London!

We arrived in London on July 20th.  This was our first trip to England (other than stops at Heathrow to change planes), and we were both really looking forward to it.  The weather was chilly and wet - very similar to the weather back home in Kirkland. 


We caught a cab at the St. Pancras train station and headed off to pick up the keys to the apartment we would be renting for our short stay.  While David was checking in at the office and getting our keys, Anna had a chance to chat with theTaxi driver.  Maybe "quizzed" is a better choice of words than "chat."  She found that our driver had been driving a cab in London for over 20 years.  And, yes, there is an arduous and lengthy path to actually getting a license to drive a cab in London.  (LOTS of study and memorization of locations, routes, etc.  and plenty of written and oral exams.  The process actually takes years to complete.) 


Then it was off to our apartment.  We settled in and went out to explore our neighborhood.  We immediately noticed two things that seemed a bit odd:  everyone drove on the wrong side of the street (yes, we knew about this, but it's a bit disconcerting anyway) and all the signs were in English - imagine that!  It took a bit of adjusting after living in France for a year.



Main entrance to the British Museum.

 Our apartment was in a great location - just a stone’s throw from London City University and the British Museum, We spent a good deal of time in the British Museum and, yet, have much more we want to see. (They threw us out so they could close for the day.) What an amazing place! We both agreed that Ira Gershwin got it wrong (in "A Foggy Day in London Town"); we can't imagine the British Museum losing its charm!


We found a place called the College Arms not  too far away and got a light dinner.  Although we didn't really expect people to dress as fashionably as they do in France, we did notice some of the women in the place looked like they had raided their grandmother's closet.  We noticed a man in an RAF uniform, and David commented on how much the uniform looked like a WWII uniform.  Surely, they must have updated their uniforms in the last 65 years!  Then we found that the reason it looked like a WWII uniform was because it WAS a WWII uniform!  Later, we saw lots of people on the street in costume – mostly WWII vintage.  All this was for a private party at a local park - complete  with vintage recordings, a dance floor, food booths, and people in costume.  We never found out whose party or what it was about – but  it was definitely impressive.

Here's one of the plaques.



We continued walking around neighborhood and reading the historic plaques on several of the Row Houses in the area.  Lots of interesting history here!  We browsed a sidewalk display at a used book store in the neighborhood and David found A Shorter Boswell for just 1£.  The book was published May 1925 and last reprinted October 1932.   Anna is a great Dr Johnson fan (more on that later) was especially pleased with David's purchase.  (Any of you who had read Boswell’s Life of Dr. Samuel Johnson will appreciate the fact that this book has only 195 extracts from the original book and is only 256 pages long.)  A great find!!!!!

More on our London visit to come...







Leaving Lyon



Lunch with Dominique & Roger in Lyon

We had a last, lovely lunch with Dominique and Roger the day before we left Lyon.  They are always good company and the food was excellent, but we were all very much aware that it would be the last meal we shared for some time to come.  They insisted on giving us a good send off the next morning by going with us to the train station so we would see them one more time before we left which made our departure more pleasant.

Our TGV train left Saturday, July 16^th, at 10:00 AM, from the Part Dieu station, a short walk away from our apartment, and Dominique and Roger arrived at the apartment promptly at 8:15, loaded our luggage in their car and met us at Part Dieu.  (We wanted to take one last walk from our apartment to Part Dieu before we left.)  After cups of coffee and emotional farewells, we were on our way.

Our travel arrangements from Lyon to London were TGV (fast train) from Gare Part Dieu in Lyon to Gare Lyon in Paris, then from Gare Lyon via local RER train to Gare de Nord still in Paris, and from Gare de Nord by Eurail through the Chunnel to London. 

The TGV is really a wonderful way to travel!  A mere two hours from Lyon to Paris in comfortable, reserved seats and, oddly, no sense of travelling at 150/160 miles per hour as one gazes at the French countryside.    We caught the RER train right at the Gare Lyon station and arrived at Gare de Nord about 15 minutes later. 

At Gare de Nord we quickly went through French customs and on to British customs.  The British customs officer was at his serious, official best; he checked our passports and visas closely and then began asking questions.  At one point he asked us about our plans to travel on the Queen Mary, but he asked it in such a way that neither of us understood exactly WHAT he was asking.  We looked blankly at each other, and he bellowed, “I’m speaking English you know!”  We laughed and explained that we were “colonials” and  gave him the information he needed when he restated his question.  With that we were off to London.