HONG KONG - LONDON 03/03/2009

I arrived at Hong Kong at 6:30 and I had some time before I had to board once again. I took off at 8am and arrived at London at 1:30pm.

Welcome back to Europe. I came back to Poland on 7th March spending some time in England.

I miss Australia a lot. It was the trip of a lifetime. I had fantastic three weeks in Australia and it is amazing that in such a short time I was able to visit so many places. It is also great that everything happened as I planned so my itinerary worked so well. Fortunately no flights or trips were cancelled and step by step I could move on and experience this wonderful Down Under.

Some people may say that I am crazy to go so far away or to spend so much money. Well, it took me many years to save money for the trip, but if I only could I would do this again. I do not regret it. I love travelling, especially to the places which I am fascinated by.

I MISS YOU A U S T R A L I A

My Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22762999@N00/

All rights reserved - Copyright © Lagnese

Find me on Facebook @ Lagnese Photography on Facebook

Read More

LONDON - HONG KONG - MELBOURNE 10-11/02/2009

I flew from London via Hong Kong to Melbourne with the Australian airline Qantas. The service of Qantas was excellent. At least I enjoyed it a lot. We had a stop in Hong Kong which lasted maybe an hour or so and then we boarded again to our plane and flew to Melbourne. We landed at Melbourne at 9:40 p.m. on 11th February 2009 so the whole flight from London lasted about 22 hours.


It took me a while to collect my luggage, but as I had nothing to declare and I didn't carry any items that are forbidden while entering Australia I was allowed to leave the airport. Lucky me as there was such a long queue for those passengers who were carrying forbidden products like for example fresh fruit and everything they had in their suitcases was unpacked. I wouldn't like to go through it. Be careful when you go to Australia. Don't try to cheat and mark on a passanger card that you don't carry e.g. fruit of food if you do as you may be in a real trouble and definitely will get rid of some money to pay a fine.

When I left the airport I had to stand in a queue to take a taxi to get to my hostel in St Kilda. By the way all taxis in Melbourne are yellow. I was going through the city centre which looked amazing with its skyscrapers at night. It turned out that the airport in Melbourne is quite far away from the city centre, but at least I could see some downtown and not only.

I think that I should add that there was winter at that time in Poland and few days before my arrival at Melbourne the heat and bushfire in Australia was the main news in the media. So I was a bit scared of the heat and the hot weather, but when I left the airport the weather was just nice, light wind and maybe 25 degrees.

I stayed at X Base Backpackers hostel in St Kilda. Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend this place even though I stayed there twice during my trip. My room was OK, but service was rather poor. What was the worst was the fact that there were parties or discos every single night downstairs so if you wanted to have some sleep it was almost impossible there.

My Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22762999@N00/

All rights reserved - Copyright © Lagnese

Find me on Facebook @ Lagnese Photography on Facebook

Read More

E N G L A N D

I was in England during summer 2008 and I lived in Swindon for two months. I enjoyed my stay there, except the weather.

S W I N D O N, W I L T S H I R E
Swindon is an industrial town located in the south-east of England.
To be honest I had not heard about it until I went there. It has got a nice shopping centre and it is a very green town with many parks like Queens Park which you  can see below.


Apart from Queens Park, there is also a place known as Town Gardens and my favourite Coate Water with a lake and nice piers.

A V E B U R Y, W I L T S H I R E

Avebury

Avebury is not so far away from Swindon. It is a village where you can find the stone circles which are believed to be older than the ones at Stonehenge. I liked the place a lot as you can walk and relax there as there are not as many people as at Stonehenge.

S T O N E H E N G E, W I LT S H I R E
This famous place was a real disappointment to me. I expected something more from this place. There were so many people around this place and it was impossible to touch the stones. In comparison with Avebury, Stonehenge is a waste of time. I had much more fun at Avebury. Of course Stonehenge is more known than Avebury, which in my opinion deserves more attention. But on the other hand, maybe it's better for Avebury not to be as popular as Stonehenge.


O X F O R D
Oxford is really a nice and interesting city. It is surprising that a city full of universities can be a tourist attraction, but that's the way it is.

I went to Oxford by bus. The trip lasted over an hour. During my visit to Oxford I saw the Carafax Tower with a clock on one side of the tower. Then I went past the Christ Church College and the Merton College. There was such a fantastic green place where people were travelling on boats (almost like in Venice:)) on the river Cherwell and it is a perfect place for waking and jogging. Close to this place the Oxford Botanic Garden is located. It is not big, but is spruce with nice plants. There was a great weather on this day so I felt like staying in the Botanic Garden the whole day, but there was still so much to see.

Botanic Garden in Oxford

I climbed the tower of the St Mary the Virgin Church from which it is possible to see the whole panorama of the city.

Then I also went to the Radcliffe Square, the Bodleian Library, the Bridge of Sighs, the Sheldonian Theatre and the Museum of History and Science.

At the end I visited the Oxford University Museum which is a fantastic place and worth visiting. The museum is divided into four sections: geology, mineralogy, zoology and entomology. I am sure you will enjoy this place a lot.

L O N D O N
I wanted so much to see London, but after the visit to this city I have to say that I prefer Italian cities or Prague. During my visit to London I saw the most popular tourist attractions, but as I am not too much impressed by the city I will only concentrate on some of them.

I like Hyde Park, which is really big and green with such a beautiful avenue with tall trees. It's great that there are green places in such a big city. The Speaker's Corner is rather a legend right now. At least I was disappointed with this place.

Buckingham Palace

The Buckingham Palace is not as big as I thought it is and I didn't like those gold ornaments which remind me of Moscow architecture. It was the first place where there was a crowd of tourists - too many to enjoy the place. Unfortunately there are a lot of tourists in every place you visit, which after some time may be a bit tiring, but you have to get used to it.

Big Ben

The Houses of Parliament

I liked the City of Westminster, especially the Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament as well as the London Eye. I also enjoyed my visit to the Trafalgar Square which was full of people watching a live broadcast from the Olympic Games in Beijing. The Covent Garden Market with a nice atmosphere was another place which I liked.

I don't understand why the Piccadilly Circus is so popular. The noise of this place with people and cars all around made me feel like leaving the place as soon as possible.

The St Paul's Cathedral reminds me of the St Peter's Basilica and it's quite nice.

The Tower Bridge

The Tower Bridge is really spectacular and I liked this landmark the most in London. Besides the place with the City Hall has got a nice atmosphere and it was the best part of my visit to London.


B A T H, S O M E R S E T

Bath is a city in the south-west England which is famous for spa. It is absoloutely gorgeous city and it was the best part of my stay in England. I recommend visiting this beautiful and quiet city. I was wondering why I like Bath so much and I think that the only answer is that Bath is so much in the Italian style. In fact the Romans built baths and a temple in Bath so it is not so surprising that it reminds me of Italy.

Bath

Among the places which you should visit in Bath are: Parade Gardens, The Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and Royal Victoria Park.

It may be surprising, but you can find there a lot of sculptures of pigs.

My Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/22762999@N00/

All rights reserved - Copyright © Lagnese

Find me on Facebook @ Lagnese Photography on Facebook

Read More