London/Paris trip, 26Dec-8Jan, Index Page

This is the index page to each day's travelogue and all of the pictures. The pics in vol 2 are "new" - pics I forgot to post, pics from Noreen's phone, etc.
Observations
Pics vol 1
Pics vol 2
26 & 27 Dec - To London
28Dec - Bletchley Park
29Dec - Changing of the Guards
30Dec - Brick Lane
31Dec - Greenwich and New Year's Eve
1Jan - Trying to watch soccer
2Jan - Staying in and doing laundry
3Jan - Dinner at Bibendum
4Jan - Eurostar to Paris
5Jan - Eiffel Tower
6Jan - Getting my French insulted
7Jan - Musee d'Orsay, Harley, Charlie Hebdo
8Jan - Back to SD

London/Paris trip, 8Jan, Back to San Diego

We took a taxi to the airport, got checked in and so on. In the terminal, the newsstand had ONE copy of Charlie Hebdo, so I bought it. Our flight was going to be delayed leaving (weather in northern Europe was awful), and I asked if we were going to make our connection in Iceland to get to Seattle, the clerk seemed to think it'd be close, if we made it at all. When we got to Keflavik, the airport was total chaos, all of the departing flights were being held because all of the arriving flights were late getting in. So, we made our plane to Seattle and then onto San Diego.

London/Paris, 7Jan - Musee d'Orsay, Harley Dealer, Charlie Hebdo

We took the metro/RER to the Musee D'Orsay which was very cool. Got to see Van Gogh and Monet and discovered a new (to me) artist, Paul Signac. I loved the museum and my French came in handy reading the plaques with each painting. We stopped at a cafe in the museum to have coffee/wine/dessert and fill out our postcards. Then we walked around a bit more and found a gallery "off to the side" we hadn't noticed and were checking things out when we saw/heard cop cars on the street running along the Seine. Paris is a big city, so cops buzzing around wasn't that big of a deal. After we got done at the museum, we took the metro over to get t-shirts at the Harley dealer. When we got into the dealer, they were talking in hushed tones as if someone had died. As we checked out, the lady asked if we'd heard the news. No, what news? There was a terrorist attack in Paris and 12 people were dead! Not only that, but the attack was just a few blocks away from the H-D dealer. So, we missed the attacks by about an hour (our dawdling at the museum!) and a few blocks. We had lunch at a cafe and caught up on the news (cafe had wifi). We went back to Pigalle, mailed our postcards and had dinner at a cafe on Rue des Abbesses. I tried to buy a copy of that week's Charlie Hebdo at a newsstand, but they were out. (if you want, go to Google maps and put in the address of Charlie Hebdo, 10 Rue Nicolas Appert, Paris, France and then look for the Chemin Vert metro station, that's the station we got off at, Harley dealer is right there.

London/Paris trip, 6Jan - Getting my French insulted

Noreen was still sick, so I went to a pharmacy and bought some cold medicine for her. Around lunch time, I walked down the main street in Pigalle towards the Moulin Rouge, took a couple pics of the Moulin Rouge and stopped at a shop that specializes in rugby gear to buy a French national rugby team jersey. Brought burgers back to the room for lunch. That afternoon, I decided to go for a walk and figure out what the source of playground sounds we were hearing in our room and found an elementary school next to the hotel (up the hill). That mystery solved, I went the rest of the way up the hill and found Rue des Abbesses. It's a narrow street that looks like what people imagine Paris to be. Lots of cafes, boulangeries (bakeries) and so on. People were actually lined up at the boulangerie as I walked by. There was a tiny park with a carousel,too. I found a book store and bought a special edition of Le Petit Nicolas, a book I've been reading as part of my French lessons. I went to a cafe to have a coffee and read my book. I ordered "une double expresso s'il vous plaît" and the waiter said "Why not?" in English. A couple of guys sat near me and they ordered in French and the waiter jokingly barked at them asking if they spoke French. He was saying hello to the passing people in Italian and Gerrman, having lots of fun. When I asked for "le addition s'il vous plaît" he said "the check?" and when he brought it I said "merci, thank you, gracias, danke" and off I went. He was clearly having fun playing the role of "rude waiter." So, I officially had my French insulted by a French waiter. That night, Noreen wasn't up for doing anything, so I went and had dinner (steak hache avec oeuf o cheval - ground steak with an egg.

