A Bientot and Merci!

One last note--we really appreciate your reading along and taking an interest in our trip!  I'm sure many of you have gone on much more exciting and entertaining excursions yourselves, but for us, being that we are Infrequent Flyers, this trip was a pretty big deal.  We may not have purchased many souvenirs, but what better reminder of our trip than this blog.  We didn't tell that many people about the blog (although I may post a link on Facebook after we get home), especially since I didn't know for sure if we would be diligent about keeping up with it.  If we hadn't had any readers at all, we might have petered out, put off posting, forgotten a bunch of things, then felt too daunted and overwhelmed to try to put the pieces together.  So thank you for all your encouragement, whether by leaving comments, sending emails, or just reading (we can see how many page views we got).  It was the motivation we needed to post.

Looking forward to seeing you all back in the states! 

Our Last Night

According to the advice of travel expert Rick Steves, we only went to the ATM twice, once when we arrived in Paris and once when we arrived in London.  He says you should never try to exchange currency because you lose money on the exchange rate and for transaction fees.  He says you should try to take out what you think you'll need for the number of days you'll be in whichever country, then try to spend the full amount before you leave.

This being our last night in London, we turned in our Oyster cards, which are the cards we used for the metro/bus system. You can get a refund on the unused amount and for the 5 pound deposit you have to pay for each card--but the machines give you the refund in change.  So at dinner, we emptied our collective pockets and paid for almost the entire tab in change.  We explained the whole scenario to our waitress so she wouldn't think we were total idiots, but who knows, she still might have had her doubts.  FYI, most of the coins we left were 1 and 2 pound coins, so it wasn't like we were paying her in pennies or anything as annoying as that.

This morning, we went to Notting Hill and Portobello Road Market.  Here's a sign for proof.

The market during the week is not quite as bustling as it is on weekends, but there were still a lot of vendors--fruit stands, antiques, souvenirs, vintage clothes, etc. 

We had lunch there, but typical of us, we didn't buy anything.  The thought of having to find room in my suitcase for one more thing is enough to dissuade me.

Here's the bookstore from the movie.  Alas, we didn't see Hugh or Julia, or the skinny dude from the movie that liked to wear strange t-shirts and no pants (if I remember the movie correctly).

I was tickled to see that they really do sell portobello mushrooms on Portobello Road!

Odds and Ends

This is Steve, and I'll get the first crack at describing our last day in London. Mimi will then fill you in on our morning trip to Notting Hill.

Today's weather was the nicest we saw in London (by far), so I started the day with a run through Trafalgar Square, which is about 1.5 miles from our apartment.

I then ran along the Thames for a while, crossing the Golden Jubilee foot bridge and then crossing back at Blackfriar's Bridge. This route took me past the London Eye, as you can see.

After we all went to Notting Hill for shopping and lunch, I decided to squeeze in a few last "odds and ends" in the afternoon. My big plan was to observe a Parliament debate, but they weren't in session today. So I toured Westminster Abbey next door, where I saw the grave of Charles Dickens in Poet's Corner. You'll have to take my word for it, as no photography is allowed in the Abbey.

I also caught the Tube to the Tower of London and walked around. The picture above was taken near the "Traitors Gate," where Anne Boleyn and Sir Thomas More entered as prisoners (that's what the sign said - this isn't personal knowledge or anything).

From that same vantage point, I also took this picture of the Tower Bridge. I then walked across the span and was mildly offended by a sign reading, "World's Most Famous Bridge!" Who are they kidding? We all know that's the Golden Gate.

I'll close my contributions to this blog with another picture I took today that shows blue skies behind Big Ben. And for good measure, there's a red double-decker bus in the foreground and a bit of the London Eye peeking up at the left.

I hope our friends and family have enjoyed these pages - thanks for reading!

The Charles Dickens Museum

Steve here. Today Mimi and I braved a light rain to visit the Charles Dickens Museum, a Georgian house where Dickens lived when he wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby.

I have always loved Dickens' books and fondly recall reading David Copperfield to the girls when they were little. They particularly liked Mr. Micawber, who was prone to giving long-winded orations before remarking, "In short . . ." and saying in plain words what he should have said to begin with.

The rooms were decorated for a Victorian Christmas, though the turkey appeared to be plastic. I took a picture of Mimi by the Christmas tree that could not be posted because she "looks like a drowned rat" (her words, not mine).

The highlight was seeing Dickens' writing desk up close and personal. It's amazing to think that the words written there are still being read all over the world.

Hodge Podge Day

One of the (many) challenges of traveling with family members is that we don't always share the same interests.  So today, we split up into all sorts of configurations, so we could do the things we wanted to do without having to drag others to places they have no interest in.

We had fantastic weather in Paris, and although there has been some rain since we've been in London, today was the only day where it rained pretty much the entire day. Partially from the weather and partially from just wanting to relax, Stephanie opted to stay home today, which I also found tempting but resisted joining her in doing.

