Category Archives: Ashley’s travel丁好的旅行

Ashley's travel丁好的旅行

Log no. 2 london

Leave a comment

Today we went to many places, including the famous Wren Library, located in the Trinity College in Cambridge. Cambridge is a quiet town on the outside of London. We planned to get there by train from Kings Cross, London station. We got to the train station by metro/underground rail, from Shepard’s Bush Station. To catch the earlier trains, we woke up earlier than normal that day and headed to the metro. We first bought round trip tickets for me and my parents at Shepard’s Bush Station then headed down. While we waited for the train I noticed that it was much more humid in the London metro than the Metro in the DC area. When the metro finally arrived, I also noticed that inside was extremely humid and the ceiling was rounder than the much flatter ceiling in DC it was also surprisingly also very windy on the train. We started on Shepard’s Bush Station on the Central line (red line) the and stayed on the train until Holborn where we were going to switch to the Piccadilly line (dark blue line) but when we just got off the train, when were about to switch lines, the intercom came on and announced: “Due to a problem with the escalators transfers to the Piccadilly line are no longer available.” Then the speaker crackled two times and the intercom was off. This wasn’t such a big problem as there were many other options to get to Kings Cross, but since we weren’t very sure of much as we didn’t live in London, it was a pretty big problem. (for us) Luckily though, there was a supervisor of the metro who offered to help. We looked at many solutions but we decided on the easiest solution, to go back two stops and then switch to the Victoria line (light blue line) after we get on the train we would only need to wait to arrive at King’s Cross. So, we waited about three minutes before the train arrived. We then followed the plan and ended up in the right place; Kings Cross. After we got to the King’s Cross station, we went straight underground from the metro to the train station, which was only about a three-minute trip straight from the metro train. The train station was huge! It had shopping places, restaurants, and cafes, it felt like the airport! I feel like America needs high-speed trains. And by America, I mean like where I live, Virginia. We were running out of time so we quickly rushed to buy tickets (we didn’t beforehand) one children’s ticket and two adult tickets because my grandparents decided that it was a long trip to get there and so they decided to just relax at the Airbnb and see the Westfield mall.

After we got to the King’s Cross station, we went straight underground from the metro to the train station, which was only about a three-minute trip straight from the metro train. The train station was huge! It had shopping places, restaurants, and cafes, it felt like the airport! I feel like America needs high-speed trains. And by America, I mean like where I live, Virginia. We were running out of time so we quickly rushed to buy tickets (we didn’t beforehand) one children’s ticket and two adult tickets because my grandparents decided that it was a long trip to get there and so they decided to just relax at the Airbnb and see the Westfield mall. Only about five minutes later the platform number was on the electronic screen and we were on our way to the train. The train was very full already when we just got onto it. Some people even stood on the sides, but luckily we found some seats. They were pretty much like the ones on the airplane, but some even had three face to face seats with a full-size table in the middle, but all of them were already taken as they were considered the “best seats”. But mostly we enjoyed the view and ate snacks. After about what felt like only an hour, the speakers came on and announced: “We are now arriving at our first stop, Cambridge.”

It took a while to get out of the train station and get on the bus. We took the bus to get to the downtown area of Cambridge, which took only about five minutes on the bus we were riding called the “Citibus” which was one of the many bus company’s in Cambridge. After looking at some historic buildings out the window, we arrived at the street in front of the famous Cambridge universities.

We first visited the square in front of the universities to take a few pictures before going punting. If you don’t know what punting is, punting is basically a way of boating, like kayaking. But unlike kayaking, punting uses a stick rather than a paddle. In order to punt you must let the rod drop until it hits the floor of the river/body of water and then push away from yourself. This makes the boat move forward. Punting definitely is harder than it looks and it takes a lot of energy too. Right when we were just about to go to the visitor center, someone came up to us with a clipboard and asked us if we would like to go punting with their company, but we were supposed to first go to the visitor center so we declined the offer and first went to the visitor center and got a brochure about punting and went to the place on the map that the person at the visitor center circled. It was the second punting place. So we went around to the 2nd boating place to get on a boat. It took about five minutes to get there, but there wasn’t that many people there so we decided to head back to the 1st boating place. After heading back, we found the 1st person’s cousin who gave us the first offer and we headed to a store to buy some snacks and candy for the ride and went to the restrooms before boarding the boat. After a few minutes we came back to a crowd in front of the school and a guide. The guide explained that she would lead us to the boat. It took only a minute to get on the boat and then our trip began.

