2015/10/16 – 2015/10/21
The trip was characterized by family&friend rendezvous-cum-arty&sporty
The multi-faceted city is charming enough to keep me roaming around for hours without dampening my enthusiasm, and comfortably bustling in a way that is not too haphazard.
The privilege of being able to chat with folks with national rugby uniform was another coincidental appeal of the city that I wouldn’t have in any other time.
However, 1) Splurge on one-off events, 2) JPY (very weak at the moment) conversion benchmark ingrained in my mind and 3) exorbitant general price level in London, have all made it imperative for my penny-pinching psyche to skimp on every other spending opportunities imaginable.
As for Cambridge, there wasn’t much too see other than the University as duly expected. However, since the university is immense in terms of its history and impact on the city, I could have enjoyed longer than a half day. The solemnity of architecture and history combined with snobbishness & courteousness of people seem to serve the integrated landscape of the city.
All in all, thanks to the one-off events that I would not get to encounter every so often; family&friend gathering, Rugby World Cup, Les Miserables and concert of Radwimps (my favorite Japanese band), this money hemorrhage trip has offered me way beyond what I had to pay.
10/16 (Fri):
20-minutes packing seems to have equipped me just right amount of stuff that I need, as with all other previous last-minute trip preparations.
After a 2-hour layover at Istanbul, the arrival at an unidentifiable airport (in England) made me realize how naive I was to assume that budget airlines are allowed to land on a periphery of a major airport (as opposed to an airport in the middle of nowhere). No offence to Stansted, though..
Despite the lack of prior research (which I usually do), spontaneous roam-around from Liverpool Street has given me a glimpse of bits and pieces of London.
Ending the first night with Les Miserables was categorically stunning, and it is by no means an overstatement. I would particularly recommend for those who are not keen in musical to watch the show .
Opting to walk for 40 mins to save the money, I disturbed the sleep of my brother-in-law (who is studying/interviewing in London), my sister, roommate and roommate’s wife by ringing the doorbell at 23:20 (which is moderately annoying, but the fact that it was a Friday night shall deserve some annoyance discount)
Stansted Airport – Liverpool Street St – Royal Exchange – Bank of England – Millennium Bridge – St. Paul’s Cathedral – “Temple” – Kings College London – Somerset House – Covent Garden – China Town – “Les Miserables” @ Queen’s Theatre – stay nearby Regents Park
10/17 (Sat):
Officially took a moment of reunion with my sister and her husband in the late morning. Though my sister lives in Barcelona at the moment, it was worthwhile to suggest this family rendezvous for this occasion. Ensuing the late morning catchup, we went out to London Business School in the vicinity till St John’s Wood where posh residences cluster and we had an English Breakfast as a brunch.
After a tube (or metro/subway/whatever transport with rails underneath that non-London people prefer to call) ride to Green Park, we had a slow cozy stroll, covering major tourist spots into the busier part of the city.
As per my strong request, we stopped by at a random pub to watch RWC: South Africa vs Wales. Deservingly, Wales seemed to have garnered a larger local support, but the cheering for SA was also present in the pub. In contrast to somewhat declining interests of my company, the match (South Africa vs Wales: 23 to 19) has multiplied my enthusiasm as well as the sense of regret for not being in the Twickenham Stadium (especially despite being in London).
Together with a friend of the husband, we had a lobster munching dinner near Royal Exchange, and that was superb too. After the dinner we moved to SOHO to join the birthday party of another friend of his. Despite my initial attempts for being a decent human being, it didn’t take long to re-confirm my social ineptness and abscond from the bar.
London Business School – St John’s Wood – Green Park – Hyde Park – Buckingham Palace – St James’s Park – Big Ben – 10 Downing Street – Trafalgar Square – Covent Garden – RWC watching @ The Coal Hole – Millennium Bridge – St. Paul’s Cathedral – Burger & Lobster near Royal Exchange – Bar @ SOHO
10/18 (Sun):
Due to some morning ruckus caused by a call from Doha, I wasn’t able to see off my sister who was leaving in the morning, but that’s fine. As our family’s diaspora living style is likely to continue for a foreseeable future, we do seem to take if for granted that we would re-group again, wherever it might be.
Even though the RWC match in the previous day has cemented my determination to go watch at Twickenham, the exorbitant price on the official site: 215 £ had been deterring me from making up the final mind, and made me constantly re-visit the website for every 5 minutes to see if the lower-priced tickets got available. My stinginess has finally paid off and I managed to secure a 150 £ ticket, saving by 65 £. However, later I found out that last-minute ticket sellers were abound near the Twickenham, desperately seeking to sell the tickets for 50£ (Granted, the seat might not offer the nicest view, but I shouldn’t have asked the price out of curiosity).