Meanwhile, Adrienne has a long laundry list of museums and galleries she wants to visit.  Several times, both here in London and in Paris, she has taken off on her own to tackle her list.  She is so used to city life now after having lived in Boston for the past couple years, it's impressive how quickly and easily she navigates the streets and subway systems.  She's very confident about getting around, and we don't really worry about her.  Here she is in a vintage coat she bought in Paris for 20 euros.

Steve and I went to St. Paul's Cathedral this morning.  Being that it was Sunday, if you visit during one of their worship services, it's free.  If you go in at another time, it's 18 pounds ($26 USD).

We went for the Choral Mattins service.  The singing and the sound quality were angelic.  I wasn't supposed to take photos, but I sneaked one anyway.

After that, we walked across the Millennium Bridge, which is a pedestrian footbridge crossing the Thames.  It opened in 2000 and promptly closed the same day because it was "wobbly".  It took them 2 years to make it not wobbly, hence it reopened in 2002.  I love how this photo shows the old architecture of London rising up behind this ultra-sleek modern bridge.

The tall pointy skyscraper is The Shard, and to the very left edge of the photo is the Tower Bridge, which I unwittingly cut in half when taking the photo.

We stopped off at Tate Modern Museum because it was right there in front of us and free besides.  It's a great museum, and we probably would have spent more time there if we weren't already so museumed-out.  Here's a shot of Andy Warhol's famous Marilyn Diptych.

After the museum, Steve and I parted ways.  He headed back to the apartment to have lunch with Steph, and I went back to my favorite store, Liberty London, so I could shop to my heart's content.  I bought a few small items to give to our pet caretakers and got myself a little drinking cup for about 8 pounds.  Ha ha, I'm a big spender.  I couldn't bring myself to buy any fabric.  Even though I love looking at it, I have no idea what I would make with it.

But my true solo indulgence was having Korean food at Bibigo.  I got my favorite, bibimbab.  No one else in my family is too crazy about Korean food, so I only buy it when I'm on my own.  Even though Bibigo's version is fairly inauthentic, I really enjoyed it anyway.  Mmmmmm.

A Sporty Day

Steve here. This was a day I was really looking forward to, as I planned to visit Wimbledon and then catch a soccer match in nearby Fulham. It rained off and on all day, but I tried to not let that dampen my spirits.

I started with a morning run through Hyde Park, which is about 1.5 miles from our apartment. There was some sort of race going on, so I tried to avoid the official runners with bibs.

Then it was a half hour tube ride to Wimbledon, where I visited the museum and gift shop before taking a 90-minute guided tour of the grounds. In the museum, they had the outfit that Bjorn Borg wore when he beat John McEnroe to win his 5th straight title in 1980 (unfortunately, my picture of said item didn't turn out so hot). I can remember watching that match with my brother, as well as the 1981 final, when McEnroe finally got his revenge.

Okay, let's cut to the chase . . . Center Court! The scoreboard still showed the result from the 2015 men's final (Djokovic over Federer in 4 sets). And they were treating the grass with artificial sunlight, which explains the contraption you see spanning the court.

They also took us through the main interview room where the top seeds meet with the press after their matches. I sat in one of the interview chairs, which has doubtless been graced by such dignitaries as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams, and a kindly attendant took my picture.

After backtracking a couple of tube stops, I made my way to "Craven Cottage," home of the Fulham Football Club. Apparently, the Fulham squad is variously known as the "Whites" and the "Cottagers," and I can't imagine that either nickname inspires much fear in opponents.

Unfortunately, their play was rather uninspiring also, as they fell to Sheffield Wednesday 1-0. Here the Cottagers are attempting to score from a free kick, a bungled effort that proved to be a harbinger of things to come. I sat by a Fulham fan who impressed me by applauding Sheffield's goal, a laser-like strike from well outside the penalty area. Of course, he also instructed the referee to "sod off" a couple of times.

My Favorite Store in the Entire World

This is another he/she post day.  Steve had some fun sports-related junkets planned, so Adrienne, Stephanie and I went shopping in Soho.

We did some looking around at Carnaby Street, which is supposedly famous, but most of the stores there are the same ones we have back in the US.  Disappointing.

The store I was super excited to go to is Liberty London, a luxury department store, known best (by me anyway) for their high-end cotton fabrics in trademark florals.

Here's just a tiny smattering of the selection in this store.  I'm talking THOUSANDS of different fabrics, on two floors of the store.  It's not cheap, though.  Their simple cotton fabrics cost over $30/yard.

The store also had a Rowan Yarn section, which was started by famed designer Kaffe Fassett, who I adore.  (If you've ever seen Cabana's pieced round dog bed that I made at our house, that's all made out of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.)

