London 2 - 5

It's like this day trip is about

railway stations and statues.

It isn't.

But it was so very cold,

that we went in the underground

to go somewhere else,

and feel warm again. 

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Statue of the legendary London and North Eastern Railway

 Chief Mechanical Engineer 

Sir Nigel Gresley (1876-1941) 

inside King's Cross Station, 

made by Hael Reeves.

 The statue was unveiled on April 5th 2016 

on the 75th anniversary of Nigel's death

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And then there was a long row

of Harry Potter fans,

waiting for a few seconds

to take a photo

of this special place. 

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Yes, I was told to keep my hands on the railing.

And everybody heard. LOL! 

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And I sat there,

almost falling asleep,

and it started snowing.... 

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Leaving London was quite a problem.

First we were told our bus was cancelled

due to snow in England and France.

Then the cancellation was withdrawn,

but there would be no stop at Nice.

People could travel with us but they should get out

in Gent, Belgium and take the train back to Nice.

Then a woman wanted us to divert to Germany. LOL!

We updated her geography knowledge.

At the terminal three girls missed their bus.

As they were called so many times

it was their own mistake.

As a special the driver crossed the Tower Bridge.

He really did me a favor!

Then we had to deal

with a fake accident.

My son and I were happy we so often watch the BBC

and knew how those people work.

The guy soon drove off.

But not after claiming our bus had demolished his mirror.

Pity my son had seen the mirror was already gone before they

bumped against us. So he started to search the mirror...

Our driver had to go to The Netherlands,

as he had a trip to Switzerland the next day.

We were stopped at the tunnel.

'No trains anymore'.

After lots of talking,

threats to go with us to Dover and take the Ferry,

we were told to go through customs.

Never had so much fun with a customs officer!!

While the snow was coming down in bags...

we went on the train.

Our bus was the only one permitted to go.

In France we were welcomed by a lot of snow.

A part of the country was closed for busses and trucks.

But the nearer we got to our stop in Gent,

the less snow we found on the roads.

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Gent looked like christmas!!!

It was a strange idea that a friend was asleep

at the other side of the railway. 

As soon as we entered The Netherlands

The snow was gone.

When we arrived in The Hague

and said our goodbyes,

it started snowing there.....

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Sir Nigel Gresley designed the iconic Flying Scotsman and Mallard steam engines when he was working for the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) between 1923 and 1941. 

It was one of the four large companies that operated British railways from 1923 to 1948 when they were nationalised. The headquarters of the LNER could be found inside King’s Cross station. 

Flying Scotsman was the first locomotive to reach 100 mph. That was on November, 30, 1934.

The engine is named after ‘The Flying Scotsman’ route it carried passenger trains along, which runs along the East Coast Mainline from King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverly (from England’s capital to Scotland’s capital). 

The Mallard broke the world speed record on 3 July 1938 by reaching 126 mph. The blue steam engine was in service until 1963.