One of the things I found fascinating about Brussels on our recent holiday was โ in contrast to Cardiff โ how theyโve gone out of their way to make life easy for pedestrians. Most striking was that there were zebra crossings. Lots and lots of zebra crossings. When I first spotted how many there were, ... [More]
My blog posts from our Britain and Belgium trip continue, but it wouldnโt be one of my holidays if I didnโt geek out on transport-related stuff. So hereโs a post on the vagaries of rail fares in Britainโฆ or at least, what you need to know as a tourist. Buying rail tickets at home in ... [More]
I wanted to reflect on something from our recent visit to Cardiff. Some of central Cardiff is pedestrianised, which is great. Many other areas have nice wide footpaths. It would be near-perfect for walkingโฆ if at most intersections the traffic lights werenโt designed to be so pedestrian hostile. Itโs as if the traffic engineers either ... [More]
Just back (yesterday) from a three week trip to the UK and Belgium. Hello Melbourne! I'm back. Did you miss me? You're looking good today! pic.twitter.com/U45oRMnrrv โ Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) July 24, 2017 Apart from seeing family, we visited Cardiff, Bath, Penzance, Brussels and London. In summary? Had a great time! As you can see, ... [More]
Backdated. Posted 7/11/2017 Weโd booked with Singapore Airlines, so unsurprisingly our stop-off back from Europe was in Singapore, where we landed at 6pm local time. Our connecting flight wouldnโt leave until 2am, so I decided to see if we could leave the airport for a few hours and have a quick look around the city. ... [More]
Backdated. Posted 29/10/2017. Before we headed back to Australia, one more day in London to exploreโฆ at least for most of us. Three of us were catching an evening flight, but M had to head back 12 hours earlier, departing on a morning flight. I walked her to the station and helped her (and her ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 21/10/2017) Our second last day in London. While the others had breakfast, I ducked out of the flat to try and find a post office, as Iโd neglected to give one of my relatives a souvineer from Australia, and thought it best to mail it while we were still in England. The nearest ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 1/10/2017) Our mission today was to get locked up in the Tower Of London. Oh, sorry, I mean to see the Tower Of London. We headed on the Tube to the Tower. Tickets booked in advance the night before meant we could bypass at least one of the queues, but it was still ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 29/9/2017) Good morning! It was garbage day in our street in Chiswick. As usual, you notice the little things that are different from home. In the London Borough of Hounslow, the garbos (whatโs the local term? Not sure) donโt have an arm on the truck that grabs the bins; they have to manually ... [More]
Backdated. Posted 21/9/2017 Time to head back to London for the last few days of our holiday. We packed up our stuff and left the Air BNB flat. A word about the flat. It had been chosen for its location (walking distance to Brussels Midi/Zuid station), which along with the price, which were its best ... [More]
(Backdated. Posted 18/9/2017) Monday! Our last full day in Brussels, and also a day when, generally, most museums in Belgium are closed. It was raining in the morning for the first time on the holiday, apart from some drizzle in Penzance. We got a little wet walking down to the Metro, and decided to use ... [More]
Backdated. Posted 15/9/2017. We headed back to our Brussels Zuid/Midi Station, wary again of infestations of pickpockets, but again seeing none. Seriously, I was doubting the numerous reports of this โ either theyโre invisible to me or they simply arenโt there since the military and police have moved in following recent terrorist attacks. I bought ... [More]