London Paris Trip Report #2
 

Tuesday

We walked to Westminster Abbey after breakfast. I had previously made a reservation for a Verger Tour at 10, so we arrived at opening bell and strolled around until tour time. This was one of the highlights, if not the highlight our entire trip. Our Verger was smart, funny and thoughtful. By going on a Verger tour, you do get access to Edward The Confessor's tomb area, which you do not if you do not do the Verger Tour.

The tour was 90 minutes, and well worth the money. Reservations can be made by emailing the Abbey, but there were people who showed up a little before 10 and got on the tour that day. One funny thing he said, was that when you first go in the Abbey, one can feel odd walking on top of someone's marker. According to him there are over 3000 people buried there. He said don't worry about it, no matter what, you are walking on someone when you are in here.

The Queen's 50th Anniversary of her coronation was coming up the following week, so the BBC was in there putting lights into the upper levels for the broadcast. The Verger's comment was that it takes them 2 weeks to put up the lights for an hour show.

After that, we walked up to Trafalger Square, and ate lunch at the buffet in the basement of St. Martins. It was soup and bread, and quite inexpensive and tasty.

We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the National Gallery, and the National Portrait Gallery. The National Gallery was nice, but I was a little disappointed in the Portrait Gallery. The paintings were good, but we did not recognize most the people in there. I think one would have to more of a British History scholar or follow their popular culture quite closely to fully appreciate most of the portraits.

That evening we took the much discussed Jack the Ripper London Walk. Donald was not there, so it was his daughter Molly and some other fellow. Because of the size of the Molly group, we went the other fellow. He was very good. They do take you through some areas that are not very nice, so it is good to be in a big 'posse'. The locals who are getting tanked in the local pups think it is funny to yell out at the group 'there he goes' or 'I just saw the Ripper go that way' when you go by. Our guide warned us that it would happen, so it was just part of the show.

Those of you familiar with the 'From Hell' DVD, and Donald's comments on it will be surprized at the downplay of the 10 Bells Tavern and the Church. Someone earlier on this board had mentioned that there must of have been a falling out between the tour and the pub, and I think that must be right. Our guide made some comment about it being a yuppy bar, and made no effort to encourage us to go in it after the tour.

We took the Tube back afterwards. The Tube is top rate, and those who may hesitate about using it --- don't. We don't have a subway where I am from, but I have been on the subway in NY and Chicago. This is not that --- the Tube is nice, well organized and we had it mastered by our second ride.

We went back to hotel, and slept until Day 3....

To be continued......

Wednesday

This morning we were off to the Tower of London. We took the Tube to Tower Hill station, and arrived at Tower of London at opening time. I know it has been stated many times on this board, but a key to a successful and enjoyable visit to a site is to arrive when it opens (if you can.) A Beefeater tour started right as we arrived, so we went on that to start with. We enjoyed the tour with our guide, and he had many interesting stories about the Tower.

After the Tour, we visited the Crown Jewels. Although my son and I are not much on jewelry, it is fun to see not only the crown, but also the intricate engraving on the other portions of the crown jewels. That is the largest punch bowl I have ever seen! It is interesting that when you finally do get to see the crown, they have a people mover there so you cannot hang out and just look at that. You roll by, so no loitering allowed at that point.

We enjoyed visiting the armoury portion of the Tower more, and the craftsmanship of some the royal armor was amazing. After visiting the Tower, we went over to Tower Bridge. We did pay for the Tower Bridge Experience, and went up to the top. Although we loved the structure of the Bridge, and going up to the top, we were disappointed that the top is mostly glassed in. Guess they have to deal with suicide or people falling off, but would have been a lot more enjoyable with an open air area. They did have a couple of small windows opened, so I took my pictures from there.

We then took the Tube over to St. Paul's for lunch, and a visit. There is an extreme amount of rehab going on at St. Pauls now. This is both on the exterior and the interior.

Being "manly men" (grin), we decided to do the 500 plus step trek to the top of the dome. Although we do not have height or claustrophopia issues, anyone who does may have trouble with this trek. There are a lot of narrow spiral stairs, and the final portion is so narrow that only one person can get through at a time. However, the view from the top is excellent.

