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Well this was the first real traveler day. We landed at London Heathrow from Qatar at 1:15pm. Crawled through the customs lines and collected our bags which had been scanned underground. Then with little delay we made our way down to the Piccadilly Line on the Tube to catch the train into Earl's Court station.
The tube looked like St James station in Sydney. It has the same yellow tiled walls and dirty cement pillars holding it all up. Bit of a let down for the first experience of the London tube for Chris. But as we left Terminal 4 and started into London, the English experience rapidly increased. I love England. The early spring with blossoms on some trees and other still denuded of leaves as they have been all winter. Being able to see all the abandon nests clumped in the upper branches. Chris noted how green everything is. All the rain this country gets will do that. The western outskirts of London is a sea of semi detached duel houses. All made of cement render and covered with a kind of pebble finish. Brown brick box like apartments that ring true of England's communist past under the guiding eye of Margaret Thatcher.
As we come closer in on the train the tube goes further underground until we reach Barons Courts (no apostrophe) followed by Earl's Court (grammar Nazi). Off the platform via a automatic lift, no buttons as the only way is up. Out onto a cold west London street with all the tall houses of red brick with white painted window and door frames each with bay windows and dormer windows in the high pitched attic roofs. Hiding away are thousands of middle aged men with model railways in their loft conversions.
The Earl's Court YHA was a 5 min walk down the high street then into Bolton Gardens. Quick and easy check in and slog up to the third floor to a poky room with a double bunk and lime green sheets and doonas. We have a small sink but share the toilet on the landing and the shower room next door. Nothing has changed since the swinging days of the 1960s when The Seekers came here followed by hoards of Aussies which gave this part of London it's nickname, "Kangaroo Valley".
We dumped our bags and headed out to see as much of London as we could before our dinner date with Adele.
Written by Rod
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