Arrival in Paris

We took the Eurostar over to Paris to avoid airports, airplanes, and security lines. The price was about the same, but the hassle was much, much less. Our train pulled out of St Pancras station at 10:25 AM. We left our hotel about 9:15, and could have left even later. Checking in was automatic. They x-rayed our bags (no checking of bags) and we waited a few minutes before they loaded the train.


We got on the train, stowed our luggage at the end of the coach (Coach 11, seats 61 and 65 - they faced each other) and sat down.

We had a little continental breakfast, read and snoozed.

Right on time, at 1:47 PM (Paris is one hour ahead of London) we pulled into the Gare du Nord.

Paris is much more chaotic than London. The short cab ride from the Gare to the apartment was harrowing - nobody worries about "Blocking the box" in Paris. You drive like crazy - our cabbie beeped at a young woman whose baby carriage was too far out in the street. Yipes! At one intersection it was like gridlock. The traffic control lights seemed to have to effect at all.

C'est bon!




The apartment is very nice. It is owned by a Hollywood Wheel (former President of Miramax!) and is outfitted very nicely.

It is, in the vernacular of Paris apartments, Calm et claire (Quiet and light).

It has this spectacular staircase at the entrance. When we were leaving, I looked up and took this photo. As with most digital cameras, ours has a lag. While it was lagging, this young woman jumped into the picture. She laughed and laughed at that.


This is ST Sulpice. It was recently cleaned. The last time we were in Paris it was all under wraps.


We walked to the Luxembourg Gardens just for fun.

It was really packed with people, as the day was very nice. Everyone had TWO of these chairs. One for their butts, and one for their feet and luggage. We had three for two.


Then we walked back.

We had dinner in a little place called L'Epigramme - a small (12 table) place that was family run. We had foie gras and octopus for appetizers, Lamb and Duck for our main courses, and cheese and pears for dessert. All washed down with a nice burgundy.

Ah, Paris!

It is good to be back!

London, the Tate Modern

On Wednesday we had some more beautiful weather. I don't think I mentioned how lucky we have been everyday on this trip with the weather. It has been sunny and mild almost the whole time. One day it was a little overcast - but that was the exception. I hope that it stays that way!


This is a view of St Paul's from the Millennium bridge. Nice!


These may look like sunflower seeds. But they are really ceramic sunflower seeds, each hand painted in China. There are about 100 million of them in this installation. The artist is Ai Weiwei. You can read a little about this here.


You can get a sense of the scale here


and here.


Then we went to Parliament, and had to look at Big Ben.


We had lunch at the Cinnamon Club, which is not really a club. It is in an old library building.

Excellent food!



This is the famous Banqueting House designed by Inigo Jones. This building changed the face of London.


On Trafalgar Square, they always have one plinth that is used for temporary Art installations. This year it is a ship in a bottle. It is Nelson's ship HMS Victory. The multicolored sails represent the multiple cultures that now occupy the UK.



There I am, after washing off my pants. This bird:

Made me very lucky.

That evening we went to see The Children's Hour - a play set in the 1920s in a small town in New England. Keira Knightly and Elizabeth Moss were the stars.

Hampton Court

Doreen and I planned on meeting some good friends (Jamie and Andrea) for dinner on Tuesday evening. After much back and forth, we decided to meet in Hampton for drinks, and then head to India Zest for dinner.


So we took a train from Waterloo station down to Hampton Court in the afternoon.


As we were getting off the train, I snapped this photo. The conductor said he would have to confiscate my camera, as he thought I might be a terrorist. I said he just wanted a picture of my wife.


Hampton Court, as everyone knows, was originally built by Cardinal Wolsey, but was "given" to Henry VIII when the good Cardinal was trying to keep his head. (it didn't work. There is a lesson there for all of us)


It is a spectacular place, though. They have folks dressed up in period costume and they did little performances. It was fun.


The place is huge - about 1,000 rooms. They only have about 100 open to the public. That is the "Great Room" above. Probably the biggest room outside a church at the time it was built.

Hampton Court is really two palaces. The Wolsey Palace built in the 16th century, and the William III (William of Orange, or William of William and Mary) initiated additions (such as this courtyard below) designed by Christopher Wren (of St Paul fame. Though I always wondered if he was related to Percival Christopher Wren...)


