Group photo of 57 bears
Finally started writing my London bear hunting travelogue, and now I have started a new job, and I am not expected to start a new trip for a long time, fortunately, the previous inventory is more. This trip to London was a no-go trip. First of all, a netizen on Weibo Ait me told me that London is doing paddington bear activities. Then it started with a fellow traveler who told me that it was worth it to go to the UK at this stage, and that it was worth exchanging points for a plane ticket, and that she also talked about listening to music in London. Later, I called Air China to verify that Beijing flew to London round-trip, equivalent to 90,000 kilometers of points, but if you calculate it according to one-way, winter is considered the off-season, and two one-way only need 50,000 kilometer points. Although this kind of point redemption rule is difficult to understand, it really saves air ticket money. My UK visa on hand expires soon. These factors combined, and I also walked back to Liang Chaowei in Handan to go to London to "feed the pigeons". Of course, this is also because I quit my job and am in a rest period, otherwise there is no time, everything is in vain.
Some people say that I like bears, but not exactly, because I often travel around, I always have to collect souvenirs, and teddy bears are very local and cute things, so I have accumulated a lot over the years. This trip to London is centered on Paddington bears. Paddington Bear is a famous British fairy tale image, is a clumsy and cute bear wearing a blue buttoned tweed coat, red rain boots, wearing a red felt hat, carrying a suitcase. On Christmas Eve 1956, writer Michael Bond bought a teddy bear for his wife at the Sailfridge Department Store on Oxford Street, which inspired him to start the series of stories, because the writer lived near Paddington Station at the time, and named the bear after him. In the fairy tale, the bear comes from "Darkest Peru", crosses the ocean to London, gets lost at Paddington Station, and is adopted by the Browns when the bear has a tag around his neck that reads "Please take care of this little bear, thank you". Thus began the series of stories. How about it, it sounds cute?
The event was led by the National Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse in the UK, NSPCC, one of the most important volunteer organisations in the field of child welfare, which specialises in helping and counselling children. Coinciding with the release of the paddington bear movie of the same name, a total of 52 (and later 6 more) paddington bear statues were placed in the city of London, each designed by celebrities to show specific themes. Events have also been held in some locations associated with Paddington Bears, such as Paddington Station, Sailfridge Department Store, London Museums and other places. The event runs from November 4 to December 31, and after the event, the statues will be auctioned off for child protection. I've been to London more than once and still haven't had enough fun, and I'm very fond of planning my trips, doing enough strategy and then going to the evidence, so I really like this type of "treasure hunt" activity. I think that the Chinese who flew across the ocean to find the bear was afraid that there was nothing else.
Because I was busy with various handover work before resigning, I didn't have much time to carefully prepare the strategy. In addition to knowing the basic information, there are several things that are essential. The first is the phone card, now the travel has been inseparable from the network, I use the network this time daily outside is mainly these several uses: map navigation, Chapaddington bear official website, with Weibo WeChat, record the walking distance, so be sure to buy a short-term package traffic card in advance, can be found on Taobao; the second is the London Underground map, download an APP on the line, most of the travel is by the subway, must be queried at any time; of course, I also printed the official Paddington bear distribution map, because the map is indicative, Therefore, it is not helpful to find bears directly, but you can mark the bears that have been found so as not to be confused.
Bear hunting map to carry with you
Of course, the general route is to be prepared first, there is not much time, if there is no plan to find bears, it is inevitable that it will be easy to miss. And at this time London has entered the winter, 4 p.m. the day has been completely dark, and most of the bears are outdoors, some are in museums, shops and other public places, but also involve business hours, so there is very little time that can be used in a day, and we must do the best efficiency. It's really an operations research problem. The distribution of these bears is not uniform, some are concentrated, some are scattered, and some need to consider a specific time to go. Therefore, the principle I set is to surround the central government on all sides, concentrate on key breakthroughs, and first difficult and then easy. Because time is limited, we must give priority to going to distant places, first sweep most of the scattered areas, more concentrated areas, and calculate the time to get it all at once during the day. Because I need to deliberately emphasize the order in which the bears are found and string together the various attractions in London, this series of travelogues will take the form of a running account. In fact, I originally wanted to write a more practical, clearly indicate the location of each bear, but unfortunately there was no time to write in the previous period, now the activity has ended, I want to see the bear, only through my article...
These bears are about 1 meter tall, which looks not small, but it is not so easy to find them. How can I find it the fastest? First of all, the British postal code system is very developed, 5-7 letters of zip code can be accurate to a house, these more than 50 bears, each with a corresponding zip code, so that most of the bears, through the zip code, can be found on the google map; secondly, for example, some bears in the mall or a larger area, such as Hyde Park, that only the zip code is not enough, you can see on the official website, whether there is an accurate address; the third is to ask for directions, these 57 bears, Only four were found only by asking for directions.
Paddington Bear ad for cinema, which is where the premiere was held
Bear advertisement on the red bus
Well, it was all a preface before, and now the journey is officially started. At 15:45 GMT on November 26th, I arrived at London Heathrow Airport on Air China Flight CA937. Sure enough, it was off-season, with less than half the passengers on the flight, and I could even sleep in a row of four chairs. During this time period, Air China arranged a relatively old Airbus A330-200 to fly, this old is only relative, after all, this aircraft is only more than 6 years, but many seats on the entertainment system remote control are broken, I changed several seats to find a can be used, obviously this is not often repaired, which is really very affecting the ride experience. It was already dark when I landed, and I couldn't bear to get tired from the journey, so I first went to find the first bear, because the bear was at the airport.
