One last morning and back home - A week in London - 9
Sun, Sept. 7, 2025 - One last morning and back home
Today is departure day and therefore the last opportunity to photograph the Millennium Bridge [↗] early in the morning when there are few people around. The alarm clock rings at 6 a.m. and this time even Freya gets up and crawls out of bed.
Today is also the London Marathon and we already see the first participants coming towards us. There is hardly anyone on the bridge, only a dog walker shows up. On the south side, with a view of the cathedral dome, we meet two other photographers, chat a little, and photograph the perspectives we explored on Tuesday.
We can't stay that long, so we walk back towards the hotel on the Southwark side. The first vegetable shops in Borough Market are already being set up, but apart from the runners, the city still seems to be asleep.
We quickly return to the hotel, where we shower, have breakfast, and pack our suitcases. At breakfast, we are hugged and bid farewell by the “usher” from the first few days. Somehow, he had taken a liking to us.
As already mentioned, the underground is on strike. At least in principle, but not really in practice. In addition to the Elizabeth Line, which is supposed to take us to the airport and is operated by a different company, several other lines are also running. We were advised to check the transport company's website [↗], which always lists which lines are operating from where to where.
The Circle Line, which was supposed to take us from Tower Hill, is one of the lines affected by the strike, so we walk the kilometer to Liverpool Street, just like we did on Thursday. There are worse things.
We arrive at the platform and one train is leaving in 6 minutes, another in 8. The first one is moderately full and we quickly find seats. The distances at Heathrow haven't gotten any shorter since we arrived, but at least we can already drop off our suitcases at a machine.
At Heathrow, the gates are only announced shortly before boarding. So we sit in the waiting area for a while and then decide to grab something to eat here after all. We end up in the pub on the first floor. The staff are super friendly and Jürgen even gets two large shot glasses with different ales to try 😉.
On the plane, we hear the almost obligatory announcement that the airspace is congested and we have to wait at least half an hour. Of course, that wasn't enough. On the other hand, our suitcases arrive in Munich quite quickly, and the transfer to our car and the drive home are no big deal. The only thing we miss out on is the lunar eclipse.
