The underground subway system in London is known as "The Tube." It is the oldest subway system in the world. The first line opened in 1863. It is a marvel! It is clean, efficient and so much fun to use to get around London, especially if you are a people watcher like me. The picture above shows the easy to follow color coded tube map that I consult every time I venture out.
South Kensington Station is my home station. It is just a five minute walk from the Pepperdine House.
I love the way Bill Bryson in his book, Notes From A Small Island describes The Tube.
"There's something surreal about plunging into the bowels of the earth to catch a train. It's a little world of its own down there, with its own strange winds and weather systems, its own eerie noises and oily smells. Even when you've descended so far into the earth that you've lost your bearing utterly and wouldn't be in the least surprised to pass a troop of blackened miners coming off shift, there's always the rumble and tremble of a train passing somewhere on an unknown line even further below."
All that is true, but there are also the wonderful sounds of street musicians playing for spare change. The sounds of their instruments vibrating and reverberating off the tunnel walls makes me so happy.
If you like their music, they like your spare change.
Do you see the musician at the bottom of this long escalator at Piccadilly Circus tube stop?
Here comes the train.
Hop on the train but please remember to, "MIND THE GAP."
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