London/Paris trip, 5Jan - Eiffel Tower

Off to the Eiffel Tower! Getting there was easy on the metro and because of the lousy weather, the line to get tickets was very short. When I bought the tickets, I asked if the top (3rd) deck was open and the ticket lady was surprised I was asking, of course it was. So, we got our tickets and went up to the 2nd deck, walked around a bit, took some pictures, etc. Then we rode the elevator to the top deck and took "pictures" of the gray (couldn't see ANYTHING!) and drank champagne! It was cold and damp up there. So, we went back down to the 2nd deck, had vin chaud (warm wine with spice) and do a bit of shopping to warm back up. Then down to the first deck to look for a souvenir spoon (there weren't any). There was a tiny ice skating rink on the first deck, too, but we didn't skate. We then had lunch at the over-priced restaurant, 56 (NOT Jules Verne) and went back to the hotel, Noreen was done for the day. I bought some sandwiches at a nearby shop and a small bottle of wine and we had dinner in the room that night.

London/Paris trip, 4Jan - Eurostar to Paris

Had to be out of the hotel by 10am, so we left and puttered around St. Pancras, bought lunch for myself (kalmata olives, small sausages, cheese and beer, see the pic), Noreen got soup and something else and then checked in for our train ride to Paris. There was security (like pre-9/11 airport security), a bored Frenchman stamping passports and we waited for our train. I converted what £ I had left into Euros. The Eurostar was just a bullet train, nothing fancy. We got to Gare du Nord and started to walk to our hotel, but eventually gave up and grabbed a taxi. This was a very good idea since our hotel was uphill. Our hotel was in the Pigalle area of Paris, where the red light district used to be (it used to be called Pig Alley by the Allied troops during WW2) and this turned out to be a very good location. The hotel was small, no elevator, but fortunately, our room was only up one flight of the tight, winding staircase. The dinner plan was to meet the Arsenal France guys at a sports bar to watch an Arsenal match, so we took a cab to the bar, but they weren't there. The bartender suggested another bar, so we walked there, they were closed, so we kept going and found a sort-of English pub that had the match on and there were a couple of Arsenal supporters watching the match. Noreen was still feeling yucky, so I ate my burger, drank my beers and we went back to the hotel.

London/Paris trip, 3Jan - Bibendum for dinner

We had our hair done at a salon near the hotel, and as you can see from the pics, I looked pretty spiffy. I'd been looking for a cigar terrace (no cigar lounges in London), one of them I found closed at 9pm (residential area), but one at the Montague Hotel didn't have a closing time, so I'd emailed/called the contact person with no results. So, I called the concierge at the hotel and when I asked how late the terrace was open, he was a bit shocked at the question and he replied "well past midnight, of course." Of course. That sorted out the after-dinner stogie. Dinner at Bibendum was at 7, so we took the tube down there and I took a few pics of the exterior. Bibendum is in the old Michelin building, where they had a garage (get your new tires!), sold tour guides and so on. The building has been restored and it looks amazing. Lots of Michelin/Bibendum stuff (Bibendum is the name of the Michelin Man, which comes from the phrase "Nunc est bibendum"- "Now is the time for drinking", which refers to the fact that Michelin tyres can drink up road hazards) which made me, as a Michelin tour guide collector very giddy. Had a drink in the oyster bar before heading up to dinner. The wine and champagne glasses had Bibendum and "Nunc est bibendum" engraved on them, the plates had it and so on (I even asked if I could buy a champagne glass, but was turned down. No, I didn't steal one, probably should have!) Service was impeccable and the food was out of this world. Noreen had a fancy ravioli appetizer which she really dug and a lobster bisque that was great, if a bit earthy because of the truffles. I had a consommé of beef (think fancy beef soup) that was divine. Noreen had hake fish for dinner and I had a filet au poivre (pepper corn sauce) that was the best steak I've ever had. No dessert. The tab for dinner wasn't bad, £150, including our drinks. We took a taxi to the hotel with the cigar terrace and we got a bit of a tour of London, including Buckingham because the traffic going straight there was a mess. At the bar, I had a £35 Montecristo and a glass of 18 yr old Glencechie. Taxi back to our hotel and that was the night.

