Author: Koen

I chose to spend this short weekend in London before returning home because it feels like a rare chance, something I may not get again for a long time. Many of Telkom’s engineers these days are sent for training in Germany with Siemens or in the US with AT&T and Lucent, so flying across the Channel to London feels almost like stealing a moment that might never come around twice.

I decided to make the most of the one full day I had, so I headed straight to Madame Tussaud’s and bought the bundled ticket. Then I just hopped onto the sightseeing bus included in the package, the kind with the open top that lets you feel every gust of London air. The route took me through the heart of the city, past Regent Street and Trafalgar Square, and eventually to the spot that truly anchored the day: the Houses of Parliament, glowing softly in the late-afternoon light as the Thames drifted by. I walked along the river for a while, letting the gothic towers fill my field of vision, then drifted back into the city as evening settled in. It has been a long day, but a good one.

Postscript: Of course, history proved me spectacularly wrong: the UK and Japan ended up becoming the two countries I have visited most often in my life, while Germany, i.e. ironically the “common” destination I assumed I would eventually reach, barely held me for a few days in total. Looking back, that earnest miscalculation makes the memory even sweeter.