Amazing UK

I visited United Kingdom the very first time (stayed about 10 days) when I was on my way to Finland during August 2001. In overall, I must say I am really impressed with the country, both in term of her breathtaking architecture, amazing history, beautiful countryside and fantastic infrastructure.

London is just superb. I have seen London many times from postcards and TV, but nothing like to be there personally. The architectures in London are simply breathtaking. The big Ben, parliament house, Tower Bridge, St Paul’s Cathedral, British Museum, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and many more are just amazingly beautiful and grand. The Hyde park is beautiful, the speaker’s corner on Sunday is interesting, the Madam Tussaud’s Museum and Covent Garden is fun, the London tube system is impressive, and the service in Wong Kei (the famous Chinese restaurant in China town) is actually not too bad after all! As recommended by many of my friends, I also watched the Les Miserable show, walked around SOHO, cruised along the river Thames, passed by Harrods and Imperial College, as well as traveled to Greenwich to see the abandoned Millennium dome.

However, the living expenses in London are just overwhelmingly high. I was really lucky to be able to stay with a friend while I was in London, otherwise my wallet would has been "bleed to dead" long time ago. Nevertheless, it was still worth it.

After spent 4 days in London, I joined a local travel group for a 6 days UK tour. Departing from London, the tours took me heading north to Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare’s birth place), Warwick, Chester, then took a detour to Ruthin (North Wales), and continue north to Lancaster, passed by Lake District National Park and arrived in Edinburgh (Scotland). While I was in Scotland, I also took a detour to Trossachs (The highland in Scotland). After that I traveled back south, bypassing Newcastle, stopped by in York and Cambridge and finally backed to London.

For the whole 6 days, I think I enjoyed Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon, Chester, Edinburgh, York and Cambridge the most. All are classic English towns/cities, with extremely interesting architecture and city planning. I am most impressed by Edinburgh, which the whole city is just like a huge castle emerged from the fairly tale. Almost 80% of the town is still remains as it was hundreds years ago. When I toured around the city, the tour guide talked about how Robert Louis Stevenson created the fabulous novel Treasure Island, how the famous Economist Adam Smith wrote his classic “The Wealth of the Nations” and etc. Surrounded by fabulous architectures buildings constructed in the 18th centuries, and viewed the Edinburgh castle on the hill; I was totally immersed into the charisma of Edinburgh. The best of all, Edinburgh was in the middle of its annual Edinburgh art festival, the largest art festival in the world. The whole city was packed with tourists watching artists around the world performing on the streets. The atmosphere was just unforgettable.

04 Oct, 2006