On the trip, we saw all the Universities including the all the bridges. We tore open snacks and ate them and took pictures. Most of the bridges required special fees to go on them besides one of the bridges which I think is the Cambridge bridge. We even saw the world’s second biggest chapel in the world! But after a while, we had to head back and we got a second chance at photos. Here are some of them:

(To be continued)

Then we hopped out of the boat and it was time to go to the Trinity college library aka the Wren library.

On our way we saw many graduation parties and ceremonies, there were ladies in dresses and men in suits and ties waiting in line to spectate the graduation. But when we were finally there I was amazed at the interior. The building had a giant field in the middle and contained many tall brown bricked buildings around it. I wasn’t sure if they were dorms or school teaching areas, but the buildings were extremely tall. When we were in line, we heard from the employee/teacher there that they even had the first volume of Winne the Pooh! I was really excited. After another bit of talking about the wren library, some people came out and we were handed laminated brochures and welcomed into the library. Even the stairs to the library were grand, they looked like light oak wood with a sophisticated design for the handle. The stairs were creaking but that was only because of the fact that the Wren library was completed in 1695! Then we came to the library doors.

The library wasn’t that huge, but it sure did contain a lot of books. In the back, they even had a huge stained glass portrait! There were many glass cases where we even saw some of Isaac Newton’s hair! If you don’t know Isaac Newton, He is the one who discovered gravity. There was always gravity but he basically came up with the concept. I saw a giant long painting that was almost six feet long! Then I finally found the first volume/edition of Winnie the Pooh! It wasn’t anything I imagined, it was a little chapter book with page numbers and everything a modern book has today. But I thought Winnie the Pooh would’ve been a picture book with bright colorful pictures, but back then it was a chapter book; a typical one a second or third grader might read today. After I read the two pages that were displayed I concluded that the characters were the same and pooh had the same personality, but it gave me more of a “This is more of a book series with occasional pictures”, rather than today’s “Oh, this is a little kid’s tv show”. It’s like Mickey mouse, it wasn’t meant to be like that, before it was comic, but now it is also a tv show for little children. We also saw an awesome sculpture of Aristotle. Here’s a quick biography of him for those who don’t know him: He was a famous Greek philosopher from a long time ago and he had the idea of the fact that everything went around the earth. But today we know that is not true.

But after about an hour it was time to leave. We went back to the square to find a place to eat and ended up at a pasta place. It was a long and fun day, but now it was time to leave for London. At the train station, we accidently boarded the wrong train and headed to a deserted train place here’s a picture:

(To be continued)

We got scared but then people started to come and we decided to board the next train to London. We were lucky it stopped and this time though we were on a slow train. We even confirmed with three different people five times to confirm that that train was headed for London.

It was a long and hectic day but we had fun! Here are some more random pictures of the trip:

(To be continued)

 

Ashley's travel丁好的旅行

Travel logs and guides {(unofficial guide) London 2017} 6.29.2017

Leave a comment

Log

Today, I went to the Observatory of Greenwich, London, and Saint Paul’s Cathedral. After waking up that day, me and my family (my mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa) went from our Airbnb apartment to the Westminster Pier in a taxi. The taxi was peculiar and different from the ones I usually see where I live in Virginia, US. The taxi was like no other, designed to hold up to five people (not including the driver). It produced that function by having 3 seats in the back like a normal car but with a 2-extra flip down seats that are face to face with the back 3 seats. In the taxi, I looked outside and noticed that many kids like me were wearing school uniforms we arrived at the pier, we bought a family ticket (via. The oyster card) the company we had was pretty good, and it was called the TRS and if you want to check it out, you can click on the link: http://www.thamesriverservices.co.uk/ (we did the one hour tour) During boarding, the guide came on and gave an introduction of the tour and about himself: “Welcome to the boat everyone, you may find a seat on the top of the boat or inside of the boat. I will be your guide today and we will start from the big ben tower after everyone gets seated. Then we will work our way to the tower bridge then we will stay a bit and then get to the Greenwich observatory. So, we waited for the boat to start moving forward. After everyone boarded we noticed that almost everyone had squeezed up on the top deck, so when we were on the bottom it felt like a private boat! It even had panorama windows to present the view better. In my opinion, it was better inside as it was warmer without the wind. In the front row seats where we sat, there was a ledge in front that you could use as a table. Which came in handy with the giant number of snacks we brought. Then after a few moments, the boat started moving. And the guide started talking about the big Ben tower. During the trip, I took many pictures of the scene, here are some of them:

