Train

WEATHER:

7th July: about 22 °C, sunny

8th July: about 24 °C, sunny, feels quite warm

9th July: warm and sunny but a bit windy, too

10th July: warm, about 25, warm enough for sunbathing

11th July: still warm in the morning but rainy in the afternoon, feels muggy

12th July: still rainy, about 18 °C, feels cold

13th July: rain is on and off, about 17 °C (I really miss the warm...)

14th July: no rain, but still quite cold and cloudy

15th July: about 20 °C, getting warmer, still not a lot of sunshine

16th July: above 20 °C, sunny in the afternoon


As I have already mentioned before briefly, trains are working amazing. Coming from Hungary you can't even imagine how perfectly it works. The trains are never late and everything is as accurate as possible.

When you enter a station, you will be immediately faced with electronic screens. (smaller, bigger or giant ones depending on the size of the station) There you can see the trains which are the next (3-10) to leave. Not only the terminal point (last staion the train goes to) but all the other stations can be read. Of course you can see there what time the train leaves, whether it is on time and the platform number from where the train departs.

After you find your train, you go through the electronic gates with your ticket and look for your platform which is easy to find, again, following the signs. Of course, there are additional screens here and there (not only at the entrance) so you can always check the details of your train.

Inside the train:

Inside the train there are electronic screens again, which can be seen from every point of the train and shows the following information all the time:

"Welcome aboard this Southeastern service to London Waterloo East, calling at Pluckly, Staplehurst, Headcorn... (all of the stations are listed) and London Waterloo East."

When we are almost at the station, indicating that we are almost there, you should start packing if you want to take off:

"We will be shortly arriving at Pluckly."

All the information can be seen during the travelling and additionally a loudspeaker always say the new and current information. Interestingly, here they are very clear, understandable for foreigners, too.

Toilets are available at the stations and on the trains, too. They are always clean!

So all in all I have to say that travelling by train is one of the most comfortable things to do here, and you can just hope for the best that the Hungarian situation will change while you are still alive.

WINDSOR & ETON (updated)

On 8th July I visited the place I love the best so far in England: Windsor & Eton. The town and the castle, inside and outside, are just as beautiful as I remember, or maybe even more so.

It is a bit far away from where I live, so it was a long journey with a change in London. The rail ticket cost £24,50:

As you see the change station is not on the ticket. But, again, the system is so clever you can't even imagine. There are electronic corridor at each station, so you push the ticket in, the machine reads it, and lets you in to the platforms by opening the doors if your ticket allows you to go there. So although the change in London is not indicated on the ticket, the system knows you have to change in London. I also had to change stations in London, but they are very close to each other so I didn't have to use the underground. But if your travelling requires a change between stations where you have to use the underground it is also included in your rail ticket, the underground gate will open with your rail ticket. It's really clever and comfortable, isn't it?

So anyway, I left the house at 6:30 and arrived at Windsor at 9:35.

The centre of Windsor is quite small, tha castle is also close to the station, and fully packed with tourists:

Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world. It is the weekend residence of Queen Elizabeth II. The whole royal family loves the castle and spend lots of time here. The father of the current queen changed the royal family's surname to Windsor, because he laiked the place so much. All of the royal family learn to ride here, the Queen (91 years old) still rides every time when she is here. And the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla took place here. 

Ticket into the castle costs £18,70 (student concession), audio guide and guided walk included.

The weekend I visited the castle, the Queen wasn't there (she was is Scotland). It is indicated by the choice of the flag on the top of the tower. If it is the Union Jack, she is not there. And if it is a the royal flag, she is there:

William the Conqueror was the one who started building the castle in the end of the 11th century. Since then each king and queen added something to it, either beacuse they needed it or beacuse of the changing style and design.

The most famous part of the castle is the Round tower:

There are about 220 steps leading up to the top of the tower but it's open only in August.

From Monday to Saturday Changing of the Guard takes place inside the castle at 11 o'clock. The English simply ENJOY making you to queue, so from 9:35 I barely made it to the 11 o'clock Changing of the Guard. But I did and had my best experience so far in England. I just can't describe it with words how amazing it was.