London/Paris trip, 2Jan - Stayed in

The wind was definitely out of Noreen's sails now, so we "stayed in." I did laundry (£4/load to wash, and 50p to run the dryer for what seemed like 1 min) at a laundromat a couple of blocks from the hotel. On the same street as the laundromat was an old church, so I took some pictures of it. While checking it out, I saw their bulletin board and took a peek. It mentioned that the church was consecrated in 1888. It also had a blurb about St. Pancras who was a Christian martyr from the 4th century. There is an old church that was built after he died and it is the oldest Christian worship location in London. It's "behind" the train station with his name. (this is the Eurostar station) . After dropping off the laundry and reading about it, I walked to the church. The church is "new", but there is reportedly parts of one wall that dates to the Norman era. There are crypts around the grounds of that date from late 1700s and early 1800s.

London/Paris trip 1Jan - Trying to watch soccer

The day of not doing much. We ran some errands and I put some money on the Arsenal match, eventually we took the train to the mall where Cafe Football, the sports bar is at, to see the match. The mall was big and generic, and with a few exceptions, you would have had no idea if you were in the US or UK. Cafe Football was a very cool sports bar with good food. But, much to my surprise, the Arsenal match wasn't on TV. And neither were any of the roughly dozen matches, except for one, Manchester City. After I raised a stink, they explained to me that there was only ONE (that's right, ONE) match on TV, none of the others were even being broadcast. So, I watched that match, then we walked around the mall and Noreen bought some Pandora charms.

London/Paris trip 31Dec - Greenwich, New Years Eve

Noreen woke up early (still hadn't sorted the jet lag out, Noreen starting to get sick, etc) and that woke me up. Noreen managed to fall back asleep, but I didn't. Early in the morning, I went down to the front desk to get coffee and paid the £4 to get the TV turned on, which was a good decision since it had BBC, ITV, TV5Monde and France24. We headed out after breakfast for Greenwich and did the Cutty Sark which was cool. Then up to the Maritime museum to see the Longitude exhibit. This made the trip, too! They did a damn good job of explaining longitude, how hard it is to calculate correctly and so on. They had Harrison's H1 through H4 clocks and it was cool to see them. They had more clocks and coverage of Cook's expeditions and a mention of Bligh. The gift shop had some cool stuff and it took tons of willpower not to buy a £125 pocket watch that was inspired by H4. I was well and thoroughly tired by this point so we skipped the Observatory, had lunch and went back to the hotel. After napping and generally doing nothing , we went out around 9:30 for dinner. The pub across the street had quit serving food and nearly all of the restaurants and shops had closed. So we got some beers and bubbly wine at a convenience store and a pizza and came back to the hotel. We could see the fireworks at the Eye and a couple of other shows along the Thames and the pub across the street shot some off, too.