The high sentiment on the upcoming match was palpable at Richmond St, which is still approx. 2km away from the stadium. After watching the first half of Argentina vs Ireland at a Fanzone (public viewing space for RWC) in Richmond, I hopped on a free shuttle bus to Twickenham.
Despite being 1.5 hours before the match, the stream of people to the stadium was unceasing from Twickenham St.
Having undecided which team to root for, I asked to have my face painted with Japanese flag at a random booth that was giving a free face painting.
The seat of my last-minute purchased ticket barely allowed me a comfortable view (likewise, the people seated in my row seem to be all the last minute purchasers.), but I was just euphoric to be able to feel the rising sensation of the stadium right on the spot.
The initial 5 -10 minutes gave me the apprehensive hunch that the match would be dominated by Wallabies’ relentless forwards, but Scotland demonstrated the consistent defense, and managed to turn the tide, ending the first half with a few points lead against Australia.
Inspired by their tenacious play against the odds, I took a Scottish side by this time.
As with any other audience of the match (probably regardless of location and team to cheer for) , I was glued to the 2nd half with the mix of frenzied excitement and slight foreboding. Notwithstanding the final result (Australia vs Scotland: 35 to 34), the match had a series of climaxes and it was indeed valuable to feel the vibe at the stadium. Sincere kudos to Scotland and Australia.
Paddington – Richmond – RWC Fanzone @ Richmond – Twickenham Stadium – Gourmet Burger Kitchen @ Baker Street
10/19 (Mon):
Another day of touring around London, but this time by myself. It seems to have become my self-imposed duty to see as many touristy spots as possible during the stay.
Cultural facets and changing landscape of London kept me going, but I grew tired by the evening after the day-long wandering. The additional 2 hour long queuing and waiting for the concert didn’t make things better, to say the least, but as soon as the band appeared my exhaustion had totally vanished.
Though I wished to have witnessed the greater proportion of non-Asian audience representation (which would have been the proof that the band has a broader range of universal appeal), the live was a total blast.
Piccadilly Circus – National Gallery – Waterloo – London Eye – National Theatre – Borough Market – London Bridge – Monument (of Great Fire of London in 1666) – Tower of London – Tower Bridge – Angel (N1 Center)
10/20 (Tue):
After the morning dash to Baker Street, involving sister’s husband and inadvertently robbing 4.8 £ as a tube fare to Liverpool Street, I safely arrived Cambridge around the noon.
The city resides in a University, and because of the abundant history and implications of the university, the city is generous in exhibiting its solemnity and pomposity (as demonstrated in the open permission to let visitors into many colleges and facilities of the university).
Notwithstanding the noticeable lack of enthusiasm for reunion with me, my last mission of visiting a 2 decades-long (rounded up) friend of mine from elementary school has been accomplished.
Liverpool Street St – Stansted Airport – Cambridge – Polar Museum – Fitzwilliam Museum – Cambridge Rugby Football Club – King’s College – Clare College – Trinity College – St. James’s College – – Stansted Airport
10/21 (Wed) – 10/22 (Thu):
My longest layover spent at Sabiha Gokcen airport. Purchased “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell, and finished two-third of the book. It was that long, and I’m a quite slow reader.
Benchmark expenses:
1 GBP = 185 JPY = 5.6 QAR = 1.5 USD
4 clusters of bananas: 1.3 £ (the very first thing I purchased in England out of modest starvation and frugality)
National Express Bus (Stansted Airport – Liverpool St) : 8 £
Les Miserables @ Dress Circle: 97.5 £ (plus 10 £ as a booking fee. Box office tickets are cheaper, but with a limited availability.)
English breakfast @ posh cafe in St John’s Wood: 10 £
Lobster @ Burger & Lobster: 20 £
RWC Category B ticket: 150 £ at official site
RWC Category D (lowest) ticket: 50 £ at the last minute sale around the stadium (official price: 90 £)
Rent in 2LK apartment near Baker St: 2,000 £/Month (which necessitates room-sharing for young inhabitants)
Utility for such flat:200£/Month
Radwimps Concert (which could also be abbreviated as RWC): 35 £
National Express Bus (Liverpool St – Cambridge): 12 £ (which could be as low as 6 £)
Chicken Burger + Chips : 5 £
Train (Cambridge – Stansted): 12.7 £
“Blink”: 27.5 Turkish Lira (approx. 10 USD)
Fast food meal @ Sabiha Gokcen: 20 TL (approx. 7 USD)
武士がぶつかり合うラグビーの見応えといったら、シミュ
常人が入り込める精神世界ではなく、プレイヤーとしての
言ってしまえば、蚊帳の外から左団扇で羨望してるだけ。
そんなラグビーの根幹にはノーサイド (ホイッスルがなれば敵味方隔てなく皆兄妹) とアマチュアリズム (商業主義に走らない) があるのですが、(芋臭いオーストラリアとスコットラン