Today we took off for (Sunny?) London England. Yes, we must live a charmed life, because the forecast is for sunny skies and temperatures are 24 (that's 70 something for you Americans).
This would be our first foray into the train scene. We scoped out the train station last night and bought our tickets from our hotel to the Midi Station which is where the other train (Eurostar) is taking off from. We had a lovely full breakfast at the hotel and got to intended trains with 5 minutes to spare (next time we won't cut it that short)
This would be our first foray into the train scene. We scoped out the train station last night and bought our tickets from our hotel to the Midi Station which is where the other train (Eurostar) is taking off from. We had a lovely full breakfast at the hotel and got to intended trains with 5 minutes to spare (next time we won't cut it that short)
The whole under water train thing was not too bad. I thought maybe we had to hold our breath, but Nancy wouldn't let me. The trip was actually quite nice. Watched a movie, listened to some music and generally relaxed. Of course I wouldn't want do it everyday like some of these commuters were doing...
London did not disappoint. First of all, when is it ever 72 and sunny for a whole day there? We also got the unexpected surprise visit from our President. Oh yeah, the one day we decide to go to London, here comes Obama and his whole entourage (escaping from the volcanic ash), and screws up our tour! Geez, first the 14 trillion in debt, now this! Ok, I am exaggerating a little. The rest of the story goes like this...
We were planning on taking the New Europe walking tour (http://www.neweuropetours.eu) thru London. Jared and his buddies discovered these when in Munich 3 years ago. I highly recommend this! It is a bunch of 20 somethings that take you thru the major Europeon cities and tell you the history, where to go, and all about the culture. They work for tips, so there is no set charge. we had a kid named Brian that was Irish, and had lived in London for 2 1/2 years. He was a history major and also a theater major. he acted out some of the history with Henry the eighth and several other hilarious stories. Quite entertaining and worth the 20 Euro I tipped him.
London did not disappoint. First of all, when is it ever 72 and sunny for a whole day there? We also got the unexpected surprise visit from our President. Oh yeah, the one day we decide to go to London, here comes Obama and his whole entourage (escaping from the volcanic ash), and screws up our tour! Geez, first the 14 trillion in debt, now this! Ok, I am exaggerating a little. The rest of the story goes like this...
We were planning on taking the New Europe walking tour (http://www.neweuropetours.eu) thru London. Jared and his buddies discovered these when in Munich 3 years ago. I highly recommend this! It is a bunch of 20 somethings that take you thru the major Europeon cities and tell you the history, where to go, and all about the culture. They work for tips, so there is no set charge. we had a kid named Brian that was Irish, and had lived in London for 2 1/2 years. He was a history major and also a theater major. he acted out some of the history with Henry the eighth and several other hilarious stories. Quite entertaining and worth the 20 Euro I tipped him.
The bad part was that Obama was in town and we had to detour several times and didn't get see the Abbey, due to that! The good part was we did get to see Buckingham palace, changing of the guard, and Big Ben. Another bonus was that he got us 25% off lunch at a local pub and eatery (that's olde English for restaurant). Of course Nancy had the fish and chips, which I had to follow along in this case. Wash that down with a couple of pints and life is good....
We were hell bent on seeing the Westminster Abbey, so we headed back down and to our delight they had opened the route, so we could at least hang out on the grounds and take in the sight of this magnificent structure. Its real close to Big Ben too, so we got a daily double...along the way down and back we saw lots of interesting places, guards on horses, double decker buses and everything you'd expect.
We topped it off with a real English Pub visit (the kind you see in movies) and another pint.. After that we headed back on the subway to the train station (which was quite and experience in itself). Rianna wanted to go to Kings Cross and see where the Harry Potter train stop was (9 3/4). Not sure if the construction had made it into a temporary wall or it was always like that, but we got the picture she needed and made our way back to Belgium.
Random thoughts:
1) Holy crap there are a lot of police in London!
2) The people here are so damn nice, they even give up there seats on the bus to women or old people (remember when America was like that?)
3) Jet lag is real!
4) The transportation system in Europe is awesome! America needs to learn that too.
5) Beer tastes better on long vacations.
6) I like chocolate!
7) Pretty much everyone got a statue of themselves in England (on a horse)!
7) Pretty much everyone got a statue of themselves in England (on a horse)!
8) The houses (palaces) are HUGE!
All in all another great day and memories of a lifetime!
All in all another great day and memories of a lifetime!
Pictures will follow (still uploading...)
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