Memories and hints of a travelling IT professional.
When J. K. Rowling published her award-winning Harry Potter books she gave a new meaning to the King’s Cross railway station in London, United Kingdom. Students of the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry take the steam engine Hogwarts Express from platform 9 3/4 of King’s Cross station. To reach this platform they have to push their trolleys into the wall between platforms 9 and 10. Continue reading “Platform 9 3/4”
As far as I can remember I was visiting St. Paul’s Cathedral every time when I was in London, United Kingdom. It’s the architecture and the atmosphere of Sir Christopher Wrens sacral building that attracts me – but in the past I never went up to the top of the dome of the 111 meters high building. What a miss! Continue reading “Climbing up and up”
“There are two places in the world where men can most effectively disappear — the city of London and the South Seas.”
– Herman Melville
The London Eye (or Millenium Wheel) is with a height of 135 meters the highest big wheel in Europe. It is located on the south bank of river Thames close to Westminister bridge in London, United Kingdom. It was opened in 2000 and was planned to be deconstructed after five years – but as it was so successful and became a town’s landmark of London, it is still standing. Continue reading “London Eye”
The Queens Park Hotel in London, United Kingdom is a hotel in a Victorian building dating back to 1900. It is nothing special in this area of the town and also a bit shabby – but it is perfectly located between Paddington station and Hyde Park. In fact all these buildings look quite similar from the inside and when walking through nested corridors to reach our room I somehow had the feeling of already having been there. Continue reading “Queens Park Hotel”
Getting to the city center of London, United Kingdom from Heathrow airport was painful in the past. The most important airport is 24 km away from the center and you need around 50 minutes by subway. In 1998 the new Heathrow Express started to operate and now you can reach Paddington station within 15 minutes (from terminals 2/3) – especially on short trips to London you can save a lot of travel time in this way.
Continue reading “Heathrow Express”
You can reach the city of London, United Kingdom via six different international airports. The most frequented of them is Heathrow – with nearly 75 million passengers a year it is also the sixth largest airport in the world. Heathrow was opened in 1946, has four terminals (2-5, #1 was closed in 2015), is homebase to British Airways and located 24 kms afar from the city center.
Continue reading “London-Heathrow (LHR)”
I had not been to London, United Kingdom for some time as I heard that two friends wanted to get there for a weekend to celebrate the birthday of one of them. Secretly I took over the planning and booked three tickets for the trip and a nice small hotel near Paddington station.
Continue reading “Pleasant surprise”
The Tate Modern in London, United Kingdom located near St. Paul’s Cathedral directly at the river Thames. It has been created in the year 2000 in an old power station and is the biggest museum of modern art.
Continue reading “Tate Modern”
St. Paul’s and Westminister Abbey are the two most important and well known churches in London, United Kingdom. The current cathedral has been built 300 meters away from river Thames in 1666 – after the great fire of London. It is built in 17th century french art style; a kind of baroque.
Continue reading “St. Paul’s Cathedral”