Subject: England Update from Amsterdam     Part 1

Hi Mele

Well. it's a rainy Sunday morning in Amsterdam, so this is an ideal time to catch up on email. I'm waiting for the weather to clear so I can take a boat tour of the canals.      (Amsterdam continued on next cyber postcard #4)

Back to Merry 'ole England:  Wednesday night I told you about Stoke-on-Trent .  The $ recap was L30 for the room and breakfast, L36.50 for the return train ride to London Euston Station and L16 each way by cab from Stoke-on-Trent to the Tenement Farm B&B. This makes it a bit pricey ( 2 people traveling together and renting a car would probably find it more reasonable). The total bite:  L98.50, plus L5 for (Senior Citizen) admission to Alton Towers. This works out about $160.

As Stoke-on-trent was expensive, London was the opposite for me. I stayed in the Earl's Court Youth Hostel, which cost me L38.90 for 2 nights. One day travelpasses took care of most of my transportation -they're good on trains and buses.  

Thursday was spent recuperating, mostly. I just banged around the Earl's Court neighborhood. But on Friday, I took the Underground to Westminster, then got on a Thames river boat to Greenwich.  Greenwich is a very interesting place. There's a picture (no scanner here) of me with one foot in each hemisphere. The observatory is restored and open as a display about time and navigation.  The Maritime museum is full of exhibits from a short film about the Titanic, to Gipsy Moth IV, Sir Francis Chichester's boat, which sits in the lobby. There is an Egyptian Royal Barge here also. Lots of stuff about the sea and the future of the seas.

Friday night I did laundry at the Hostel and had some nice conversations with other hostelers. And Saturday took me to City Airport. A friendly "advisor" at the ticket window of the tube told me an easy way to get to LCY airport. It involved 1 train and a bus. Total cost less than L3, time about 1 hour.

The flight from LCY to Rotterdam was uneventful. We flew in VLM airlines Fokker 50 turboprop, which was about half empty. Even on this 50 minute flight, they served coffee and tea and sweet rolls. Time enough for seconds, with the plane this empty. This is a nice way to save money on breakfast!

                    Jim's Rotterdam to AMSTERDAM continues in NEXT POST