The Mother Country (Mother City?)

Yup. A Whirlpool at Windsor - courtesy of an Eastern European lady. I didn't realise Whirlpool still existed.



These memorial benches are a great idea







London. What can you say? It must be one of the world’s most remarkable cites. A literal melting pot of people from all over the world and, in warm weather, it felt like it. There are just SO many people it boggled my mind. I’d not been there for eight years and last time, I was there in winter which I suspect means fewer tourists. Not so this time. I felt like I was living in a sea of people every time I went outside.

I know the theoretical city area is quite small but Greater London is massive. As you fly in, it seems to go on forever, and coming from Copenhagen – with a grand population of some one million souls – the contrast is marked.

Luckily for us, our friends live in a swank part of town and we had the choice of four spare bedrooms spread over five storeys. Direct from Copenhagen where the average abode is relatively small, we felt like we were staying in Buckingham Palace. Even more startling was the house was no different from the hundreds that surrounded it and it made me think just how much building must have been going on around the turn of the 20th century. And, how ‘Great’ Britain must have been and the wealth it must have drawn in from its vast Empire.

I’ve been to London quite a lot but I’ve never ventured into the East End. This time our hosts took us to an area called Brick Lane. Here, you could really feel the melange of different races and cultures all boiling away together. It was fascinating, as were the choices of foods from the street stalls and the cross section of people. It’s definitely worth a visit.

At the other extreme, one day we went to Windsor Castle. None of us had been there before but each of us was overwhelmed by the sheer size of the place and the grandeur of the state apartments. Seriously, I’ve seen no other palace – even Versailles – that you could compare it too. No amount of explanation would describe the enormity and detail of these rooms. You really have to see it. We all agreed it’s a place you could really go back to and look at just one or two rooms at a time. I couldn’t help but think it must have been fun for the four royal children growing up there. Hide and seek would be exciting, if a futile holiday game.

But, it was refreshing to get back to Copenhagen. Sure, it’s small but it’s so easy to navigate and taking the metro from the airport was effortless (although NQDII and I had one of our notorious airport altercations so we came home on separate metros!)

And here I am almost halfway through my two weeks of mandatory, yet unpaid sommerferie. I made a spur of the moment and perhaps imprudent decision last night (given the state of my bank account) and booked a few days away in Brussels from Sunday. I hadn’t planned to do anything but suddenly thought the week would go and I’d have done nothing, especially since NQDII will be back at work.

Brussels was the cheapest flight I could find. Considering it was voted Europe’s most boring city there might be good reason for this but as yet another Belgian government recently resigned, I am interested in taking a look at this Flemish-Walloon situation myself. It seems odd that such a tiny country has trouble holding itself together. Who knows? With my vast experience in smoothing relations, I might be able to fix the whole thing for them ☺