How I ever got it in my head that we had to go to Gare St. Lazare to catch the Eurostar, I will never know. What I do know is that I did and did I ever feel like an idiot! Tuesday was our big trip to London, a full day from 0500 to 2300! We got up, and on the way to the Gare (station). I was congratulating myself on our getting there on time. I waited and waited in line to get out paper tickets and had another look at the form I had printed only to notice that we were at the wrong station! Imagine my panic as we now have less than 30 minutes to get from one to the other, doable, but not necessarily getting on the train. And let me tell you, I now know boarding is not quick! We raced across town to get to Gare du Nord, only to stand in line again. A man gave me a sob story about how his train was leaving in five minutes and I thought, “Well mine is leaving in three”! So I waited only to be told that I was in the wrong line. Then when we finally found the Eurostar line, the lady took our tickets, changed them without asking, and then told us not to be late that evening or we would pay. I couldn’t tell if she had done us a favor or just “did” for us. Then getting on the train took (after a quick bite of breakfast) we had to go through immigration and while we have never had to show our parental consent letters, let me tell you we were lucky to have them. I was impressed to be honest, made me feel that at least the Brits take child exploitation seriously. Eventually we got on the train and the trip was fine. I had entertained some second thoughts after offering this excursion to the kids. I was not sure how I would feel about being in that tunnel, under the channel for that long. To be honest I did not even appreciate it. We were in and out of several tunnels and I think our time in the actual Chunnel was 20 to 30 minutes. That is pretty brief if you ask me. I struggled with casting on a new knitting project and could not remember how to do it, nor could I get my I-Phone to work in the Chunnel! How needy we are with our technology! I finally got it started; I will always know the project I started in the Chunnel, though, because the edge is very irregular!
I would not recommend a one-day trip to London again, though Jodi and the kids enjoyed themselves, I felt that we just did not have enough time. The kids immediately started saying how much better they like London because they could understand the language. I had no patience for that as they have both had French learning modules for over two years!We got to Buckingham just as the guards began their change process. We stood back as I knew we would be able to see well than if we tried to push into the crowd. It is a lot of pomp and quite exciting the first time, though I think we lost the kids part way through. It was hot, and long. Next we went to Westminster Abby, to my amazement the kids were not impressed at seeing the grave of Geoffrey Chaucer. We did a lot of “pay attention because you WILL see this name again!” while we were there. I particularly enjoyed Westminster this time because I have done some reading about Queen Elizabeth, and Mary Queen of Scots. Before we went in Courtney had expressed some feelings of hunger. I assisted her in learning about delayed gratification. I wanted them to experience a London Taxi, and we had a 3:00 appointment to ride the London Eye, so we caught a cab and ate at a place called the Slug and Lettuce near the eye. It was o.k. nothing remarkable. I allowed the waitress to talk me into ravioli and should have had the more “English” dish of Shepard’s Pie. I did insist on Stickey Toffee Pudding. Jodi liked it, though she did not want to admit it, both kids pretended to be aristocracy and turned up their noses! As far as Stickey Toffee Pudding goes it was o.k. I have had better, but I HAD to have some.
The Eye was one of my and Joe’s favorite things. Jodi, on the other hand, loathed it and using that word is, I think, mild. It was a fabulous, slow rotation around a huge Ferris wheel in a glass room. It was awesome, I saw a London I had not really envisioned before! Jodi survived and began taking photos of our exploits right away. We took the tube to the Tower of London, but did not really have time to go inside, we did get to see the Tower Bridge, and Have a quick snack, no tea for us that day and catch our train back! The trip back was uneventful and Jodi and the kids both said they loved the day.
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