London
Wednesday Kerry and I started our first trip back to Europe since our anniversary trip to Rome and Lake Gondolfo in 2018. Covid intervened and we put our return trip on hold until now. For various reasons, some the restraints of anti-Covid policies and some personal, we determined to travel to Vienna then east to Bregenz for our 34th anniversary, then moving on to Switzerland, France and finishing in the UK.
So, 3rd August we left Brisbane flying QANTAS to Perth then to London Heathrow – what a shitty flight – 5 hours to Perth – a couple of hours there then, 18 hours to London. EIGHTEEN hours is far too long in an economy seat. We overnighted at the Holiday Inn Express Heathrow as we planned to fly to Vienna the following day. We can recommend this hotel for an overnight stay and onward journey. We tried to achieve too much in London after such a long flight and had to take a rain check on dinner with my niece Louise. However, we were chuffed about how well our arrangements were going, how manageable the crowds were, how trouble free everything had been but all that was about to change.
Photos of terminal 4 from our hotel room shows how close we are to the airport and from inside the hotel gives you an idea of the size of it.
Photos
Whilst in London we travelled into London central and bought Kerry a new pair of runners at John Lewis Dept store and then caught the underground to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. There was a long walk from the station to the park which had been created for the 2012 Olympic Games. We had not been to these areas of London and we were quite impressed with the park.
My photos of the big slide, West Ham United FC home stadium, the Olympic Games Swimming stadium the river where river events were held during the London Olympics, the park walk to the slide tower and random pictures from the tower are below. No we did not slide down (you have to pre-book) and besides it frightened the living day lights out of me just to walk down the400 odd stairs on the outside of the tower.
Photos
After walking down the tower the impact of the flight hit us and we dragged ourselves back to the hotel as we had to catch our plane to Vienna early next morning.
glendon1954 