Monthly Archives: December 2001

Interlaken Part 2

NOTE: 
Pictures are not up yet.  Check back in a few days.  That’s also why the
entry is short, because I use the pictures to remember what I’ve done.

My dad and I started our adventure right after work on Friday and borded
the Eurostar, which provides a 3 hour train to London using the famous “Chunnel”
which connects England to France by a tunnel underneath the English Channel. 
We got into Waterloo station (where Napolean suffered his defeat from the
English.) and got a taxi to a nearby hotel.

We started off our next morning by getting on a “Hop on and hop off” bus
tour (which I am convinced is the best way to explore a city) which took
us around all of the major tourist areas of London for a reasonable price. 
We hurried up to see the “Changing of the Guards” at Buckingham Palace and
was able to get right up to the gate and prepped ourselves for some really
good pictures.  By the time 11:40 rolled around we got curious why with their
“Military precision” they hadn’t started.  We then saw the sign which said,
“The changing of the Guards will be Tomorrow at 11:30.”  Frustrated, we walked
back to the bus station and started back on our tour.  The rest of the day
was without much adventure, mostly due to the rain and the cold which bothered
us.  We did, however, take a rivership cruise on the Thames river and under
London and the Tower Bridge.  We finished it off by seeing Tower Bridge (which
is not London Bridge.  London Bridge is actually much smaller.) at night,
a beautiful sight to behold and going to eat at a Greek restaurant where
they didn’t serve wine, so we went to a store and got ourselves a bottle
to bring in.  Soon…sleep.

Note:  One of the Beetles, George Harrison died the day before.  This is important later.

For the next day, we made it back to Buck Palace because I wanted to see
the guards.  The streets were then packed like Mardi Gras and finally the
guards and the band came out to begin the cerimony.  The changing took quite
a long time and then the band organized themselves in a semi-circle and started
to play a Beetles melody as a tribute to the late Beetle.  I didn’t know
most of the song, but was able to recognize “Yellow Submarine” and “Hey Jude”. 
At the end, the band got a loud applause and dad said that he was glad that
we came.  Afterwards, we jumped back on the bus and saw the rest of the city. 
We then also saw Shakespear’s globe and the Tate Modern museum.

All in all, a good time was had by all.  Next weekend, Interlaken Switzerland again!