We’re in London…and They Speak English Here!

We reached London a week ago taking the EuroStar from Paris.  The train was quite comfortable, but the waiting area was a mob scene!  I think the train had 18 cars with between 39 and 58 passengers per car, and every seat was full! But, even with that crowd, the train left and arrived exactly on time.

We have both been to London before but not for some time, so we’ve been shameless tourists during this trip.  We bought a 7-day pass that we could use on the Underground, trains, buses and boats. (They call it a Oyster card here…not sure why…) And, of course, we’ve done a lot of walking. We visited parts of the Victoria & Albert Museum as well as a large  Rauschenberg exhibit at the Tate Modern.
   

The weather has been alternately gray and sunny, but pretty windy and chilly during our week here.  So, some of the time, we’ve just enjoyed taking it easy…which was facilitated by the fact that we’re staying with our friends Avivah & Tim in their lovely and well-located South Bank home…close to theaters, pubs, a great bakery, and Waterloo Station.  AND, they have one of the cutest dogs ever…dear Daisy.
        

We even went with them to a dancing class one night!  Look at what dapper Londoners they are!
     
Tim is a very talented sculptor whose piece, The Gardener’s Hand, is in Archbishop’s Park.  There I also got to see that Spring really is coming…
  

One of the things we have sorely missed in the last 5 months has been going to the movies.  Well, we scratched that itch here by seeing both of the two top Oscar contenders – Moonlight and LaLa Land – both within easy walking distance.

Rick Steves has a relatively new app with guided audio tours, including several in London that we used – Westminster and a London City Walk.  These took us to many of the major sights and to a couple of good pubs for lunch.
  
We have seen many war memorials in our travels, but here we saw the first memorial to the Women of WWII.

And did you know that London cabs are no longer all black??

It’s been lovely to be here and to know that we can understand the language without using Google Translate.  They do have some funny names for things, though.  And we notice that, once you’re in an English speaking country, the decibel level in restaurants amps up.  We observed that, throughout France, even when we were seated near large groups of (mostly) men, we were never bothered by their loud conversation.  But here in London, it sounds more like the US…

Tomorrow we’re on a plane for the first time since September…and heading back to the States.  Kids and grandkids, here we come!