"GREATER LONDON, ENGLAND" Greater London by MarkJochim

In late May 2003, I journeyed to England for the first time - staying primarily in the London area but also making day-trips to Southampton (realizing a life-long desire to see the ocean liner "Queen Elizabeth 2", the QE2) and Dover (which included a ferry trip across the Channel to Calais).

The main reason for the trip was to attend the two Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band concerts at South London's Crystal Palace Stadium (two of the best shows on the entire tour). The area around Crystal Palace was very interesting historically in itself and I'll include some photos on this page.

In addition to a fair amount of sightseeing (and A LOT of time on the train), we also attended a special presentation by the Mount Everest Foundation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the peak's ascent. I plan to include a Travelogue of that unique event on my London page.

All in all, nine days was a woefully inadequate amount of time to spend in London. We packed as many sights as we could while actually in the city but still missed out on quite a few must-sees. I will definitely return; I won't include as many "scheduled" activities next time so I'll be free to do what I want whatever time I feel like.

• Pros:Full of history; GREAT public transportation
• Cons:Too much to see and do; VERY expensive
• In a nutshell:There's so much to see in London that I'll keep returning for a lifetime!!