We ate lunch in the crypt, and like St. Martins, it was inexpensive and tasty. We walked back to our hotel via the Millenium pedestrian bridge, which is a worthwhile walk.

We ate at Fish! again tonight, and then we went to Ceremony of the Keys at Tower of London. When we arrived, my son had to go to the toilet. Unfortunately, the restroom that is closest to the Tower was locked up, and at that time of night, so are the fast food places nearby. So we ventured up a block or two, and found one of the automated toilets.

We actually got a kick out of it, because when we found it, there were four women outside who were also from Illinois. So how many people from Illinois does it take to figure out how to use a London toilet? Six is the answer to that. The women were also going to the Ceremony of the Keys. My advice is that if you have to go, go before you get there!

We totally enjoyed being in the Tower after dark, and being the only ones in there except for the Beefeaters. The actual ceremony itself is a short, but the atmosphere is so fun there that late at night.

So another busy day, and back for some sleep.

Tommorow is another day.....

To be continued.

Wednesday

Today we were off to the British Museum. I had previously arranged for a Highlights tour, and this tour lasted almost two hours. Yet another excellent guide, and we loved the British Museum. In this case, and almost every where we went, we could have spent days going through the sites. However, we had only 4 days in London and 4 days in Paris, so we were sharks who had to keep moving to stay alive.

We had lunch at the British Museum Main Court buffet. Again, inexpensive and tasty. The Great Court is beautiful, and it was wonderful to be in such an open space yet still be indoors.

After lunch, we walked down to Covent Gardens to look for the Doc Martins superstore. My daughter is a big Doc Martin fan, so we were looking for that cool pair of sandals you cannot get in the States. Covent Garden is a carnival side show that goes on for blocks and blocks. Many street entertainers and interesting things to see. The store was supposedly on King Street, which a short street. We never could find it, so we speculate it must have closed. That was a disapppointment, but the walk through Covent Gardens made the trip worthwhile.

We hopped back on the Tube and took off for Knightsbridge. We wanted to see Harrods. Wow! If you have some real dough, this is the place for you. If money is no object, you can buy whatever you need. The Food Court in itself is an assault on the senses.

Strolling through home furnishings, electronics and housewares was great fun. I got a little teddy bear for my new grandson, and threw coins in the fountain for Di and Dodi for someone back home is a big fan.

Then back on the Tube, and headed for Evensong at Westminster. Again, this was a situation where the information from this board enhanced our experience. I cannot recommnend doing this enough. We arrived early (4:15) and ran the gauntlet to get up by the gate.

We then sat in the Kwire seats for the service. We felt like we were royalty. The combination of the organ and the boys choir was just sublime. Even if you are not particuliarly religious, you cannot help but be moved by this experience. This service in this special place was very emotional for me. It was a true blessing to have the opportunity.

We ate dinner that night in a local pub several blocks back from South Bank. Tommorow we depart for the City of Lights, so we got to bed early in anticipation.

To be continued.........

Sorry, the last post should have said Thursday....ooops.

Mpmoline:
Question, you said you walked from the British Museum to Covent Garden. How long did that take you?

You are writing some great reports -One hint for others viewing the Crown Jewels:

"they have a people mover there so you cannot hang out and just look at that. You roll by, so no loitering allowed at that point."

While it is true there is a people mover that keeps you moving - if you want to see the Jewels in more detail you can actually linger as long as you'd like. Directly behind and a couple of steps up from the moving walkway which circles the display cases are stationary walkways where you can spend as much time as you want viewing them.

It took us probably 10-15 minutes or so walking from the Bristish Museum to the center of Covent Garden. It was early afternoon on a beautiful day, so it was very crowded. We were sort of on a mission at that point to find Doc Martin, so we really did not walk and try to absorb the atmosphere there (which is very entertaining).

FYI on the Doc Martens (we had a grandmother along with us who "had" to bring back DMs for her 2 teenage g-daughters). . . the big store at Covent Gardens closed and is now located at Camden Locks.

