London Pass/
Carlos Pueblo
Before my
Europe trip, I have purchased two tickets. One is London Pass;
The other is
Eurail Pass for Spain. I thought that London Pass was a 10 days
Tube tickets
plus 5 visits of palaces and castles. Eurail pass did mail it to
Me quickly
while London Pass which I had to go to its London office to get
It. I am
confused why I must pay additional ticket to get a pass which is
covered by
that 10 days pass. After Heathrow, I carried all my belongings
and took the
subway to the Pass office nearby Charing Cross Station. After
some hours
waiting at the Trafalgar Square, I did have the Pass; however,
the pass was
only for visiting fee paid points not including the basic subway.
The manager
agreed to refund in three business days directly to my credit
card account.
I was not quite comfortable; therefore, I went back to double
check with her and she guaranteed me. Actually, British
transportation
authority sells discount passes directly to the customers and
there is no
need and no profit for the private company to sell such tickets.
Trafalgar Square is very close to the Pass store on Charing
Cross Street.
Next door neighbor is National Geography Museum. There are some
tourists
gathered in the square early in a rainy morning. This is a place
where the
the British honor their national hero, Admiral Horatio Nelson. When
I was a
boy, I studied on my textbook which indicated Nelson was not
retreated on
a snowstorm morning to his school. He joined the navy at 13
years old right
out of the grammar school
under the influence of his uncle, his mother’s
brother a British Captain. He lost his life during the battle of
Trafalgar against
French and Spanish fleet yet his fleet won the battle. His
statue is raised high
to the sky. I have passed the Square twice on my trip in London
and another
visit was at his museum, British Maritime Museum at Greenwich,
the old
naval academy and the palace of Queens Elizabeth I and Mary.
I also went on checking on London Chinatown a place where I
could get a
reasonable cost of food. I had a feeling that Chinatown was less
traffic than
4 years ago and it might
be the British were on vacation. I read the restaurant
menu and converted the British pounds to US dollars then decided
to have 2
meals a day instead of 3. I would have a breakfast at the hostel
and come back
to a Subway sandwich store for a one foot vegie sandwich as late
lunch and
early supper. Covent Garden is also nearby. I brought a
Taiwanese student to
visit the market and ran into the same musician who played
Sheng, a Chinese
mouth organ. I asked him if he was the same person 4 years ago,
he replied
that he had played at the market for 30 years.
