When I saw "GIO GLOBE TROTTER"^*, I found out that there was a spot which they called, "Little Venice" near Bayswater. It was named after Venice in Italy because the scenery of the bridge reminds us of "the Bridge of Sighs" in Venice. The photo in the guidebook was really beautiful.
I'd been to London more than ten times, but I'd never visited. "Ah, I want to go there." Thus, I had added one more to my list of my ambitions related to England.
On my thirteenth trip, my friend and I stayed at Mr. and Mrs, Meves's house. My friend, Tsukasa, used to stay at their house while studying for about a year. However, on our last night, we planed to stay at a hotel near Bayswater as my English teacher and Osuo, one of my HP visitors had recomended to me. "We'll stay at Bayswater, so we shouldn't miss the chance." I decided to visit there.

^* "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" is a series of Japanese books which talks about travelling in each country all over the wolrd. There is a lot of valuable information which is written by many of it's readers.

Unfortunately, that day, Queensway station which was near our hotel was closed, because it was a Sunday! So we had to walk quite a long way from Lancaster Gate station, the next station, carrying heavy cases in both hands. Thus, I was really exhausted when we arrived at our hotel. It was already 12:30. After we checked in the hotel, Tsukasa and I had lunch at a near cafe. Then, we went to Little Venice. It was already one thirty.
Because I hadn't read "GIO GLOBE TROTTER" thoroughly, I thought that it was very near from Basywater, but actually, it was further than I had expected^＊*. At first, we walked from Bayswater in the direction of Paddington. Around Paddington, we hit a busy road. I think that the road was used by cars. There were pavements, but we saw only a few people although it was afternoon, not night. I was relieved because I was with Tsukasa.
Watching the traffic, we crossed the road. After that, we walked a little and we came to a river. "Is this the River Thames?", we thought. Actually, it was the Grand Union Canal.
We thought that Little Venice was close.
Our pace gradually increased.

** Warwick Avenue station on Bakerloo Line is the nearest station to Little Venice. I like walking, so I thought that I could walk such a distance. However, not so many people walked along the road. It seemed to be a little dangerous. Therefore, I think that you should walk from Warwick Avenue.

On the canal, we saw some barges. Tthese are not the usual type of barges--they are a little special as the owners live there all year round. Maybe the barges don't move so often. From one of the barges, a dog suddenly junmped and ran towards me. He had an appealing smile, so he was quite pretty. Suddenly, I wanted to take his picture. However, the moment I was pressing the shutter of my camera looking down at him, his owner called his name and said, "Come back!", so he rushed back to the barge. Ah, I should have press the shutter more quickly.
That day, the weather was very fine. There was not a cloud in the sky. It was confortable to walk along side the canal under the sunshine.
Talking of my impression of Little Venice, actually, the water was dirty in the canal when we saw it close up. I was a little disappointed, "Is this Little Venice?" However, the photos are beautiful. Seeing the scenery of the canal in the photos, the colour was a beautiful blue. I almost sigh.
After we came back to Japan, we realised that we hadn't actually taken any photos of the bridge!

A little garden near the canal.
When we were taking pictures of each other, a kind man said to us, "Shall I take your picture togethre?"
Yeah--, again, I thought that there were many gentlemen in England.

(2004.4.3)

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Trip to England

I really love London!