July 30th-
We flew Cathay Pacific, via Hong Kong, to London. A long flight but the cabin attendants and ground staff were great. Arriving on a Sunday in London, we discovered that the underground trains weren't running. Special buses were taking passengers around the Piccadilly line stations. A little inconvenient, but the bus drivers were really helpful. In fact, everywhere we went in this two weeks trip, the bus drivers and train staff were fantastic. London underground staff, especially the guys wearing the pink vests, they were so patient, polite, incredibly helpful.
We had only one day in London. We wanted to see the Sambourne House, near Kensington High Street. It's a late 19th century town house which has been kept in perfect condition. Design, decoration, wallpaper, furniture, aesthetics: everything completely untouched since the 1880s. You can step back 150 years and imagine life in Victorian London for middle-class artists.
We also dropped by number 3 Savile Row, the site of The Beatles rooftop concert in 1969. But the front door was closed, locked… What a pity!
Next day we flew from Heathrow to Derry, Northern Ireland. We used the very wonderful Loganair airline; they are Scotland's national airline. We didn't want to use Ryanair, or Easyjet. Many passengers have negative comments about these two big airlines. If you visit Britain or Europe, Brisco recommends that you pay a little more, and choose Loganair.
In Donegal, Ireland, we spent 5 days at Steve's mother's house. Steve looked through his vinyl record collection from 35 years ago. Finding some great music, Steve decides to bring some records back to Sapporo in his suitcase. Oh No! Big mistake! That suitcase was about to get really heavy..
Part two: coming soon...