London/Paris trip 30Dec - Brick Lane, Arsenal

We dropped off our clothes to get pressed (for our dinner at Bibendum) after breakfast. Noreen had seen a story online about leather dealers (jackets, etc.) in an old part of east London on a street called Brick Lane. It's getting gentrified, so it has lots of hipster shops (if you saw the story about the "cereal" restaurant called "Cereal Killer", it's on Brick Lane), so I figured that even if the leather shops were a bust, it'd be a cool walk anyway. So, we took a bus to fairly nearby Brick Ln and then used my phone (I'd downloaded the maps all of the UK & France on my phone ahead of time) to find Brick Ln. Brick Lane is definitely a pre-1900 area of London, dominated by what used to be Truman's Brewing. I found 4 CDs at a record store and Noreen found a nice jacket at a vintage shop for £3! She also found a blue/white striped Russian sailor shirt at another vintage shop. On the way to the tube station (Liverpool St), we found the Spitalfields open air market and I bought a bowler hat and Noreen bought a nice red hat for herself. We then went to Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal plays, despite the best efforts of TfL (the Arsenal stop was closed, so we had to get off a stop early and walk.....) We walked around the outside of the stadium, took some pics and then into the Arsenal store where I bought some stuff. Noreen was starting to poop out (I think this is when she started to notice she was getting sick), so we didn't do the tour. We got a cab back to the hotel and that was our day.

London/Paris trip 29Dec - Changing of the Guards

We explored the Kings Cross and St. Pancras train stations after breakfast. Nothing interesting at Kings Cross, but we did find a cool gourmet shop at St. Pancras that we decided to buy stuff from for lunch on the Eurostar to Paris (the Eurostar leaves from St. Pancras) - the funny chalkboard sign about beer belongs to that gourmet place. We picked up some random souvenirs (including a Union Jack bottle opener), but that was it. Then, off to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards ceremony. We stopped to take a couple of pics and then hit the Mews gift shop. I asked the clerk where to go for the ceremony and he told us, and then asked if I knew what time it started (this was around 10:15), and I told him I knew 11:15 but he hinted that we should get down there and get a spot, so we did. You can see our spot from our pictures, not a great location, but we were there. In the middle of the ceremony, the band started to play random modern songs that seemed more appropriate to a high school band doing a half-time show than a British military band. As I have since learned (from a DVD we bought at the gift shop that explains the ceremony), the band is playing this because there's not much interesting to look at during this lull in the ceremony, so they play stuff to keep the crowd interested. And holy crap, what a crowd! The crazy part is that the guard and bands march up from Wellington Barracks and St. James Palace on the road, so the cops stop traffic, the guard/band marches through and then traffic restarts. The ceremony finished at noon, so that was nearly 2 hrs of standing, with no break. We had lunch and got some trinkets at shops along Buckingham Palace Rd and then took a taxi to the Victoria and Albert Museum (free to get in) and it was mobbed, so we walked around for a bit and gave up. The flagship Harrod's is across the street, so we went in there and walked around a bit, explored the very, very overpriced food department (£10 for 100 grams of t-bone (£40 for 1 lb, and that was the cheapest steak they had) or £3 for a head of lettuce. Then down to the basement and I checked out the cigar room. Prices didn't surprise me, £30 for a stogie, but the stuff they had on display was in really bad shape, dried out and so on, so no Cubans for me from there. We went to the coffee shop in Harrod's and had a great black forest cake and coffee. Then onto the packed rush hour tube and back to the hotel.