(To be continued)

The trip felt relatively short and after a while, we were there. The Greenwich Observatory was in a silent little town up on a hill. From the boat, we walked up onto the dock and headed to the observatory visitor center which was not far from the dock. In the visitor center, we quickly went to the restrooms and located the observatory. We walked for a while into the town until we reached the gates where we went through and got to the little hill which was extremely steep. It was almost as if I were walking on a smooth wall. As we finally reached the top, I noticed that there was an amazing view from up on the hill. After we arrived, we took some time to take some photos and sit for a bit before going into the observatory/museum. The people under the hill looked like little dots from this high. Even the buildings looked like doll houses. But then it was time to head to the observatory itself. Inside the observatory, we got audio guides and headed in. In the observatory, we saw one of the first kinds of telescopes and I even got to see through it! Inside the telescope, I even saw Saturn! The telescope was supported by a ladder and was almost 5 feet tall! We also saw a globe and the audio guide explained how you could calculate time with the longitude and some other mathematics. After a while though, it was time to see the line! You may wonder what “the line” is. “The line” is obviously a line, but as the equator splits the northern and southern hemisphere, “the line”, also known as the prime meridian, splits the eastern and western hemisphere. So I decided to have one foot in the western hemisphere and another foot on the eastern hemisphere. So then I would be standing on both hemispheres at once. When you think of it that way though, the concept seems really mind-blowing to me! The line was a gold-colored glass feeling thick and bold line that seemed as if it was the centerpiece. After we were done with some pictures, many other people came too and soon after we left, the place became so busy there were multiple lines to take a picture with the line. After visiting the observatory, we put back the audio guides we bought from earlier and got on our way out. But on the way out, me and my dad insisted on a trip to the gift shop, where he bought some postcards and I bought a mini globe key chain.

We then went back down the hill, which was a bit scary, considering how steep it was and that I was running. My mom already found a restaurant and we headed to the place. It was a pretty tiny restaurant, but the food was delicious! We had mashed potatoes and pies and chicken. And of course, I wanted some Dessert. So we ordered two scoops of fresh ice cream. After a while, it arrived and me and my dad devoured it in minutes.

After leaving the restaurant, we called a taxi and headed to Saint Paul’s Cathedral. After arriving, my grandparents and my mom were too tired to go so they decided to stay in the Starbuck’s next door and me and my dad went through the line to get the ticket and headed in. We then got two audio guides and walked around admiring the beautiful glass art and paintings on the dome. We also saw some sculptures and even people who actually used the cathedral as its main purpose, to also just be a cathedral. Then I had a great idea after watching people on the top of the dome. I checked the audio guide and there was a way to get to the almost very top of the whole cathedral! But there were only stairs, but that was okay. We climbed about two hundred fifteen stairs to the “whispering exhibit” according to the audio guide if two people stand on opposite sides of the dome, and one whispers to the wall the other person should be able to hear that person through the wall because of the awesome dome architecture. After taking a few moments to look down and admire the dome in all, we took another about two hundred fifteen stairs to the stone exhibit which was on the outside of the cathedral outside of the dome. The view was amazing except for the long line and the bars that made it hard to take photos of the beautiful city. After waiting in the line for about ten minutes, it was our turn. This time the stairs were a bit more non-renovated due to the age of the building. Then unexpectedly, there were iron swirly stairs that made it easy to drop something down to the scary darkness. I clutched my phone nervously and we finally made it to the top. It took a bit longer to get up the stairs as many people wanted to get to the golden exhibit to see the best view of London (In my opinion)! The deck was tiny but we all managed to squeeze up to the deck and take photos. On the way down it was much easier as walking down the stairs was basically just sticking out your foot and let gravity do its thing. Then just alternate between feet, well at least I think of it that way. After getting down all the steps, we returned the audio guides and headed to Starbucks to use the restrooms and also to let my mom and grandparents know that we were done with the cathedral. After that, we called another taxi to get home. Now that was my log on the amazing visit to the Greenwich observatory and Saint Paul’s Cathedral!