Heathrow Airport has a total of five terminals, Air China aircraft take off and land in June just remodeled Terminal 2, this terminal is also known as the Queen Terminal, because the predecessor of this terminal was opened in 1955 by Elizabeth II, and it was also the first terminal of Heathrow Airport. Cub, on the other hand, can only take the subway in the arrivals hall of Terminal 5. There are two ways to take the rail from Heathrow Airport to downtown London, one is a train, called Heathrow Express, which can be directly reached paddington train station in 15 minutes, but the fare is more expensive. The other is to take the Piccadilly line of the subway, but there are more stops, and it takes an hour to get to the city. Considering the special significance of Paddington Railway Station, of course choose the former, and you can buy a round-trip ticket, which is slightly cheaper, with a fare of 34 pounds. Getting from Terminal 2 to Terminal 5 is free of charge.
Entering the arrival hall, the first bear was quickly found. The bears are about 1.1 meters tall and stand on a platform, each with its own designer and sponsor. The bear, named "Chief Scout Bear", is a Scout Bear, designed by The British Scout Leader Bear Grylls, who is also a famous explorer and is famous for shooting the "Survival in the Wild" tv series. His name is Also Bear (Bear), so like paddington Bear, he is constantly embarking on new adventures. With a total of 446,000 Scouts in the UK, this is an international youth sociological movement. Provide physical, psychological and spiritual support to adolescents to develop sound citizens. The Paddington bear's sponsor is Heathrow Airport.
The first bear is located on the arrivals level of Heathrow Terminal 5
The bear is named ChiefScout Bear, number 48
Standing below was the bear I had brought with me—Paddington in his pajamas
Completing the first task, I was on Heathrow Express again. Note that European and American countries have a relatively high degree of trust in passengers, the best is Germany, the subway basically does not check tickets, train tickets. London's subway in and out of the gate to pass, the train station does not, but will inevitably check the ticket, must not overdraft their credit. The train soon arrived at Paddington train station, and when I got off the train, I saw a second bear, but I will not introduce it first, because there are many bears near Paddington, and I will focus on it next time. My chosen accommodation was in Shehperd's Bush, not far from Paddington, but it was tiring to make two more subway turns, dragging large boxes up and down the aisle. To transfer from the train to the subway into the city, you need to buy another subway ticket, according to my itinerary, it is best to buy a 7-day ticket for districts 1-2. London is also based on how far and far to the city centre, divided by circle, Heathrow Airport is in The Fifth Arrondissement, while the vast majority of attractions are in Zones 1-2, including the more distant Greenwich. And the 7-day ticket here doesn't have to start on Monday, any 7 days can be, just in line with my itinerary, can be fully utilized. Here, to buy Oyster Card, is the London bus card, the subway bus can do all, buy a 7-day ticket can exist in this card.
Paddington Train Station
The second bear, which will be described below
I've praised the London Underground in more than one article, it's so convenient to get around. I looked for 57 bears this time, and the farthest distance from the subway station was more than 1 kilometer. Therefore, it is very important to master the subway riding method, in addition to the above mentioned that you must carry the subway map, as long as you look at the direction and line. There must be signs marking the direction of the station on the road to the platform, and each subway line also has a different color. During the days of the rampage, I took the subway for the vast majority of times, with the exception of Metropolitan, East London, Hammersmith & City, Waterloo & City, and several other lines, getting on and off at over 30 stops. Although sometimes the transfer distance is quite long, you still need to go up and down, but London is after all the first city in Europe to build a subway, which is completely understandable. And there are ads everywhere in the London tube station, advertising that the subway is improving efficiency through continuous optimization. Limited by the early construction age, the London underground cars are small after all, but they are stronger than Paris, and the frequency of departures is relatively high, such as the central line, which is almost connected at the end, and the number of trains in the group is also very large. Many stations have their own character in terms of design and decoration. So it's a shame to come to London without experiencing the underground.
London Underground map
Murals of Hyde Park Corner Station
Leicester Square Station
Escalator at HOLBORN station
The long platform of Lancaster Gate Station
Lancaster Gate Station trains enter the station
The platform of Notting Hill Station is semi-underground
St.John's Wood站
A train stopping on the platform of St.John's Wood
Baker Street Station is close to the Sherlock Holmes Museum, so the tiles and frescoes are featured, which are the Hounds of Bucksville
Tiles with Sherlock Holmes head
Notting Hill Station
Toilets at Westminster Station
Monument Station
Bank Station Entrance
Advertising trains inside the station are about to be updated
Because of its close proximity to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, all platforms have associated murals
Charing Cross Station
Charing Cross Station Entrance
Paddington Bear movie commercial on the platform of Leicester Square Station
The location of accommodation is the Accor hotel chain IBIS, which I have stayed in for the second time, because the quality of the housing is uniform around the world, and it is completely comfortable and clean. And shehperd's Bush's shop is only 300 meters from the subway station, there are quite a few fast food restaurants nearby, very convenient, although not in the city center, but also can be reached quickly. I chose IBIS in Paris for the same reason. Of course, hotels in London are still too expensive, even such a business hotel, the nightly rate is still around 100-150 pounds, which is the biggest expense of my trip. Next to Shehperd's Bush subway station, there is a huge commercial center Westfield, where shops and restaurants are lined up, I went here to eat a bowl of Southeast Asian Lakesa, went to the supermarket to buy fruit, and took a good rest to officially start the bear hunt!
The pajama bear said goodnight to everyone