Phoenix City Fengming: GREAT Tour of Six European Countries

Phoenix City Fengming: GREAT Tour of Six European Countries Preface Traveling to Europe was a dream when I was in junior high school. At that time, I studied world geography and read a lot...

Phoenix City Feng Ming: GREAT Six European Countries Tour Foreword Traveling to Europe was a dream when I was in junior high school. At that time, I studied world geography, read many world literary classics, and developed a strong interest and yearning for Europe. Due to time and financial reasons, I never made the trip until I retired. Until I decided to go in July last year, my passport was sent to the travel company, and I found that the validity period of the passport was not enough, so I had to go to Los Angeles to apply for a new passport. After a trip to Los Angeles to apply for a new passport, my knee arthritis recurred, and I returned to China for treatment for a month. By the time the osteoarthritis had basically recovered, it was already past October, and the weather in Europe had turned colder, making it unsuitable for travel. At this time, several brothers and sisters in Christ discussed that they would travel to Europe together next year. Time flies by so fast. In the blink of an eye, it’s July this year. Sister Jiang sent everyone a message. The itinerary has been scheduled from October 5th to October 14th. It will be a ten-day tour of six countries in Western Europe. There are 10 of us traveling together. So we started paying the travel expenses, preparing travel items, and exchanging pounds and euros. The voltage in Europe is 220 V. We bought a power plug that converts 220 V to 110 V. Everything feels ready, and then something goes wrong. Among the 10 people, 3 of us are Chinese with green cards. The three of us have to go to the French Consulate in Los Angeles to apply for visas. Another series of things to do, including filling out visa documents, preparing various documents, booking air tickets, contacting friends in Los Angeles to pick us up at the airport, and taking us to the French consulate for visas. It was a long road, but we finally overcame all the difficulties. We held a meeting at Sister Jiang's house before departure to further confirm that the preparations were completed. We emphasized safety. Finally, we gathered at the airport on the morning of October 5th. After checking in our tickets and checking in our luggage, we happily walked to the boarding gate and boarded the plane from Dallas to London, England. We started our GREAT six-country European tour with great enthusiasm. London, England The Boeing 777 jet took us across the Atlantic Ocean, and we spent the night on the plane. When we arrived at Heathrow Airport in London, the capital of England, it was already 7:50pm in the morning. There was a long queue of 12 lines at the immigration gate, and we could only move forward slowly like a snail. Europeans always do things slowly and not in a hurry. After dragging my luggage and waiting for 45 minutes to exit customs, Paul Zhu, the tour guide of "Celebrity Holidays", was already waiting there. I learned from Director Zhu that there was another group of 34 people flying over from New York and Philadelphia, making our group a total of 44 people. I was shocked when I saw them. There was an old lady with white hair in a wheelchair and a bag hanging from her right hand. Director Zhu introduced that most of the 34 people who came from New York and Feicheng were elderly people. Some of them were over 80 years old and were retirees living in elderly apartments. Compared with them, we were younger. After everyone arrived and left the airport, a big bus with "Celebrity Holidays" was waiting there. After quickly loading their luggage into the car, people got on the big bus and began to tour the city. The first thing that catches your eye is that the urban architecture in London is completely different from the buildings in Asia and North America. Most of them have pointed roofs. London is a charming, vibrant and diversified city that blends the old and the new. It has a long history, numerous monuments, a strong cultural atmosphere, and red double-decker buses all over the streets. Tourists all enjoy it. First, drive to the small town of Windsor, located on the cliffs of the Thames River, and visit Windsor Castle, the residence of the British royal family. While waiting for the translation before going to Windsor Castle, I took a break from my busy schedule to visit the World War II Memorial Hall. Windsor Castle is in the town of Windsor and has 1141 rooms. We visited 28 different rooms. Windsor Castle was built in the early 11th century, and later successive generations of British kings added to it, making today's castle one of the most majestic and spectacular castles in the world. It is a granite building complex, with St. George's Cathedral on the front, a Gothic building with a towering spire high into the clouds, which is very spectacular. The castle is divided into three areas: upper, middle and lower. The middle and lower areas are the official state activity venues and private residences of the British royal family. The upper area houses the state apartments, which is famous for its collection of royal paintings and treasures. There is a beautiful royal garden in the backyard of the castle. The castle is surrounded by endless green grassland, with pastoral farmhouses in the distance, giving it a rural scenery. The Queen and her relatives spend weekends or short stays here. A fire in 1992 destroyed many rooms, but most of them have now been renovated. We were very lucky to see the grand ceremony of changing of the Royal Guards. After leaving the castle, we took a bus to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, and then arrived at the Guoman Hotel, a luxury hotel next to Tower Bridge, carefully arranged for us by the "Celebrity Holidays" company. After Director Zhu distributed the room keys, everyone who received the room keys put down their luggage and walked slowly to Tower Bridge to enjoy the charming night view. This once-prominent ancient capital is still full of vitality, opening a new and fresh page for our six-country European tour. Heartfelt thanks to God! Give me a healthy body and a community that helps each other, so that we can enjoy the blossoming flowers and the beautiful scenery of foreign countries created by God! (To be continued)