This is a wordy, overly detailed diary like entry of a long-weekend trip for a wedding of an old school friend, made even easier by Monday being German reunification day which I (Matt) hadn’t even noticed. Due to bad planning and high costs/low seat-availability I took slower trains in various places. It's as much for my benefit to remember where I was as anyone elses.
On the way out an IC to Karlsruhe then regional trains (Karlsruhe-Appenweier, Appenweier-Strasbourg) to Strasbourg, then a TGV to Paris followed by Eurostar. Between Karlsruhe and Paris none of this was pleasant, and I bent my knee completely the wrong way trying to get into my cramped TGV seat which limited my mobility a tiny bit for the next 24hrs or so. It recovered fully after about a week. My kind friend who was putting me up on a blow-up mattress near Southwark Cathedral (very central) picked me up (what a service!) outside a rainy St Pancras.
We had time the next morning for a lovely breakfast with another friend. We’d arranged to meet at Picturehouse Central near Piccadilly Circus, which looked lovely, but due to some weird knock-on affect of a power cut, there was no breakfast/brunch. So we plodded on into Soho, and discovered L’ETO, which did a great breakfast. We were then just a short walk from Tottenham Court Road. We went through Soho Square Gardens (never been there as far as I can remember, there’s a funny small wooden-beamed house in the middle) and stopped off at Foyle’s book shop on Charing Cross road to pick up the latest Harry Potter we want to read and a couple of cards.
It was then time for us to go our separate ways, and I had a chance to try out the new Elizabeth Line to White Chapel and then go a few stops on the District/Hammersmith & City line to Mile End, where I needed to get to for the wedding reception. We had a great time. The food highlight was probably the toastie van outside late in the evening. Outside the venue (the Art Pavilion) there was a small pond with loads of swans who seemed to be feasting on the complete covering of algae or finding something just beneath. The chorus of them all slurping/nibbling (or whatever swans do when they eat and drink like that) was really odd. Late and the evening I took the simple route back with the Central and Bakerloo line to Lambeth North tube.
The next day (Sunday) there was a need for only a modest breakfast after all the eating the night before and the unknown lunch ahead in the afternoon. My host tracked down Terry’s, which he’d been wanting to visit. Good porridge (something I wish was available to buy in Germany) and we were surrounded with 1950s/Queen Elizabeth paraphernalia which was certainly entertaining. We managed to fit in a flying visit to the Imperial War Museum (will have to go back properly some time) and then a walk to Waterloo station via the well hidden London Graffiti Tunnel. We didn’t have a chance this time, but I’d love to check out Draughts London with a board games library next time I’m there with the rest of us.
A long underground walk took me to the Jubilee line to go round the south side of London (it was Marathon Sunday, so that seemed sensible) to Stratford and then 1 stop on the overground to Hackney Wick, where I was due at Barge East alongside the River Lee Navigation/Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for lunch and drinks. The sun came out and there was a lot more time to talk to the groom than the day before. Later in the afternoon it was time to move on and there was time to do some UK shopping in the Westfield centre on the way back. This was exhausting but successful all round. I then tried out for the first time the Javelin/South Eastern High Speed directly to St Pancras. 6 minute trip, quite impressive. Then with Thameslink to Blackfriars, beautiful view out along the Thames and longer than usual walk back to base camp. We went straight out again (in less fancy shoes, thank goodness) and had a wonderful evening taking in Honest Burgers near Waterloo (gluten free beer, and a gluten free, plant based burger… incredible), a long stop at Brew Dog Waterloo (it’s a bar, but somehow has a big slide, podcasting studios, a coffee shop, table tennis and a small bowling alley inside) which included a game of chess (I lost). The chess boards were being run by this group, the main guy stopped by to talk.
Somehow, although it was getting late, we were still not done. We strolled along, past IBM and Shell’s fancy offices, saw the core of a quantum computer (!?) and walked over the Thames and back right along Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and so on. I saw Lambeth Palace, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. Finally it was time to sleep, and soon time to get up again at about 4:30 (UK time) to get the first Eurostar to Brussels. Again I was kindly whisked there by car. On the way home, beyond Brussels, the route is cheap and complicated - slow trains to Aachen and then Cologne, and then ICs back down to Munich. At least it's nice scenery with castles and the river and so on. It was nice to get home again.
