. A bar of chocolate that melts away!

And last but not least the Jameson whiskey outlet – The Secret ingredient behind the Irish Coffee.

The last highlight, An 18th-century Century Church that was restored over seven years in the late nineties until mid two thousands was opened in 2005 and still has the rustiness and architecture of the 18th Century.
Information:

Ireland 

Cities: Galway, Cork, Dublin and Belfast. 

Enter through Dublin and travel through trains to the other cities.

 Stay: 

Ashkings Hotel Dublin

Buy a leap card from the station. You could use this across public transport (Trams, Trains, Buses)

Public Trans!!

Public Transport

How important is the public transport   facilities?

Living in metro city and traveling to other Metro cities in india like Delhi,Bangalore,Chennai,Kolkata,Ahmedabad,Pune

and to Global metro cities like  London,Paris,New York.I have found that The most important  part of living remains the public transport.

Imagine how easy! you find it travelling from one point to another,Without worrying about where would I park,The timing of parking at “No Parking” Zone to day when one could park at the “No Parking “ Zone. To worrying about the fuel tank,Whether its Half Full,Half empty or reaching the E mark.

To worrying about getting a parking space.

Mind you Even in NYC! You have to wait to get one parking lot for your car.

Worrying about the servicing cost for your vecihiles.

Wouldn’t you like to be chauffered around in a car of your choice everyday! To not worrying about Starting your car and taking a rickshaw to the station for longer journeys.

But,Only if this could be improved in the other metro cities of our country, would it be easier to travel around and have the traffic flow smoothly too. Why can’t buses in our country run on the routes with an assigned timetable. A.C buses could be priced reasonably to encourage people to use them.

Why are cities like london and new York a breeze to move around. And Guess  What. Most of  these cities citizen  don’t even own a single car. All they use is Buses,Train,Metro,Subways to commute around.

Then why can’t this be done here in our country?

The Girl on the train -Personal book review 


“The girl on the train “by Paula Hawkins is , what S J Watson terms as ‘gripping ,enthralling -A top notch thriller and a compulsive read ,no wonder dream works is in talks to adapt the book into a movie .

The sub head -You don’t know her .But she knows you .You immediately want to grab the book to know the story .The story about Rachel who catches the same commuter train every Morning.She know it will wait at the same signal each time ,overlooking a row of back gardens .She even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses .Jess Jason she calls them the characters on who the story revolves .Their life according to her is perfect.

And then one day she sees something shocking .Its only a minute until the train moves on .But it’s enough .

Now everything has changed .Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of their lives she’s only watched from far

Now they’ll see : her much more than just the girl on the train ….

The author Paula Hawkins who has worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction ,uses her journalism experience to continue the story and keep the interest of readers with some twist and turns ,there are moments you believe he might have done it ,no she has done it this continues till you haven’t read the complete story .the dairy format and narration format of giving each character his thought of the story to move forward is very interesting way of writing the book and to keep the interest going ,what the other characters think at that moment .

Grab and read the book ,before everybody has read it .

The musical play

Wicked- the musical PlayThe musical play ,this was the first time that we experienced this ,as it was a must see while you were here in London ,there were quite a few options too lion king,Matilda,chocolate factory and wicked .We settled for wicked and It was the right choice I guess the sets were as is you were watching a movie on television rather than a live play,the effects couldn’t get better ,and in the end it was one experience worth experiencing in a life time .