UK & Paris (Part 3) - Shonan Boy's Adventures

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UK & Paris (Part 3)
6 November, 1996 - 13 November (for 8 days)

Part 1 <===> Part 2 <===> Part 3

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Part 1	London, Windsor Castle, Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, The Monument, Trafalgar Square, House of Parliament, Big Ben, British Museum, Hyde Park
Part 2	Eurostar, Paris, Montmartyer, Concorde Plaza (Place de la Concorde), Louvre Museum (Musee du Louvre), Champs-Elysees Avenue (Avenue des Champs-Elysees), Arch of Triumph (Arc de Triomphe de L'Etoile), Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel), Champ de Mars Park (Parc du Champ de Mars), Notre-Dame Cathedral (Cathedrale Notre-Dame)
Part 3	Bath Spa, Royal Crescent, Edinburgh, Edinburgh Castle, New Town, Old Town

10 November (5th day)

	Train Service was Cancelled that I made a reservation?!! To go to the World Heritage "Bath", I reserved 08:35 train from London Paddington through Bath Spa in advance. The day I went to Paddington station, the sentence "Boarding is delayed" was displayed on the electric notice board. I waited for a while. As the train service was canceled due to breakdown, a train I reserved did not approached the platform. I heard the train information in place of that train. For example, "Passengers going to Bath Spa, please take --- train. And transfer at ---, and take --- train..." Though I heard it, I did not identify the name of station. I was at a loss. Not only I but also other passengers did not know, and they proceeded to the information counter. When I refund 2 reservation tickets, a ticket office staff did not know the fact that train service was canceled. I was surprised!

Difference of Train Reservation System between Europe and Japan
In European train reservation system, seat reservations are closed 2 hours before departure time of starting station. In UK, there are reservation slips on the top of seats, that is written seat number and portion. If there is not the reservation slip, it is non reserved seat. Passengers without seat reservation can sit on it. Even if there is a reservation slip that is passed reserved passenger's portion, a passenger without reservation can sit on it. When it comes to trains like TGV, Eurostar, etc, all seats are reserved. And there is no reservation slip. And their seats are sold just before the departure time or check-in time.

the town of Bath and Avon River

Boarded a train in one hour
I boarded Inter City train bound for Exeter at 09:30. This train with diesel-electric locomotive engine runs at 160 km/h. In UK, doors of old cars are not sliding doors, but hand-powered doors like house. When a passenger get off, a passenger waiting at platform open it. If there is no passengers who take this train unfortunately, passengers getting off should slide door's window and move lever. On the contrary, doors of new cars are automated with buttons.

The train I took arrived at Bath Spa (172 km from London) at 11:12. The town of Bath are beautiful, and it is Georgian style. It was designed by great architects "John Wood" and "John Wood Jr."

Arriving at Bath Spa
I also visited "Roman Baths Museum" that there was hotspring. This is the origin of the word "Bath". As Prince "Bladud" was leprosy, he was forced to be out from a castle. And he had lived in this place since then. He saw pigs what he raised were in marsh. As he tried to take his pigs to shore, he also went in marsh. He found hotwater sprang there. And his leprosy was get better, and he equipped hotspring bath with pleasure. At present, the town of Bath was registered as UNESCO World Heritage. They say that the word "Bath" is short for Prince's name "Bladud", but I did not understand it. I lent an explanation tape of Japanese.

Roman Bath Museum

Royal Crescent
Another sightseeing spot in Bath Spa is "Royal Crescent". A part of it is a museum, and other part of it is luxury hotel.

Racial Discrimination I Experienced for the First Time!
I had a lunch there, and bought 2 turkey sandwiches and Sprite. I paid 10 UK pounds?!! I was surprised. As well, I had an unpleasant experience at this cafeteria. Though a young girl clerk had a smile for white people, her attitude was bad against me. She did not say any words to me. Her thought must be "White Supremacy" and uneducated. While eating, a little boy pointed his forefinger at me and said the word like "There is a different race man!". His mother scold to him, and hit him on his head.

A parade I saw in Bath Spa

To back to London, I took 15:12 Intercity train for London Paddington, and arrived at 17:00. Then I enjoyed London city area sightseeing. Missing Japanese food, I had dinner at Japanese restaurant. I had it for two persons!

11 November (6th day)

IC225（Inter City 225） I took at Edinburgh station.

Edinburgh
Weather was not fine the day. I took 8:00 ICE225 (Inter City 225) train bound for Glasgow from London Kings Cross station. Top speed of this train is 225 km/h (about 140 mph), and the plug doors are automated when doors closed. But passengers push button when they board.
In advance I bought a fish&chips, and ate it in the train seeing nice view Scotland. As a conductor did not say the station name "Edinburgh" but he said "Waverly" only, I felt uneasy. When this train arrived at one station before Edinburgh, he said "Edinburgh". I felt relieved. In fact, this station name is "Edinburgh Waverly". This train arrived there at 12:14 (633 km from London, about 395 miles).

