Southern England - cycling adventure begins
Anna's entry:
We are finally off cycling! This is the third cycling around Europe trip for Rob, and the first one for me. As it turns out I am starting with a hard part - cycling on the left side of the road. Despite of the traffic and intensity of learning the traffic rules typical of England, believe it or not, I actually enjoyed it.
We passed through many English villages, and the further we got away from London, the friendlier people became. We saw a lot more smiles, more people approached us with questions about us and our travel, and people would always take their time to help us with directions. We travel with a few detailed maps, but cycling routes are still limited in England, so we had to rely on the suggestions from the locals, which worked really well for us. I am also very impressed with Rob's sense of direction, it is almost intuitive for him, and that in itself makes it so much easier for me. I feel that with his great abilities to navigate we can not get lost, or at least not for a long time.
We passed through Guildford south of London, and I felt like it was a town from a fairytale - so pretty, with English cottages, beautiful rose gardens, parks, and friendly people. I really enjoyed cycling through the area, even though at times cycling with all the traffic was stressful.
Our first night we camped in one of the village farms, we were the only campers, so the entire place belonged just to the two of us. It was so peaceful there, with birds singing and little bunnies running from one rye field to another. The next morning was not as idyllic though... To avoid the intense traffic, we decided to follow the way to the cycling route. To get there, we had to climb three walls and carry our loaded bikes over three bridges. Got some scratches and my first bruises on the legs - bike is heavy, and sometimes I can not balance the load when there is an obstacle I have to climb over. But, we made it OK eventually, and made it to our next camping stop. The camping was an upgrade, we even had hot water and a kitchen! But, we are still eating the cold food (have not had a chance to encounter the fuel for our camping stoves). So, for now lots of "hand food" - brie cheese, naan bread, humus, and chocolate. :)
We cycled for a few days until we reached Portsmouth, UK - our crossing point for the English channel. A few miles away from Portsmouth, a kind young English boy on a bicycle offered to show us the cycling way to town. So, we followed him all the way. And, then an older lady, also on a bike, offered us to follow her because she knew a safe way to the pier without being on a busy road. The biking was slow, but we enjoyed our little detour with her. :)
We made it to Portsmouth, and bought our ferry ticket for the night crossing of the English channel to La Havre, France. The crossing was about 7 hours, and we got a relatively good sleep in our sleeping bags on the floor (some other passengers did the same, so we fit right in).
We had several home stays with French families planned, so we had to push on to get there on time.
Medieval streets of South England
Our first camping night on the field
Camping break
Picnic - cold food only at this time
Mother and a colt
In Portsmouth, South England
Shores of English Channel
The Englsih Channel ferry to France
London - home stays, people and the masterpieces
Anna's entry:
We were fortunate enough to stay with local English families for the entire time in London, and therefore we were completely submerged to the British culture. We stayed with Janet in the North Eastern part London, who was a Cambridge graduate - we had a lot of intellectual conversations, and Janet also introduced us to all the suttleties of the British pronunciation and explained to us all the class consiousness of the language, and how British politicians are using it. Apparently, even pronunciation can be used in politics. We also stayed with a large happy family in the South West London - Alli and Willie, who made us feel at home right away, and who invited us to stay with them again after our cycling adventure. Then we stayed with James, who is actually also an American and who moved to London, and it was very interesting to compare all our cultural experiences and observations.
From the cultural point of view, our week in London was amazing! Besides all the imersion into the British culture with local families, I was so inspired by the historical and cultural masterpieces. Most museums are free in London, so it is an artisitic paradise. Rob (my husband) spent three months in London some time ago, so he decided to skip a lot of touristy stuff, but for me visiting world famous museums was a must. How could I miss famous National Gallery, and a pleasure of seeing Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael, Micaelangelo, Rubens, Velaseques and other great artists. Being a former tour guide of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, it was a treat to be back to the great world of art. I also spent some time in the National Portrait Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, Natural History museum, and Tate Britain. The latter museum was different. There were several avantguard exhibitions, and in one of the halls there was a pile of oranges - visitors were encouraged to take one - that was the artist's way to remind us of the continuity of all exisiting forms, and that the end is sometimes the beginning. I thought that was brilliant.