London/Paris trip 28Dec - Bletchley Park

Way back in the 1870s, when Samuel Lipscomb bought the land that would eventually become Bletchley Park, he bought it because it was a short walk from the Bletchley train station which is a straight shot from the London Euston station, which is very convinient when you're a big wheeler-dealer in London and want a mansion in the country. That line exists today, and my plan was to leave around 9am from Euston, take the 30 min ride up to Bletchley and spend a nice day up there. But, the TfL and rail work had other ideas. We bought our tickets and I asked the ticket guy which platform for the train and the guy responded in some unintelligble brogue (like Brad Pitt's in Snatch) that there's no trains running that way, so I asked how we're to get to Bletchley. He mumbled something, including the word bus and other stuff, but I couldn't figure it out. I asked him to repeat it so I could write it down, still didn't get it so he printed it out. We had to take the underground to the northen end of London (to the Stanmore station, for those of you keeping score at home), which took well over 45 min, then a 20 min bus ride to a train station (Hemel Hempstead) AND THEN we get the train to Bletchley, all told, a 90+ min trip. We walked around Bletchley, including the first "musuem" which is connected to the entry/ticket area and it does a good job of explaining what Engima was, how the Brits broke it and so on. There are lots of interactive exhibits at Bletchley and as a computer nerd, it was very cool to see all of the equipment. Inside the mansion, we grabbed our reservations for the walking/guided tour and saw the set for the "bar scenes" in the Imitation Game as well as the prop "Bombe" used in the movie. The guided tour kicked ass and the guy did a very good job of explaining the history of Bletchley, where they did things and so on. I sent mom a postcard from the Bletchley Park post office and we got in to see the very end of a working Bombe (it's a rebuild/replica, but it's the real deal). Bletchley was closing early for the day, so we ran into the gift shop and took the train/bus/subway back to Kings Cross. Dinner that night was at the pseudo-local pub across the street from the hotel, which was actually very good! Seeing Bletchley made the trip, and I definitely want to head back and spend a full day checking everything out. This story gives a quick hit on the rebuild of the Bombe: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/23/bletchley_bombe/ It mentions that Bletchley Park was very run down, but the Bletchley Park trust has done a great job of restoring lots of the buildings (that could be saved, some are gone). The trip to Bletchley made the trip!

London/Paris Trip, 26/27 Dec- Flying to London

We flew out of San Diego the morning of the 26th after dropping the kitties off at jail. Our first flight was Alaska Air to Seattle; 2nd flight was on Iceland Air to Keflavik. The Iceland Air flight was OK, but very warm, which was very odd. Our plane landed around 9am Iceland time (same timezone as London) and it was pitch black out. We had to go down steps to the tarmac and take a bus to the terminal, but the blast of Icelandic air was a welcome refreshment after the warm plane ride. Noreen and I explored the terminal (oddly deserted) and duty free shop and then off to LHR. My plan was to take the Heathrow Express into town and then get a cab at Picadilly (where HEX runs to), but due to the rail work in London being done by National Rail and TfL (Transport For London), the HEX trains were not running that day, so we took the tube into Kings Cross, where our hotel was. It was a looong ride into Kings Cross. It was cool & misting in London when we got there (what a surprise) and we found the hotel, just a couple of blocks away from the station. The elevators in the hotel were TINY, so we rode up separately (barely big enough for 1 person and a big suitcase). Our room was on the top floor (7th in "English", 8th in American) and you can see from the pics the nice view we had. The room was very small, but we're used to that after Japan & Korea. The hotel doesn't give you anything for free - we paid the £12 for the wifi for the entire stay and £2/each for towels, which is fine. The hotel isn't really intended to be a long-stay hotel, it's a cheap (but very nice) hotel. We walked around a bit and found a mediocre all-you-can-eat buffet place for dinner and then back to the hotel.

London and Paris Trip - Random Observations

I found both hotels on Trivago and it worked great. Since it aggregates from different travel sites, you can see all of the reviews from those sites and it didn't steer me wrong. I bought our Oyster cards for using the London underground and busses in advance and it was a great idea. Being "based" in Kings Cross was very nice, short walk to the underground and enough "services" around there like convinience stores, etc. In both London and Paris, it seems like everyone smokes, quite a shock, coming from California! The people we dealt with in London were all nice and in Paris, everyone was "efficient" (not really rude). Flying Iceland Air worked out fine, if not 100% pleasant, as I mentioned. Food was tolerable, but the flights are comparatively short, so it's not that big a deal. I bought a 7in tablet (Samsung) before we left and I was glad I had it. It made it easy to send emails, surf the web, search for stuff "Ok, google, give me a map of the Eiffel tower", etc.