It took place on the ground which you can see in the following picture:

The whole thing takes about half an hour but I made three short videos about the highlights. Unfortunately, they are too big, I can't upload them here. So you can either watch them on my Facebook page: or click on the following link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0Byv95615wkd7d0Q4M0pqRUtUUFk?usp=sharing

Of course there are beautiful gardens here, too:

Of course, those parts of the Castle which are occupied by the Queen during her staying are not open for the public. You can just take a look at them from the outside:

Her entrance:

The other parts of the castle is available for a visit, but again, taking photos is not allowed. If you are interested you can take a look at some of the pictures at the website. They look exactly the same in the reality as in the pictures. The two most famous attractions are Queen Mary's Doll House, with electricity and running water inside, amazing, and the other is the State Room, where state banquetts are held:

https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/windsorcastle/what-to-see-and-do/queen-marys-dolls-house

https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/windsorcastle/what-to-see-and-do/the-state-apartments

There is also a church inside the castle, called St George's Chapel. The parents and sister of Queen Elizabeth II are buried here and the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla took place here:

Of course, taking pictures inside is not allowed, but it is just again a church, nice but nothing extraordinary. The tombs of the former King and the Queen Mother are just a plain black stone with their names on top.

A photo with a guard couldn't been left out:

As you can see it in the name of the town: Windsor & Eton, Eton is connected to Windsor. It is the town where the very famous Eton College can be found. This is one of the best secondary/grammar school only for boys. The royal princes attend it and several Prime Ministers did, too.

There are occasions when guided tours are available inside the college. Unfornately, currently it isn't open for the public, so I could only take  a look at it from the outside:

The River Thames separates the two towns, so if you walk from the one to the other, you cross a bridge from where the view is wonderful:

When I was going back to the station, I ran into some kind of "festival". Actually, I have no idea how to call it. It was like the retired but energetic group of people of Windsor & Eton. I've made some videos, watch them if you want to laugh:

And finally the financial report: £45,60 altogether, so about 16 000 Ft.

Itt minden fordítva van!

WEATHER:

25th June: about 18 °C, cloudy

26th June: about 17 °C, very windy, cloudy, feels very cold

27th June: rainy in the aftrenoon, muggy, about 17 °C

28th June: about 19 °C, sometimes sunny

29th June: 18 °C, windy but sunny

30th June: 20 °C, sunny

1st July: 20-23 °C, sunny, sometimes windy

2nd July: 22 °C, cloudy with some sunny spells

3rd July: getting warmer, 24 °C, sunny

4th July: 23 °C, sunny and a bit windy

5th July: 25 °C, finally it feels like summer, of course, the English are suffering

6th July: rainy in the morning, sunny and muggy in the aftrenoon


Szóval, igen, itt minden fordítva van!

Azt mindenki tudja, hogy itt bal oldali közlekedés (1) van, ami azt jelenti, hogy a kormány (2) az autóban a jobb oldalon található. Ebből következően bal kézzel kell sebességet váltani (3). (A pedálok sorrendje ugyanaz, még jó)

A bal oldali közlekedésből sok egyéb tényező következik:
(4) Mielőtt az útestre lépünk, körülnézéskor először nem balra, hanem jobbra kell nézni, majd pedig balra. Ez Londonban az úttestre is van festve:

(5) Buszokra való felszállás: Nem elég tudni, hogy melyik irányba szeretne az ember utazni, hanem nagy valószínűséggel át kell menni a másik oldalra, hiszen a busz jobb oldali irányba úgy megy, mintha nekünk balra menne. :D

(6) A körforgalomban természetesen bal oldali irányú a haladás:

(7) Ez a kép már ismerős lehet:

(8) A lámpát természetesen lefelé kapcsoljuk fel, és felfelé le. :D

(9) Az ágyneműhuzatot befelé gomboljuk:

(10) És a kedvencem: Az ablakokat kifelé nyitjuk:

LONDON - Part 1 - The compulsory (updated)

Of course, if you live in England for a longer time period, especially not too far from London, it's quite obligatory for you to go there. Yes, that's what I've done on 1st July, but it was only my first tour to London, I plan to go there at laest two more times so I can cover really everything I want. My first tourincluded most of the "compulsory London" which you can do by walking. There are although places which I left out now because I'm going back there later to spend longer time (literally) inside them.

My train arrived at London Victoria Station, the journey took about 80 minutes and cost £15.30.

(There is a high speed train from Ashford to London available. It costs more but the journey takes only about half an hour. These trains use the rails which were originally constructed for the London-Paris  route. I could have travelled with it, but I thought my brain would not have been able to take in more than about 8 hours of London, so I decided to use the regular train.)