When we were there in March, there was a big sign right outside the tube station with Eugene handing out flyers. Eugene was dressed in black leather vest and pants, had a green mohawk haircut, and a zazillion tattoes and body piercings . . . so he's hard to miss. Not only was he entertaining to look at (we're old, conservative Texans) but he was really nice and polite to talk to and gave us excellent directions.

We went to Camden Locks, found the store, and my friends bought 3 pairs of DMs.

Sandy

Sandy b - In regards to the Dr. Marten's store - can you give me details on how to find it??? Did you find the prices cheaper than usual?? (I am from Canada, not sure where you are from). I was hoping to buy some sandels there and was glad to read the note about the Covent Gardens store closing - it is still listed on their website.

Domi,

When you exit from the Covent Garden tube shop, you won't be able to miss Eugene and the big sign. He gave us printed directions to the Camden Locks store . . . and we had no problems finding it.

They have a website . . . www.britboot.co.uk and probably have directions.

The two guys (Nick and Ben) who waited on us were great . . . very funny, nice, patient, willing to drag out shoe after shoe after shoe.

Good luck!
Sandy

Friday

Today is travel day, and we left London and took the Eurostar to Paris. Since Waterloo Station, the London terminal for the Eurostar, was only a couple of blocks from our hotel, we walked over to the station. I had previously purchased tickets on the Eurostar on their web site, so I presented my email confirmation numbers and we were ready to go.

The whole Eurostar experience was great. In fact, much better than flying coach across the ocean. The train ride itself was incredibly smooth, and it is nice to be able to get up and move around when the mood strikes you. The ride is so smooth, it is hard to believe you are going 190 mph or so. The only way you can tell is when you pass a train going the other way, it takes a second for the train to pass.

The train departed on time, and arrived in Paris at Gare du Nord a couple minutes ahead of schedule. I would highly recommend this method of transport for anyone going from London to Paris.

Once we arrived at Gare du Nord, we took the RER from there to the St Michel/Notre Dame station. I had previously purchased the Paris Metro pass, so we hopped on the RER and off we went. The time was about 11:30am, and the RER was extremely crowded. We obviously had our luggage at this point, and so that was sort of a pain. In addition, the body odor situation on the RER was shocking. We had been on the Tube all over London without experiencing an odorous experience, but my son and I basically tried to hold our breath until we got to Notre Dame. Welcome to Paris (grin).

Our hotel in Paris was the Jeu de Palme, which is located on Ile St Louis. It was formerly a tennis court for the royals, and has been redone with original beams and structure. It is a small and intimate hotel, and was a big change from the Marriott in London. This was a good change, because we do not know French, and they were very helpful in each situation when we need to communicate to someone outside the hotel.

So when we arrived at the Notre Dame station, we walked to our hotel. The room was ready about 5 minutes after we arrived, and we were able to drop our luggage there and head out.

We walked around Notre Dame, and then walked through the church. The structure itself is beautiful, but it was immediately apparent that some maintenance work is needed. In fact, portions of the building are covered by scaffolding, so the work has started.

Maybe it was we had previously been to Westminster, but I think we were a little disappointed in the condition of Notre Dame and the immediate area. Westminster is spotless and immaculately maintained with all the love the British can give it, Notre Dame is not. I do not know whether this a matter of money or just the nature of the French, but the place is a treasure and should be treated as such. There is litter in the public areas around it, and that simply isn't the case with Westminster and the Parliament area.

We had a nice lunch across from Ste Chapelle, and then we went through the church. We had the museum pass, and entered the church. The greatest stained glass ever. If you are at Notre Dame, but sure not to miss Ste Chapelle! Wow, especially on a sunny afternoon.

We then took a boat trip from Notre Dame to the Eiffel Tower and back. There were no stops on this ride, but it was enjoyable to be on the river and see the bridges and buildings from the water.

We went back to hotel,rested and then ate dinner at a cafe near Notre Dame.

A little tired from a long day, so time for a rest.

To be continued....

ttt