Back in LONDON - finally In June 2010 I finally managed to return to London for a private stay after several years where I visited this city only for business reasons. On Saturday morning I headed with easyjet with a speed of 900 km/h in 12000 m altitude via Swiss and France towards London Gatwick. My good old friend Klaus Trummer had arrived in London some days before and met me in Liverpool Street station. From there we took the train to reach out to our hotel in Romford, some 25 km in the northeast of London. The hotel was cozy, quiet and affordable - something you very seldom can find in London. Saturday evening we met with Paul Higgins, a very likeable co-worker of mine, in a pub near Trafalgar Square. Paul's choice of the location was a very good one - I never thought that such a nice, cozy and low priced pub would exist in the heart of London. For dinner we visited a Belge restaurant with hundreds of sorts of beer and waitresses in monk costumes. Let’s discover London On Sunday we started our visiting tour. From Leicester Square we strolled towards Covent Garden, where many artists showed their performances. From there I proceeded to Trafalgar Square and via Whitehall to the Houses of Parliament. After having captured Big Ben on my pictures I had to stop taking pictures for the day - all my 3 photo batteries have been exhausted needed rechargement. On Monday the weather was very cloudy. I started my tour at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, walked along the bank of river Thames till Monument and the financial district. From there I continued to St. Pauls Cathedral and then over the Millennium bridge to Tate Modern where I spent some hours in this fascinating contemporary museum. Tuesday morning started with rain, so I took the opportunity to visit the Handel museum in Brook street. From there I strolled through Oxford and Regent street up to Piccadilly Circus. Due to the bad weather I did a shopping tour in HMV and added some new CDs to my collection. The day ended with nice glass of beer in an original pub in Romford. Wednesday was our traveling day to Paris. After breakfast we packed our bags and checked out of our hotel at noon. We went to St. Pancras station by train and tube, where we checked in to our Eurostar heading towards Paris. Security wise this station is like an airport with customs, security checks and luggage screening. The train departed on time at 16.02 and accelerated to its cruising speed of 290 km/h. Only under the Channel the train had to slow down to 150 km/h which meant a 20 minute journey under water. After 2:15 hrs we arrived on time at Gare du Nord in Paris.