The quick London Visit, or dodging raindrops for four days, or, this is what I don’t like about weather back home.

We got spoiled in Lyon in so many ways – food, wine, people, no responsibilities, and SUNSHINE – LOTS OF IT.

We decided to come home via London and figured that late mid-July would certainly have reliable weather.  WRONG!  It rained all four days we were there!   Yes, we had a few sunbreaks, as you will see, but it seemed like whenever we were out walking it was raining.  We had planned on walking around a lot and seeing the sights.  We saw some things, as Anna has mentioned, but not as much as we wanted.  We spent a day in the British Museum and had some nice Pub meals in the afternoon, but we spent a lot of time in doorways dodging rain.

St Paul's famous dome

We did manage to spend some time at St. Paul’s, the iconic Wren church.  John Donne was Dean there among others – there are plaques and statues and memorials to everyone from Donne to Billy Fiske, an Olympic Gold Medalist in the Bobsled, and the first American volunteer pilot killed in the Battle of Britain.  It is a magnificent edifice, and as luck would have it, there was a service starting right under the famous dome just as we arrived so Anna found a seat and even took Communion.  Meanwhile David oriented himself to some of the points of interest in the church so that he could help Anna see the highlights.

Dr. Johnson's home from 1748 to 1959

We also managed to find Samuel Johnson’s London house which was open for visits.  This is where he wrote most of his famous dictionary.  As mentioned earlier, Anna is a particular Johnson fan, so this was a real pilgrimage for her. 



David had always wanted to take a trans-Atlantic liner voyage, and what better way to fulfill this dream than on the Queen Mary II!

To get to the Queen Mary, we had to make our way to Southampton, the famous port city where the RMS Titanic set sail on her first and only voyage.  We had obtained tickets for the train from Waterloo Station, a few miles from our apartment.  David wrestled our luggage, including two bags at just over 50 pounds, down four flights of stairs.  He flagged down a cab and we set of for the station.  Trains run frequently, so all we had to do was be in Southampton by about 2PM.  Here we ran into our first and only real glitch of our entire year.  We had confirming emails with reference numbers, but no one had any record of tickets for us.  They were polite, helpful, consulted with other folks, but in the end, we bought another set of tickets.  [We have since managed to get a partial refund from British Rail, plus our account was credited by our credit card company.]

Anna waiting to board the QMII

Upon arrival in Southampton, we had a short cab ride through the historic port city to the docks where we patiently queued-up to wait for our numbers to be called and to go through security.  One nice thing, our luggage was handed over on the dock, to magically appear later at out stateroom.  There was a snack bar and plenty of free magazines in the terminal, so we relaxed for a while.  One interesting note – prominently featured on the cover of one of the available magazines was Kate Winslett – we hoped this was not an omen!