United Kingdom

For the next three posts, I would be writing about the travels with my dearie, divided according to the countries that we visited. The very first post would be of course, where we start from: United Kingdom, or to be more precise, Sheffield and London. The entire trip lasting for 17 days was slowly and painstakingly planned by both dearie and me, to make sure that everything goes as smoothly and as easily as possible. I am really glad that everything finally happened. Really very thankful.

28 June 2018, Sheffield, Sunny

It was a very happy day. I started my day in my room, while dearie is already on the plane travelling towards Manchester. I woke up and started to prepare the tonkotsu soup for my dearie so that she can have a nice bowl of ramen when she arrives in the house. I went to meet with Prof. Maria to bid a final farewell and did some work before returning to the house to check on the soup. Then, I rushed to the Sheffield train station to fetch her. She did not notice me at first, and I went to hug her. We hugged each other tightly as this was the reunion after the longest separation we ever had. We then went to take a bus back to my house. I finished up preparing for the meal and we had our home cooked lunch. I realize I stuck onto the tradition of feeding her Japanese food on our first meal when we reunite. After lunch, I brought her to Weston Park to see my favourite tree and hang out for a while. She took out her drone and we took some pictures.

Next, I brought her to my office and I worked for a little bit before I did my final packing and left the office. While we were on the ground floor, we met Maria by chance, so it was an excellent opportunity to show her my girlfriend. We then went home and prepared dinner together. I made baked cod and she helped me to make the salad. We finished our dinner and went up to rest. Dearie slept early since she was really tired. I spent the rest of my day planning for the rest of the trip.

29 June 2018, Sheffield > London, Sunny

We woke up quite early in the morning to have breakfast, and then pack up my room to leave the house. I had to throw away my bedsheet and quilt, which was quite sad. We took a bus, then train to London. We had lunch at McDonalds', then travelled by metro to our hostel, Palmers Lodge. After putting down our luggage, we began our London city exploration. We started with the Westminster area. The sun was really scorching, but we still went ahead. I took a nicer picture of Westminster Abbey. 

Next was Leadenhall Market, then Millennium bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral. We just took pictures and went to the next. I then brought her to the Tower Bridge area. We first checked out the Tower bridge in the day from afar, then went to Spoons (The Liberty Grounds) for dinner. I really wanted to introduce Spoons to her because I know she will like it. I tried to buy Strongbow Darkfruit for her, a standard British favourite, but they ran out. The bartender mixed his version for us, which was very similar to the original, just a lot sweeter. She really liked it a lot. After dinner, we spent the evening walking around the Tower Bridge area, taking many pictures just like other tourists. We then went back to rest for the night.

30 June 2018, London > Taplow > London > Paris, Sunny

We checked out early in the morning, but left our luggage behind while we tried to find our way to Taplow Court. The Great Western Railway service brought us to the Taplow train station, where we waited for a van to take us to Taplow Court. Dearie is very happy to visit SGI UK. I found the place to be very intriguing and beautiful. When we were there, a staff member showed us around the insides of Taplow Court. The insides are really very nicely decorated. We then walked around the outside garden, taking many beautiful pictures.

We visited the shop, where dearie bought a lot of souvenirs for her Soka friends. Time passed very quickly here and we needed to get back to London to catch our Eurostar train to Paris. We were sent back to Taplow, where we got a train back to London. We collected our luggage and went to St. Pancras train station. Fortunately, we managed to make it in time, but I did not have the chance to bring her to British Museum. We had Pret-A-Manger for dinner, and then stepped through two customs, which we think is the nearest we have ever seen. It was literally ten steps. The train finally departed for Paris. The Eurostar train was really fast, and the part where it travels underwater was so fast that I feel that I didn't really get to experience the whole ride. It was supposed to be the longest man-made underwater tunnel, but a speed train just whizzed through it like nothing. This marks the end of my exchange in the UK, but also more importantly, the end of my journey in the UK with my dearie, and the start of our trip in France.