London - Days 5, 6, and 7

We've had an action-packed three days. I will try to come back and go into some detail later. For now, let me hit the high points.

Friday:

• Took the Metro (Subway) from the Musteens' apartment across town the the Eurostar train station.


• Took the Eurostar from Paris to London. This is a very very fast train that goes through the tunnel under the English Channel.


• Arrived in London around 10:45AM local time. London is one hour behind Paris (so that would have been 11:45AM Paris time.)


• Took the Tube (Subway) from the Waterloo train station to our hotel. Left our bags and took the Tube back to the Tower of London.


• The Tower of London isn't really a tower - not like a lighthouse or a lookout tower. It's actually a castle. If you've ever built a sand castle, you've built something like the Tower of London. The original fortress - the White Tower - was built in 1070 (or thereabouts) by William I ("William the Conquerer.") The other parts of the tower were added over the centuries. The Tower has been home to famous and infamous prisoners throughout the ages.


• Around 6:00PM, we wandered off to find a place to eat. Then it started raining. We weren't lost, but we didn't exactly know where we were either. It was the London version of Wall Street. We ended up catching the Tube back to our hotel and eating at a little place around the corner.

Saturday:

• I wanted to "see London" from above ground, so I woke up early and learned how to use the bus system by trial-and-error. It was more error than trial. I started at 7:00AM, and after riding various buses completely across town, had to catch a cab back to the hotel because I had used up all my time. I was still 20 minutes late and L20 poorer for it. (I can't make the character for Pounds, which is the British unit of currency. One L is worth about $2.) But I did get to see London.


• We all caught the Tube and headed for Westminster Abbey. The architecture of the Abbey is similar to Notre Dame in Paris - but it is a bit smaller. But not much. It is still quite impressive. However, unlike Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey is filled with tombs and memorials to hundreds of notable people - kings, queens, dukes, scientists, authors, poets, musicians. This is also where all the kings and queens of England have been crowned since William I in 1066.


• The afternoon was spent at the British Museum. The saying goes: "If you want to see the world, come to London." And the place to see it is at the British Museum. In centuries past, Great Britain collected artifacts as quickly as it collected colonies. The main attractions were the Egyptian collection, the Assyrian collection, and the ancient Greek collection. Lots of mummies. Lots of statues. Lots of pottery.


• The ancient Greeks invented many things: philosophy, democracy, geometry (maybe). But they didn't invent pants. Or shirts. For some reason, they chose to fight naked. And they spent much of their time fighting with centaurs (half horse, half man.) The ancient Greeks really didn't like centaurs, as evidenced by the detailed comic-book-like carvings depicting various battles between naked warriors and angry centaurs.


• Speaking of comic books: One fact that interested me was to see this same comic book depiction of battles or hunts in just about every ancient civilization: Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, and others. The depiction of the centaurs (Greek) as well as the depiction of the lion hunt (Assyrian) were incredible.


• Back to the hotel, dinner at an Italian place around the corner (called Bizzarro...), and off to bed.

Sunday:

• I had to try the bus circuit again. This time I had it figured out. I was doing great until I miscalculated and needed to ride a bus that had a different schedule on Sundays. So I had to adjust my tour in mid-stream. But I did not get caught on the other side of town this time, I was on time, and I did not have to take a cab. And I got to see lots of London from the top of several double-decker buses.


• We checked out and spent the morning touring the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. This was the underground headquarters of the British government during the darkest hours of WWII.


• After a quick lunch, we walked around Westminster Abbey along the edge of St. James park and over to Buckingham Palace. It was raining a little. We didn't have time to tour the palace. Just passed by.
  
• We caught the Tube for Waterloo, hopped on the Eurostar, and raced back to Paris. You fill in the details.

Here are the London pictures.

Jeff