London has more than 10 rail stations, almost all of them extremely big. The picture below shows the electronic screens that show you when and where the next trains go. There are more than 10 platforms at the station. The station seems to be bigger than Liszt Ferenc Repülőtér in Budapest:

I began my tour with at the Westminster Abbey, which was the closest sights to the station. Unfortunately, it is not allowed to take photos inside the church, so here are some from the outside:

The ticket costs £17 (student concession), audieo guide included. To be honest I was a bit disappointed. I rememberedfrom five years ago that I liked the Canterbury Cathedral better, and this was confirmed again. Westminster Abbey is a big, dark and crowded place. Until some point the tomb of kings and queens and famous people (Newton, Darwin, Wordsworth...) are very interesting but after the hundreds of them they just look like the same.

After the Abbey, my walking tour began. First just wondering around in the neighbourhood, admiring the Houses of Parliament (visiting the inside comes later), the Big Ben and the London Eye (having a tour on it comes later).

Honestly, I remembered the Big Ben being bigger than this, but in reality it's not huge:

And the London Eye from the Westminster Bridge:

From there I went on foot to the Downing Street. Along the way I took a look at the two memorials of the World War II, again part of the compulsory London:

And then I arrived to the famous Downing Street 10, the house where the all-time Prime Minister lives. And as usual you cannot see anything except the place where you think the door is:

Then I went through the Horse Guard Parade:
(A part of the Trooping the Colour takes place here)

And, of course, took pictures with the guards:

Then I went to the Trafalgar Square, where Canada Day 2017 was currently held:

Of course, I tried to take a picture with Mr Nelson who is way to high to take a good photo of him and you on the same picture:

The National Gallery is located on the edge of Trafalgar Square. I always wanted to visit it, but my tourist guides so far always showed me the building and said we did not go there. So now I did!

The entry is free into the Gallery. There is map of the different rooms available at the front which costs £1. It is very practical because the most famous paintings that you might have seen are in there with the numbers of the rooms where they can be found. Of course, they are in the farthest points of the museum so you have to wander around practically the whole building, but it still is a great help. Being a student at the Faculty of Humanities I have come across most of the highlighted paintings, so it was an amazing experience for me to actually see them. Here are some of them:

If you have ever learnt some arts you should be able to indentify them.

From the National Gallery I wanted to go to the Picadilly Circus but a big demonstration against the government took place between Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus, so I decided not to join them. 

So I changed my plans and went to the St James Park, which leads the way to Buckingham Palace. I would describe it as the Margaret Island of London:

There is a small lake (rather a pond) inside the park:

And some beautiful flower gardens:

There is a stunning point in the park, which is a bridge above the pond. If you go there and take a look left you see the London Eye:

If you take a look left, there is the Buckingham Palace:

You can walk to the Palace through the Park but I chose to walk down the famous street leading to the Palace, where the Royals travel in their coaches (later in detail) during for example the Trooping the Colour:

Then comes the Queen Victoria Memorial in view:

And then, finally the Buckinghem Palace itself:

My memories got confirmed: The Palace itself is huge and the famous balcony is really small compared to pictures we see about it:

(In August, the palace is opened to the public, I'm going to visit it then although it costs a smaller fortune...)

After admiring the Palace I was hesitating whether it would worth visiting the so called Royal Mews. To be honest I didn't really know what to expect but it turned out to be one of the best visits in London that day. It cost £9.20 (student concession)

Wikipedia gives the perfect definition for the word mews:
"Mews is a primarily British term formerly describing a row of stables, usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above "

The speciality of the Royal Mews is that it is THE Royal Mews. The horses of Queen Elizabeth II live and are trained here:

And the coaches the Royals use on special occasions are "parked" here, and open for the visitors to see them:

The one the current Queen uses:

The one in which Princess Diana arrived to Westminster Abbey on her wedding day:

One of the many modern cars (high enough inside for the queen to stand up in the inside (!) and step out easily:

And finially the Coronation Coach. It is extremely huge, very old, very heavy (8 horses have to pull it and even then it goes only on walking speed), said to be very uncomfortable. Actually it is so big that when it is used (coronations and jubilees) the building where it is has to be pulled down (!) because it is too be big to be able to get out through the doors:

And why not trying out one? (Even if it's only a spare one...)

And the financial report to the end:

The whole trip (bus ticket to the station and back included) cost £44.90 which is about 15,700 Ft.

London is not finished by me, though...