Saturday

This morning started with two bad news: First we had to face the fact that it was already the second last day we would spent together in London and the weather forcaster really predicted April weather. Snow in London? Inconceivable!
As the days before we met at 9 a.m. in the hotel lobby and started our trip to Neasden Temple. Because the Mandir has been located in Neasden, a suburb in north-west London, we expected a long travelling time. The bus tour was a little bit confusing and irritating: More than three times we were driven past one and the same building. Some of us couldn’t stop the feeling we would never reach the temple (or at least wouldn’t be there on time). To our amazement we were on time J But getting into the temple wasn’t as uncomplicated as counting the days with snow in London. By the way, we couldn’t see any snowflakes – it was just a little bit fresh outside.
A Mandir is a house of god and therefore it’s very sacred. Hence all visitors have been required to abide by some rules: First we had to leave our bags in a visitor’s room (except for our purses – these we would need to buy us some “special temple souvenirs”, e.g. “genuine ayurvedic herbal engery pastilles” ^^). Afterwards we had to remove our shoes before entering the Mandir. This procedure took 15 minutes... From then on we had enough time to experience what Hinduism and Hindu prayer means. More or less we even became part of a typical prayer: We sat in a row (boys and girls separated from each other – otherwise it would be possible to indecently assault the opposite sex...) and listened to loud Hindu music. After we were spared for a small donation we walked in a special way to the different murtis and had a look at them. Some of us couldn’t get anything out of this ceremony. At last we made use of the chance to ask a guide some questions. So we found out, that sitting next to god and to have a look at him without the need of food is the Hindu’s highest aim. For me this was a disappointing conclusion. The we left the temple behind us and went to a Hinduistic fast-food restaurant, were we tried out different meals (mh, very delicious as well as not again Mc Donalds...).
written by Anne-Sophie

After we had eaten something some of us wanted to go to an English football game. We were really excited, especially me. So we went by train to Knightsbridge. As we had arrived we just saw the first Sunderland fans. The more near we came the stadium the more excited I became. And then we saw the football arena, the atmosphere was breath-robbing. Although the stadium was much smaller as our Olympiastadion it was much louder. I was the happiest boy on earth because I was going to experience a traditional English football game, but I was disappointed. All the tickets were sold out so there was no way to get inside the stadium. Because of that we decided to watch the game inside a pub but we had to find out that this was also impossible. We learned that in England it is illegal to show pay-tv in public. I was really disappointed but some time later I was much happier because I had bought a new England leotard. Then it was already at the time to go back to the hotel because we all wanted to meet each other because it was our last evening in London and we wanted to spend it together. First we went to a Chinese restaurant to eat something the food tasted very well. After we had finished we gave Mr. Umbrella a little present to thank him that he had made this trip possible. We gave him a “Mind the Gap” t-shirt because had told us that he always wanted such a shirt. I think he was really touched. Afterwards we went to a pub and had a very nice last evening. Back in the hotel Mr. Umbrella went sleeping but we did not. We sat a few hours together. But I will not tell what happened because this is not intended for everyone ^.~
written by Säxmäx