Dover to Greenwich
Have been asked several times what is it about the UK that I am attracted to? First and foremost is the history, particularly WWII history. Then, while having coffee this morning and thinking about rail travel, it hit me. A good bit of the architecture is frozen in time, almost ageless, the steel arches of the stations and the aged brick stations and archways. I find they are very grand in a nostalgic way.
We were up and made coffee in our room and were soon packed up and off towards the train station. We did make a stop for a coffee and bacon butty. After our breakfast we made our way to the Dover Priory Station and arrived nice and early. As we had purchased an off peak ticket, we could not take an earlier train.
Rail travel in the UK is really easy and can be very reasonable if one takes advantage of a few situations. First is to get a rail card if you plan on taking several journeys. They can be purchased online and downloaded to your phone. Next is to use the internet to find the reduced fares, there are several sites available. Simply google say Dover to London via rail and you will find several ticket sellers. I usually go with the Rail Service such as Southeastern Rail. The cheapest of these fares are usually for off peak times. These usually start after 10:00am and usually are not on High Speed Service. As I say usually, as this is 95% of the time, yet deals can be found on Peak and High Speed Service.
This rail journey was on a non high speed route so we made several stops along the way. We arrived at Victoria Station and made our way to the Ibis Greenwich. We had found a favorable rate which included breakfast. While Greenwich is somewhat out of the way, we can still access anywhere via the DLR and Underground.
Quick and easy check in and we learned the breakfast is a combination of both a Continental Buffett and hot breakfast to order.
We needed to do laundry so a quick load was done (with the scrubba) and we headed out to Greenwich to visit St Paul and St Peters Cathedral. My goal here was to photograph the memorial to the Franklin Polar Expedition.
Have been asked several times what is it about the UK that I am attracted to? First and foremost is the history, particularly WWII history. Then, while having coffee this morning and thinking about rail travel, it hit me. A good bit of the architecture is frozen in time, almost ageless, the steel arches of the stations and the aged brick stations and archways. I find they are very grand in a nostalgic way.
We were up and made coffee in our room and were soon packed up and off towards the train station. We did make a stop for a coffee and bacon butty. After our breakfast we made our way to the Dover Priory Station and arrived nice and early. As we had purchased an off peak ticket, we could not take an earlier train.
Rail travel in the UK is really easy and can be very reasonable if one takes advantage of a few situations. First is to get a rail card if you plan on taking several journeys. They can be purchased online and downloaded to your phone. Next is to use the internet to find the reduced fares, there are several sites available. Simply google say Dover to London via rail and you will find several ticket sellers. I usually go with the Rail Service such as Southeastern Rail. The cheapest of these fares are usually for off peak times. These usually start after 10:00am and usually are not on High Speed Service. As I say usually, as this is 95% of the time, yet deals can be found on Peak and High Speed Service.
This rail journey was on a non high speed route so we made several stops along the way. We arrived at Victoria Station and made our way to the Ibis Greenwich. We had found a favorable rate which included breakfast. While Greenwich is somewhat out of the way, we can still access anywhere via the DLR and Underground.
Quick and easy check in and we learned the breakfast is a combination of both a Continental Buffett and hot breakfast to order.
We needed to do laundry so a quick load was done (with the scrubba) and we headed out to Greenwich to visit St Paul and St Peters Cathedral. My goal here was to photograph the memorial to the Franklin Polar Expedition.
To the men of the Franklin Expedition. Interestingly I learned from one of the staff, Michael Palin's son was at one time a curator at the Cathedral .
If you have not been to Greenwich, do not miss the Cathedral as well as the Painted Hall, which has been called the Sistine Chapel of London.
From there, we walked back to the Greenwich Market, making a book store stop along the way. The Greenwich Market is decorated for Christmas but, to us, the booths seemed the same as before, still nice but we expected more seasonal offerings.
If you have not been to Greenwich, do not miss the Cathedral as well as the Painted Hall, which has been called the Sistine Chapel of London.
From there, we walked back to the Greenwich Market, making a book store stop along the way. The Greenwich Market is decorated for Christmas but, to us, the booths seemed the same as before, still nice but we expected more seasonal offerings.
We decided to try The Mitre, a local pub, for a drink and meal. It has a nice atmosphere and the fish and chips did not disappoint, not the quality of Blakes, but good.
From there we walked back to our hotel to plan the next few days activities.
No comments:
Post a Comment