Crossing the Continent

Week 9

Northern England to London

As we make our way south from Newcastle to start the week, we walk through Sherwood Forest outside of Nottingham England where it is claimed that the legendary Robin Hood of the 1200s roamed the forest and hid from the Sheriff of Nottingham near the Major Oak, referred to as the 1000-year-old giant.

London, England

London is the smallest city in England. That’s right. The megacity that most of us know as London is actually called ‘Greater London’, whilst (that sounds very British) the City of London itself is a small portion of this sprawling metropolis. It has a population of only 9,123 people, making it the smallest in England.

Greater London is one of the most culturally metropolitan areas in the world, housing over 8 million residents, who collectively speak over 300 languages, including Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien and of course English.

St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London whose dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The Cathedral as we see it today version six, at least. Mark five was razed to the ground by the Great Fire of London in 1666, mark three was also destroyed by fire in 1087 and mark four fell to ruins under Henry VIII’s leadership. Sir Christopher Wren’s design, which was completed in 1708, survived 12 monarchs and two world wars.

Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have been in Westminster Abbey. There have been 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100 with the most recent being the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton which took place on 29 April 2011.

Other notable places we tour are Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the Tower of London.

The English Channel to Dunkirk, France

Heading south from London we make our way across the English Channel and grab a ferry to Dunkirk, France.

The Battle of Dunkirk was fought in Dunkirk, France, during the Second World War, between the Allies and Nazi Germany. As the Allies were losing the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation of some 338,000 British Expeditionary Force and other allied troops from France to England from May 26 to June 4, 1940.

Belgium

From Dunkirk we make our way into Belgium and come upon Bruges. Often called the Venice of the North, Bruges is also known as the lace capital of the world.

From Bruges, we pass through Antwerp, a major center of the diamond trade since the 15th century. Today, 84% of the world’s rough diamonds pass through Antwerp to be polished and shaped before hitting the stores. The Antwerp diamond heist, dubbed the "heist of the century", was by far the largest diamond heist and one of the largest robberies in history. In February 2003, Thieves stole loose diamonds, gold, silver and other types of jewelry valued at more than $100 million. Though arrests were made and time was served, most of the diamonds stolen remain unrecovered.

We make our way to Brussels, whose level of international presence is second only to New York. With around 120 international governmental organizations, 1,400 non-governmental organizations and 181 embassies employing 3,000 diplomats. Brussels is also home to the European headquarters of more than 2,000 multi-national organizations, plus the headquarters of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The Town Hall is the central edifice on the Grand Place. It was built in several stages between 1402 and 1455 and is also the square's only remaining medieval building. The Town Hall is asymmetrical, since the tower is not exactly in the middle of the building and the left part and the right part are not identical (although they seem at first sight). An old legend known to the people of Brussels tells that the architect who designed the building committed suicide by jumped from the top of the belfry in despair after realizing his "mistake". In fact, the two parts were not built together. That said, always measure twice and cut once.

Luxembourg

With an area of 2,586 square kilometres (998 sq mi), it is one of the smallest sovereign states in Europe. In 2019, Luxembourg had a population of 626,108, which makes it one of the least-populous countries in Europe. Luxembourg is the only Grand Duchy in the world which means they have a Grand-Duke and Grand-Duchess, instead of a King and Queen.

While small in physical size, Luxembourg has the world’s second-highest GDP per capita, just behind Qatar. It also boasts the highest minimum wage in Europe, and the second-highest in the world. Luxembourg has the highest rate of car ownership in the world, with an average of 647 car owners for every 1,000 inhabitants.

We try to grab at quick bite and beverage to end our day at restaurant Chiggeri but that proves difficult as the restaurant is home to the world’s longest wine list of over 1,746 labels which landed it a coveted spot in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2009. Decisions, decisions.

Basel, Switzerland

South from Luxembourg, we walk through Germany and end our week in Basel Switzerland which is divided into two parts by the Rhine RiverG. On the south and west bank of the Rhine is Grossbasel (Great Basel) with the city’s medieval old town. Across the river to the north and east is Kleinbasel (Little Basel) — a newer section of the city with an active nightlife. More decisions.

In addition to being Switzerland’s cultural center, Basel is home to the University of Basel, Switzerland’s oldest university dating from 1460

Basel is also home to professional tennis player Roger Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slam titles, was born in Basel in 1981, and developed his tennis skills in the city and its suburbs. Federer has won a record eight Wimbledon men's singles titles, six Australian Open titles, five US Open titles (all consecutive, a record), and one French Open title.

We covered 846 miles this week, almost twice the amount from last week, so the St. Barnabas spirit of encouragement seems to have worked. We continue to be on track to get to Bethlehem by Christmas. However, as we look south from Basel, we see some hills that look a bit talller than Mount Adams. Prudence would say we likely go this obstacle, so this coming week, we’ll likely hit places like Munich, Prague, Budapest and some unknown surprises. Let’s keep it up and encourage other members to join us!

Trekking our way across the United Kingdom, we covered 455 miles this past week. While this was less than half of what we covered last week, we continue to be on track to get to Bethlehem by Christmas. Nevertheless, as St. Barnabas is a community of encouragement, we encourage everybody out there to keep on walking. This week, we’ll be walking through London then crossing the English Channel into continental Europe. Let’s keep it up and encourage other members to join us!