My vacation in London

[Saiyaman]

Well I've got a lot to tell you guys and a lot to show so here we go.

This picture was taken during our trip to Calais France but we didn't get there that easily, because when our bus was nearing Antwerp we suddenly got the call that we had to return to Eindhoven to pick up more passengers.

Which was just stupid, the rules stated that you had to be there on time or else the bus would leave without you. The Journey lasted twice as long because of that.

Well we eventually got to Calais but our return trip to Eindhoven and the insistence of the bus driver to go via Lille meant that it took us far longer, it was already late in the afternoon when we finally got there.

The Border at Calais was very strict, we had to unload everything.

Up the ramp and onto the ship.

Some impressions of the vessel.

Well thanks to our longer than it should have taken journey, I was kinda hungry when we got on board, so I decided to have some real English food: Bangers and Mash.

 

[Saiyaman]

The trip to Dover took around 90 minutes but when we got there we were greeted by a truly magnificent sight.

Well there's views in the world and then there's that one.

Customs at Dover were very easy; they just let us through, no passport control nothing. and so we drove to Stevenage where the hotel was. The bus driver was telling us that a big buffet was waiting for us when we got there but we had to pay 20 pounds in advance. Almost everybody decided to hit the town's center to find something cheaper to eat instead.

This picture shows my hotel room, there wasn't really much to do other than to watch the Glastonbury festival on TV. The next morning we got up at 7:30 to have breakfast, again I went very English and ate toast with scrambled Eggs and tea.

Then it was off to London. The very first sight I saw when we entered the city was this street which the late great Gerry Rafferty sang about, so I took a picture of that.

The first Bobby and the Sherlock Holmes museum.

Trafalgar Square. As the bus made it into the center of London I started to notice that there were a lot of stands being set up and that there were even more coaches arriving.

They were the first sign of the reason why I couldn't visit all of the sights I intended to see...

Piccadilly. More and more people started arriving and then I saw banners saying "London pride 2013" and Rainbow flags turning up everywhere...

But forget about the Gay Parade, I was heading for the kind of place where I could express myself as the guitar freak I am: Denmark street.

 

[Saiyaman]

Wunjo Bass center, which had what was by far the craziest bass I ever saw.

It took a triple take when I saw this one, I HAD to take a picture of it.

But it was near the end of the street where I encountered what turned out to be heaven on earth: Andy's. Four floors of pure bliss for somebody like me.

LOVE that crazy John Birch made "Stumpy" solid.

Heaven on earth. Eko, Gallanti, sixties Yamaha, Hayman, Shergold and even Dutch made Egmond guitars and basses.

Check out the Burns Marvin models, they are from the eighties before Burns London closed shop. Note also the Ovation breadwinner and Viper models.

Danelectro, Coral, Goya, Burns and Baldwin

Check out the Hofner colorama models, the VOX and Selmer amps, the Japanese oddities such as the Antoria at the far right and the green burst Aria pro 2, heck there's even a Soviet Made AK Admiral there.

But the real surprise at Andy's was in their basement: if their shop was heaven, their repair department in their basement was one step above: I couldn't believe all the necks, bodies and parts they had and for what prices they were being sold.

The Strat neck is from a 1996 Squier and the Rick neck is from a Hondo. When I found that one I went "Tell me you've got the body for that!"unfortunately that wasn't the case. But no big deal, I can always make it a body myself. The picture of me and the Queen shows me with both necks and the dust on my pants coming from having to navigate through that dirty basement.

Back at Piccadilly the police had closed off all the streets for the gay parade to commence. But that also meant that the rest of the center was completely clogged to the max. Well despite that and the traffic being a nightmare, the Bus driver insisted on going around the sights of London, which took us around two hours to do, I took this picture of the Parliament building from the bus as it VERY slowly made its way through the traffic.

Big Ben

HMS Belfast. She was part of the Imperial War museum but thanks to the clogged up traffic due to the gay parade, she was closed for visitors. I saw people walking around with "Some people are gay, get over it" slogans on their shirts. Well who am I to judge others but I still was bummed that I couldn't visit the Imperial war museum thanks to their parade.

It was, no pun intended, a drag.

 

[Saiyaman]

The last picture I took.

I actually was reminded of Maastricht when the Tower bridge came into view.

London was awesome, I can't wait to get back there but next time I will not go with a coach tour and I will stay longer, since one day was not nearly enough.

 

[Handley_Page]

It looks like you had a very pleasant trip.
And your chef was wrong.
Bangers 'n' Mash has to have mushy peas as well; and real gravy.