Then I wanted to go to lavatory, but people should pay 20 UK pences at the entrance of lavatory around Edinburgh station. I found 10 pences pay lavatory in the shopping center that is connected directly with station. The admission would be the relief funds for African refugees. People should insert a coin of 10 pences into machine. As I wanted to enter it immediately, I did not know which coin is 10 pences in my hand?!! I was flustered! A old woman went out from her shop, and asked me, "What's up?" As soon as I showed her my coins in my hand, she forefingered at that coin immediately. As I am Japanese, I identify 10 Japanese yen coin at a glance. But I could not identify specific coin at the first glance. Even though any foreigner cannot specify a local coin at a glance. After I thanked her, she said to me, "Take it easy!"


left side: New Town	upper center: Carlton Hill	right side: Old Town
	center: Edinburgh Waverly station

"New Town" seen from Edinburgh Castle

New Town
I went around the street and town in Edinburgh on foot. This place were registered as UNESCO World Heritage, and the capital of Scotland. Princes Street Gardens forms the boundary, South side is "Old Town" where there are many architectures of 16 -17 century, North side is "New Town" where there are many Georgian architectures from 18 century. On the end of 18 century, architect "James Craig" designed this town, and began to build. The spelling of this place is not "Princess" but "Princes". I thought this town was very beautiful. At first I walked New Town.

left side: Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle was built on 130 meter high above sea level. The festival "Military Tattoo" is held in Summer. I lent Japanese explanation tape in castle. The structure of castle is great, as well jewelry is very great.

Old Town
I left Edinburgh Castle, and walked in "Old Town". While I was crazy about sightseeing, I reminded whether I could catch the train I should take or not. When I went back to Edinburgh station, my umbrella was destroyed due to wind. I thought free time in Edinburgh should be needed 5 hours or more. I had spend there only for 4 hours.

photo: "Old Town" seen from Edinburgh Castle

Hungry...
I took the Intercity train at 16:00 from Edinburgh Waverly, and it departed on time. But it was delayed about 30 minutes when it arrived at York on the way to London Kings Cross. A conductor said it was expected to be delayed about 1 hour when it would arrive at London the final stop. And it sometimes run slowly and had stopped 4 times other than station on the way, and stopped at stations a little longer. High speed trains are liable to be delayed extremely. Though the scheduled arrival time of this train at London was 20:42, it arrived at around 21:10 actually. I thought it might be good to be delayed about only 30 minutes. Of course I was hungry in the train, but I did not want to eat hamburger and sandwich at that time, and I gave up to eat in the train. The price of food in this train was more expensive than food what it sell in shop in Japan (half price in comparison with it on Eurostar, though). I looked for Japanese food restaurant in London. Most of the restaurants were closed because the train I took was delayed at night. When I found one Japanese restaurant, it was especially closed the day?!! Finally I found the Sushi restaurant. I thought Sushi in UK tasted very good.
　(photo: inside Edinburgh Castle)

12 November (7th day), arrived on 13 November (8th day)

plane Back to Japan
I left UK 7th day. The bus that my tour group took arrived at London Heathrow airport. Here it was impossible to clear the group check-in. Passengers should check in by themselves. For safety against terrorism, the gate number was displayed 90 minutes before departure time. They say that there are extremely many thieves here. Before passengers board the planes, they divide their luggage. Sometimes thieves steal passengers' valuables behind passengers. I thought there were many duty free shops and souvenir shops in this airport, and I bought English tea and food.

Flights depart and arrive here once every 30 seconds. It would be bad to cause some troubles. My flight, VS900 (Virgin Atlantic Airways flight 900) departed at 13:00. Though an attendant had not sit on her seat yet, a pilot took the engine to full power?!! So she ran in a hurry, and sat down.

Funny Story
Japanese people are not good at speaking foreign languages. The following story is funny story. One Japanese man wanted to buy a train ticket for London alone. He did not know what to say in English to buy it. And he said "TO London". As a clerk at ticket office thought "TWO tickets for London", a clerk issued 2 tickets. One Japanese man was at a loss for a short time, and said, "FOR London". That clerk thought it meant "FOUR tickets for London", and issued. That Japanese man did not know what to say very much. And he thought and thought, and said "Ehtto". The Japanese word "Ehtto" means "Well...". A clerk thought the pronunciation "EHTTO" meant "EIGHT", and he issued 8 tickets for London.

(edited on 20 August, 2002)
(translated Japanese into English on 27 February, 2003)

Part 1 <===> Part 2 <===> Part 3

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