London! For the fifth time! I wasn't able to really realize it till I saw the wide streets, black taxis, red double deckers, and the other stuff. Unbelievable. I mean the thing how easy and cheap to travel between places today. Amazing! After I woke up from my illusion, I took my way to my host in South London, close to the South London Scout Centre, the place I knew from 2007.

Contrast on the Dog's Island: calm residental area with the world's busiest business centre in the background

On Tuesday I had a full day to explore the city. Thank God I could leave my backpack at my host, so I didn't have to carry it. I found myself at Bow road where I had lunch (actually I was just curious how a 24 pennies spaghetti tin taste, so I picnicked in a nice park to try it). Then I registered for 1 pound for 24 hour access to the cycle hire system and took a nice bike. I tried to get close to the Olympics village but all the roads were closed. :-( Anyway, I was happy riding my bicycle for free.

I got on the DLR and went for a short visit to Greenwich, and realized that they finished the reconstruction I saw in March. OK, Olympics started so it is normal they'd finished it. I went to the modern quartier, and went up to the floor 29 of 1 Canada Square in Canary Wharf. I didn't remember I can also go up to the 37th, so finally I went up there too. Wow! I got such a nice panorama towards the City and Westminster, and also the North Greenwich Arena. I... I couldn't have believed that. Wonderful. :-)

After it I took a bike and rode around the dog's Island, a place I like very much. Small traffic, calm streets, nice neighbourhood. I put off my bike near the foot tunnel, and took DLR back to London bridge. I saw many people sitting on the grass watching the Games on a huge screen.

To tell the truth I planned my stay low cost, so I didn't want to eat out, just sandwiches, etc. But I didn't really spend much on food o I decided to sit in a pub and have fish&chips with a pint of ale. I did it! It was great to have it in a traditional-looking pub next to the city hall. The TV was on and I could see the Hungarian swimmer Hosszú Katinka swim a nice time.

After it I went to a Tesco to buy some Cadbury chocolate for my friends at home. I did it but unfortunately the hot weather in Prague had bad effect on those. :-( I went to the outskirts for my backpack, came back to the BigBen by midnight, walked some streets as a goodbye for London, and took my bus to Luton airport.

There were plenty of people staying around so I found a nice place to put my overcoat down and lied on that. Well, it wasn't a hotel but I could sleep some hours - for free. :-)


Prague. At least. A city I was happy to arrive at. I nearly arrived home. This is Central Europe again, similar houses, similar history, similar prices. Now I can sit down to drink a beer and I needn't really worry about the price. :-)

Enjoying free wifi at the airport

I went immediately to the main square of the old town, but it was so hot there that I went to have lunch first to a self service restaurant.

In the evening I met my host. She was my second scout host on my way, so we found the common voice immediately. We started walking after 6 o'clock, and made a huge circle around the sights of Prague. We were laughing a lot, and discovered many similarities in us. We climbed up Vysehrad and had picnic supper.

Next day I walked around on my own. When I realized that there are only 2 tickets left for the evening bus I decided not to hitchhike, but buy the ticket for sure. My host was so kind that she came to the bus stop and took me a piece of cake. Mmmm. Thank you! :)