They also have a maze:

I told Doreen about the "one hand" trick, and this is indeed a one handed maze. The trick is to never remove your hand from the wall, and you will get out of the maze. IT may not be the shortest way, but you will get out.

Not all mazes are one hand mazes but this one is. The trick worked.


The daffodils were blooming while we were they. Absolutely spectacular. They had a whole field of blooms.


They had swans, too. I am not sure if these were for the kitchen (as per The Tudors) but this fellow was rather aggressive.


This is a good view of the Wren facade. A spectacular place


But we did have to use the handrail HSE all the time! You spot it, you got it!

Here Doreen is in front of one of the many gardens. 60 acres worth.


One last shot.

I have to say that the meal with J&A was spectacular. They are excellent hosts.

London on Tuesday

Monday I worked all day, but yesterday (Tuesday)we had a good day all around.

Monday evening Doreen got tickets to her friend Bruce Norris's play Clybourne Park, which just won the Ollies (the UK equivalent of the Tonys). (you can see the poster here, at a pub):


It is a play set in Chicago, 50 years apart. This is a simplification, but it is about a neighborhood that first goes from White to Black, and what the neighbors think about that - and then 50 years later when the neighborhood is starting to gentrify and white people start moving back in.



We always make it to the British Museum, to check and see if the Rosetta Stone is still behind glass. It still is.


A couple more photos from the Museum - one of our favorite places




Finally, we had to stop and whet our whistle (or is it wet our whistle?) at a pub.

We had some "real ale" (that means warm beer. And delicious) to tide us over for the rest of the day.

More on the rest of the day later. (Think Hampton Court)

London

I have Board meeting in London Monday. The Company has invited "Partners" to come on this trip and get to know the other Board members and spouses. This was an alien concept to me, so when the Company asked me if I would be bringing a "partner" I did not know if they wanted me to invite a client, a supplier, or my spouse!

I waited to see what other Board members would say.

Happily, they meant spouse.

So we set off for London, and will be visiting Paris on this trip as well.


We start all our international trips in the Continental Presidents Club. Not sure how that will change with the United merger, I guess we will just have to see.

It is a good place to unwind. My good nephew Quinn drove us to the airport, and will be picking us up. Our good friend Linda will be taking care of the animals, and the house. And she live there, so don't think about going there to rob us. She is a real Texan, and is no doubt armed. You are forewarned!


This was a 777 with the new lie flat beds. Nice! This is the first time that I was actually able to lie flat on them. We both slept most of the way here.

Our hotel is The Arch just north of the Marble Arch underground (Tube!) stop. It is small, but seems quite nice. We are on the First (that  means second) floor.



We wandered about this part of the city to stay awake and to buy a metro pass. We are just on the cusp of the either just paying for our tickets or buying a seven day pass. Since I am working one day, we bought Doreen a seven day pass, and I just loaded up my Oyster card with pounds. We walked over to the Marylebone (look at that word. What do you think the \genesis is?)  train station.

We walked through Regent's Park afterward, and saw this flock of herons. (Herons, not egrets) They had a rookery nearby.

The park is very pretty, but I think it would have been nicer in a couple of weeks. The daffodils were blooming, but not much else.




Well, the apple trees were blooming, too.


From Regent's Park we took the tube to London Bridge. Some friends of ours told us about this gourmet food market on Borough High Street that is open on Saturdays. This was a good way to stay awake! (Thanks, Richard and Jim)



The market was amazing, and PACKED! It looked like you could get just about any sort of food there. (Even Mexican food)

There was plenty of fish. One place had Fish Soup that looked excellent, but we didn't get any.

Lots of sausages and pig parts. You could even buy pig heads:

But we didn't get any of those either.

We got Pastys:

Sort of like meat turnovers. They are Welsh or Cornish in origin, the miners use to take them underground. They would say hot all day.

Meat, potatoes, other root vegetables with brown gravy. Delicious!



As I said, plenty of fish. Here was a batch of fresh cod (the fish that changed the world)

and other, less important fishes.


And, of course, Italian Cheese.

Here is the Southwark Cathedral. The market surrounds this building, and probably has for over 1,400 years. There have been religious ceremonies on this cite since 606 AD!

Finally, we walked across London Bridge.

and then came back to the hotel for a well deserved nap.