There was one aspect of London, however, that I did not particularly like. People were a little too rude, and they were EVERYWHERE. I myself grew up in a big city (St. Petetsburg, Russia) and have been to one of the largest cities in the world (Mexico City), and yet London was more annoying with all the crowds everywhere and all the time. I was told later on by an English gentleman that real Londerners live outside the city, and for the most part immigrants have overtaken London, which could explain pretty poor manners. I was also told that a possible explanation of aggressive attitude on a street could be a constant state of alert (when we were there, a local terrorist was stopped from planting a bomb under a bridge over the Thames). Be it as it may, I was disappointed by Londerners and if not for my stay with local English families, one could think that the world famous English manners are ceasing their existance (at least in the city of London). To summarize the above, I LOVED the city, its culture, diversity, history, art, architecture, and wondeful English families we stayed with. I did not care too much for the average people on the streets, too rude and aggressive for me, but it is all part of the experience!
National Gallery of London
Trafalgar Square
Resting in London
In Hyde Park
Tower of London and a little dark history
Anna's entry:
History seems to be everywhere. After visiting Buckingham Palace (the queen of England's residence) and Westminster Abbey (place where most of the kings and queens were crowned and buried), we took a long walk along the Thames river towards Tower Bridge and Tower of London. There was a dark past there. Tower of London served as a fortress, as a castle, and as a prison. There was also a place called Dead Man Hole - this is where they fished dead people that had been thrown off the bridge to the river for their sins. Museum of London was also an excellent introduction to London's background - it tells a colorful story about the Great Fire (when entire London was overtaken by the fire, that was burning for straight three days, and which destroyed everything), and the Black Death (great plague that killed over half of the population). We finished a day by visiting a stately St. Paul cathedral, which is known to be one of the architectural masterpieces.
London, Great Britain
Anna's entry:
As soon as we entered London, I felt excited and overwhelmed at the same time. People were everywhere; I tried to ignore numerous crowds of locals and tourists, and wanted to focus on what I came for – the history. As I was walking around London, I was feeling so many things, and so many memories were evoked. I remembered the time when I just started studying English in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the textbooks about Britain. How many times I imagined in my mind Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, The Parliament, Trafalgar Square… And there I was, many years later, standing right in front of them… They were beautiful, just the way I imagined them… I could just sense the presence of all prior queens and kings of England, and the history created by their predecessors and followers…
Royal Carriages on London streets
Big Ben
Buckingham Palace
London Towers
Royal Guard
St. Paul Cathedral
Making it to the UK
Anna’s entry:
May 31, 2007
There we were… 7:00 a.m. London Heathrow International Airport, not a single piece of luggage made it, and the most important pieces were our two bicycles which we brought all the way from the US… We started our journey in Lincoln, NE where we pedaled to the airport with all our cycling belongings, we had to disassemble our bikes and prepare them for the transatlantic flight, which created the whole show for the airport security. Some were very curious about our planned trip, some were puzzled, some were guarded. At any rate, several airport TSA (transportation safety administration) employees gathered around our “packing station” to make sure that we are not adding “anything that doesn’t belong” in our huge bike boxes. They were very pleased at the end, and send our bikes on the way… After arriving at Heathrow (London, UK), we had to claim our missing luggage, and it took two days for our bikes and other bike panniers, tools, etc. to track them and arrive (we still don’t know why, but the bikes were sent on wrong flights around the world).
Prior to our arrival to London, UK we arranged several stays with local families, who similarly to us are SERVAS member (SERVAS is an independent branch of the UN, which goal is to promote peace and cultural diversity). We spent first two nights in Woking (about an hour away from London) with a local family Clair and Clemens, very progressive and environmentally conscious young couple, who we spent long hours talking and discussing various world issues. A couple of days later we took a train to London – the place I dreamed of visiting since my childhood.
Cycling Europe - Summer 2007
Anna's entry:
This trip is dedicated to my mom Galina who inspired me to follow my dreams. She passed away in her battle with breast cancer in 1999…
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Trip goals - to explore England, France, Holland, Belgium and Germany by bicycle. I am also hoping to reach Denmark to visit my friend from Seattle. Other goals - cultural exploration, art and history, nature appreciation, meeting new friends, personal growth and development, improving physical strength, self-reliance, and having a good time!