Little packages of fabric, ribbons, stationery, embroidery kits.  Drool, drool, drool.

This is my kind of taxidermy--stag heads, dog heads, and bunny heads, all made out of Liberty London fabrics.

We had lunch in the Liberty London cafe, where even the tea was served in their own floral china patterns.

Yes, this is my favorite store in the entire world.  I could have spent hours upon hours, poring over every item.  Being a considerate person, though, I only spent about 30 minutes there.  We still have 2 more full days in London.  I think I might come back by myself and indulge more fully.

New Year's Day in London

We headed out early for our first day in London and did a lot of walking around. Several big attractions are in the same neighborhood, so that made it convenient.  What is NOT convenient is that, being New Year's Day, they were setting up for a big parade, so there were barriers set up all over the place, making it difficult to cross the street where you wanted.

Westminster Abbey looked beautiful on the outside.  We would have liked to see the inside, but it cost 20 pounds per person, which is roughly $30 USD.  That would have been $120 USD for the 4 of us, and knowing (or even worse, not really knowing) how much we'd already spent in Paris, we opted to save our pence.

  

This is Big Ben.  There was a fireworks show over Big Ben the night before, but there were signs up, saying you had to have tickets to come view them.  Tickets had been sold out weeks before, not that we were keen on staying up until midnight anyway.

This exercise was happening in front of the Cavalry Museum.  They might have been getting set up for the parade. We didn't stick around for the parade, though--it was getting way too crowded.

The iconic red phone booths are still everywhere, even though no one uses them.  I tried to get my family members to all squish into one booth for a photo, but no one would humor me.

A lot of smaller businesses are closed for New Year's, many of which have signs posted, saying they won't reopen until Monday.  But Harrod's, the huge department store, was definitely open.  The bottom floor had big sales and billions of people.  The upper floors, though, were almost empty.  Maybe that's because the items on the upper floors cost billions of dollars.  It was amazing to walk through, though, and see all the separate sections for the big name designers, like Balmain (Kim Kardashian's fave), Stella McCartney, Givenchy, etc.

There's even a section called "Millionaire Gallery", filled with sports and music memorabilia and high-end techie gadgets, for rich guys to adorn their man caves.  These French bulldogs are actually wireless speakers, with bone-shaped remote controls.  At 1300 pounds (or $1900 USD), they cost more than an actual living French bulldog!

Speaking of dogs, back home, Cabana has been sick with vomiting and diarrhea. She has resisted going for walks and wouldn't even eat for a couple meals, a huge sign for concern when it comes to food-obsessed Cabana.  Jody took her to the vet, where they gave her fluids, adminstered a shot to stop the vomiting, and did some blood tests.  Today, Jody emailed that Cabana is doing much better. Thank goodness!  Being halfway around the world from your poor sick dog is a big bummer.

Churchill War Rooms

Steve again. Once more the girls declined to visit a site of great historical significance, this time the Churchill War Rooms in London. This is the fortified bunker near 10 Downing Street where Churchill and his staff made plans while Germany bombed London.

Supposedly, everything has been left as it was in 1945 when the war ended. There were a lot of tiny sleeping quarters and several larger rooms with tables and maps on the wall. And they had special "noiseless" typewriters because Churchill became deeply annoyed at the sound of typing. I guess the stress was getting to him, which is understandable.

If you saw "The Imitation Game," you may recognize this as an Enigma machine. The Germans invented this device to send encrypted messages during the way, but (spoiler alert!) the Brits got a hold of one and cracked the code. Nice work, Alan Turing and Co.

Getting to London

Yesterday, we took the Eurostar, the high-speed train that connects Paris and London and goes through the English channel.  It took about 2.5 hours and was an extremely pleasant way to travel. As with airplane tickets, the cheaper tickets get sold out ahead of time, leaving only the pricier ones for last minute folks.  Thankfully, I bought our tickets months ago, for $94/person. 

We had our own little 4-person seating area.  You can bring food and drink on board, or you can also purchase items on the train.  The train goes through green rolling countryside, dotted with little villages.  The underwater part of the trip only lasts about 20 minutes.

In London, we settled into our 2-bedroom, 2-bath apartment (thank goodness--one bathroom was not easy for 4 people to share, and Lisa, I don't know how you grew up with 7 people in a house with one bathroom).  The apartment is really lovely, comfortable, warm, and spacious.  Although I liked our apartment in Paris, I picked it mostly for its location.  Our London apartment is more upscale, but the location, while not bad, is probably not quite as convenient as the one in Paris.  It's a trade off.

Steve and I closed out 2015 in a pub nearby with a pint and a glass of Malbec.  The girls did not want to come with us.  We were all pretty tired and went to bed way before midnight.  I think Steph went to bed around 7pm, Adrienne at 8pm, and Steve and I at 9pm. We are only drunken revelers in our dreams.