Fjellro: London on my own

In many ways I am a realist. I am able to think of the most things that are likely to come my way where ever I am headed. My experience tells me so. Having this quality I am not the easiest person to surprise. Last month it was a quarter of a century since I came to this world. And to my great surprise I got a birthday gift I had no idea about. I was so lucky to get a weekend in London, UK. I was thrilled, it felt great to get such a pleasant surprise. The only downside, you might say, was that it would be on my own.

I admit the tickling in the stomach when finally at the airport ready to leave never seems to give in. Mainly business people are on the flight with me, it strengthen the feeling of traveling by my self. Finding the Norwegian YMCA is easy, especially since I got a little help from my new GPS phone. And what a neighbourhood, I see embassies, fancy cars and clean streets. I am given a warm welcome, one of the staff is giving me a tour of this 5 storey house. The ceiling is stretching high above my head and I immediately get a feeling of exclusivity. I've shown to a room with 4 beds. This will be my place to sleep and rest the next 3 days. Included in the good price they serve breakfast, lunch and supper. Some of the staff are young Norwegians working here for a year, they are friendly and very including. This is a place easy to meet and get to know new people.

Exploring London is a project of unlimited time. What to see and what to do in just three days? One of the first activities I did was walking, I walked from one famous place to another. London Eye, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace and Tower Bridge. It was quite the stroll. After that I was leaving most of the travelling to the excellent London public transportation. I'm quite amazed by all the people walking Oxford street, not even the streets of Beijing is crowded like this. A friend of my family took time to show me around the area around Piccadilly Circus, having seen the great malls we had both a very nice dinner and wonderful muffins for dessert.

London gives great diversity across the city, from the city center to the not so nice Southwark neighbourhood, to the fancy business area Canary Wharf and to green and cosy Greenwich. I spent a long afternoon in Greenwich walking the park and visiting the free museums. Studying geomatics gives me a certain good reason to visit the Royal Observatory at Greenwich where the main meridian lays. The old markeds where they sell anything handmade from food to paintings really satisfied my need for local arts and cusine. There are many more things I want to see and do in London so this was definitely not the last time.