Here are some photos of the view in Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Your not allowed to take pics of the inside but here’s the view):

(To be continued also)

 

Guide:

If you need to find a reliable taxi calling service, I suggest the app “GETT”, it’s free and available in the app store (don’t know about android or google play) But even without a taxi calling app, there are many many taxies on the streets of London.

If you ever need to know the subway there, try tube map! It isn’t just a map, it can also tell you the easiest way to get from one place to another. (also free on app store) also, I don’t know about the android stuff. This is also available in other cities too.

If your thinking of a light and easy breakfast, you can see “PRET A MANGER” which is almost everywhere over London. This is their website: https://www.pret.com   They also have many vegetarian options and serve lunch as well as dinner. (It’s the shop with the star logo) It’s like the London Starbucks!

Try these tips for an easy and manageable vacation/trip!

Ashley's travel丁好的旅行

My San Francisco trip 2 Stanford and half moon bay

Leave a comment

Sunlight filled the room as I woke up. I wasn’t used to this bright daylight;I was born in Virginia where hot sunny days were not everyday. I looked around,my mom and dad were up early.”Where are we going today?” I said excitedly.”WelI I was planning for us to go to half moon bay but, I need to ask your dad if we could borrow the car.”my momanswered hopeful.after about 15 mins.we were ready to go. My dad had agreed to carpool with a friend to work but,me and my mom decided to leave quickly before he could change his mind. On the way there, we decided to first,go to Stanford next, to half moon bay and last back to the hotel. I felt really helpful on the way there cause ,my mom let me help her with directions on her iPhone.On the way we saw natural wonders.(ponds,lakes rivers , mountains etc.)The roads were hilly and bumpy so it was a wonder that our tiny rent car actually made it to Stanford and half moon bay After what felt like hours we finally got to Stanford.Now that it was morning to noon hours, it was extra hot cause think of it,California (a hot place)+morning to noon hours(a pretty hot time of the day)=oven hot!!!Well,I couldn’t complain cause a. my mom brought sunscreen ,and b. we had to be quiet for it to be possible to hear the tour guide.(There was like a million people there.)”follow me and blah blah blah .”(He didn’t actually say that I just didn’t hear the rest.)I was to busy taking it all in ;after all Stanford was 96Disney lands big!My goodness was Stanford big in size!Next he showed us the Hoover towerI saw the whole285feet of it!(It was named after the 31stpresident named Herbert Hoover and he graduated from Stanford so Stanford built the tower to honor him.)The tourist said that if you graduate from Stanford and is/was  President , then you would have a tower next to the Hoover tower.it was noon and it was hot and I was very very hungry.so we found a café and sat down to eat my donut my mom brought me,while my mom sat across from me eating a bagel. after we were done eating we try to get into the Hoover Tower.But the Hoover tower was really far away.but but it was behind the library so we crossed into the library and asked the person that worked in the library for directions to the Hoover Tower she said to go around the library and go behind it to find the Hoover tower.It took a long time but we finally found it.let me walk in we were greeted by a person behind the desk.He said to buy a ticket to come in.So we got the tickets and walked back to the tower.”wooooooooooooow!”I said amazed by the view. From there I could see the whole of Stanford !!!it was amazing ,but we stilllllll needed to go to half moon bay.what thought half moon bay was a beach with a little view.But when I got there it was amazing!!!(I mean the view)it was a place with a huge hotel and a cliff that looked like a claw sticking out of the soft sand  on the beach.We finished lunch and my mom was kind enough to buy me a s’more kit to make s’mores !Itwas fun roasting but it was time to go. After a quick trip to the restroom,we went back home .Today  was fun but it was hotel time.