London and Windsor and Bath, Oh My!

By the time we got ourselves settled in London on the afternoon of June 8, there wasn't very much time left in the day. Priorities being what they are, we went straight to King's Cross Station to see Platform 9 and 3/4. Well, first, it's not even between platforms 9 and 10, it's just in a random wall. Second, there was a huge line of people getting their picture taken at the half-in trolley by a professional photographer. We stood in line for a while, but then I did the math on how many people were ahead of us, and how long they each took, and decided I didn't want to wait for hours. So I have this picture of the trolley only:

Next we spent an hour in the British Museum before it closed, and ate a pie for dinner in a British pub.

The next day we joined the "free" city walking tour of London with Sandeman's. I think we are just tired of showing ourselves around any more :)  We saw Trafalgar Square, the Admiralty Arch, St. James' Palace, Buckingham Palace, St. James' Park, No. 10 Downing, Churchill's bunker, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey, while hearing a lot of history about the city.

After lunch, Alan and I went into Westminster Abbey on our own. No pictures allowed, but it was very moving to see the graves or monuments of so many queens, kings, authors, poets, and scientists. Mary Queen of Scots, Mary I and Elizabeth I buried together, Darwin, Dickens, Shakespeare, Handel and hundreds more. Plus Will and Kate got married here.

In the afternoon, we did a second tour (not free) with Sandeman's, this time of the Thames South Bank. We saw the Millennium Bridge, a recreated Shakespeare's Globe Theater, a replica of Sir Francis Drake's ship that sailed around the world, Southwark Cathedral, the new London Bridge, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. As you might imagine, we were quite worn out from all the walking. Our Camino-legs must be wearing off.

On the next day, our bus tour throughout England and Scotland was to start. I've felt some trepidation wondering if I will enjoy being scheduled all the time. We shall see. The tour got off to a good start, as we saw MI-5 while driving through London. It was blown up in the most recent James Bond, Skyfall, but not for real.

Our first stop was a few hours out of London, to the west. We came to the town of Windsor and Eton to see Windsor Castle. We did a short walk around the town, then went inside the Castle grounds. We went inside to explore St. George's Chapel first. This is the burial place of many other monarchs or members of the royal family, which rounds off our visit to Westminster. The chapel most meaningful to me had the graves for George VI and Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth II's parents, and Margaret, her sister. There was also a marker for King Henry VIII.

It was not allowed for pictures to be taken inside the State Apartments, so we listened to our audio guides and tried to take it all in. In particular the Waterloo Room was stunning, with portraits of the important players around the time of Napoleon I.

The tour's next stop was Bath, famous for its curing water, and even home to Roman baths. For me, of course, the Jane Austen Centre was the place to see. So I got my photo next to a wax figurine.l We had a look around the town to see the Pump Room, where folks would come to drink the water.

Our bus tour makes 2-4 stops each day, and we will do some posts on the places we like most, instead of writing about every little thing. Our next entry will be about our time in Scotland, which includes visiting a working sheep farm and watching sheep dogs herd by voice and whistle command.

Four Sunny Days in Paris

As we climbed out of the metro in Paris, we were facing Notre Dame. That was quite a nice welcome. Our first two nights' accommodation were on one of the small islands in the middle of the city. After we got the key for the flat, we treated ourselves to icecream from Berthillon. I had a scoop of delicious pistachio.

 On our first full day, we met the morning "free" walking tour of the city organized by Sandeman's. (The tour guides are working for tips, so it is not actually free unless you want to stiff the person who shows you around for 3 hours or more.) We did the Sandeman's tour in Berlin and Munich also, and have been really happy with the system. Our guide, Nancy from Yorkshire (the guides never seem to be from the city where they give the tours), gave us plenty of history plus pointing out Notre Dame, the Louvre, other city parks and plazas, statues, etc., and ending in the Plaza de la Concorde.

We were enjoying walking (as that has become so normal for us) in the beautiful sunlight, so we continued on the Champs de Elysees. (Can I just apologize now for any spelling errors in names? French is hard for me.) It was fun to see the shops, including the original Louis Vuitton. We ended at the Arc de Triomphe, and had look around it and the world's largest roundabout.

That evening ended with a delicious three-course meal at a tiny restaurant owned and run by one person. This one gentleman took our order, cooked our food and brought it to us, plus doing the same for ten other tables. Alan's dessert was creme brulee that was brought out "raw", if you will, then the man used a heated iron to scorch the top at the table. "He cremed my brulee," was Alan's way of putting it.

On our second day, we used our accommodation's proximity to our advantage, and visited Notre Dame Cathedral first thing in the morning, before the crowds. When the towers were opened at 10 AM, we climbed those as well.

That afternoon we took the train to the Musee de Orsay, and had a marvelous time seeing its many exhibits, in particular the Van Gogh and the Impressionist wing.  So many of these paintings have been in my textbooks over the years.

For dinner, we managed to find ourselves a French brewpub, where we could try a few pints. After that, we waited in Trocadero Park to see the Eiffel Tower light up for five minutes.

For day three, we had lined up a few of Sandeman's paid tours that appealed to us. The first was a day trip out to the palace and gardens of Versailles. We only went inside the gardens, which, it being Saturday, were sometimes turned on with musical accompaniment. Our guide, Esteban from Colombia, told us a lot about Kings Louis XIII-XVI, theirs lives, wives,mistresses,  and reputations. We talked a bit about the house before we started walking through the gardens, learning about their mythological and other meanings/implications. There was a temporary art installation there, done by the artist who design "the bean" in Chicago. You'll notice the similarities. There were fountains representing seasons, or episodes of Greek myths. We had a lunch break next to the canal of the Grand Perspective, and finished up near the Orangerie.

That evening, we had booked a tour of the Montmartre neighborhood. This is where the artists of the city, who couldn't afford those expenses, moved to live and work. We started off seeing the Moulin Rouge. As Nancy, again our guide, explained, artists needed two things to keep them inspired... absinthe and women. After that were saw Van Gogh's house and learned about him,  saw two remaining windmills from when this area was pasture, learned about Toulouse-Latrec, Renoir, and saw where Picasso worked. The apex of our walk, both literally and figuratively, was the Cathedral Sacre-Couer, which is about 100 years old. It is white stone, and features incredible stained glass windows and mosaics inside. And I don't even like stained glass that much.

Our final day in Paris was a break. We simply walked about the Canal St. Martin, eating lunch at a local market, and reading by the water. All in all we had a lovely, sunny, wonderful four days in Paris. Up next... London and touring around England.