I did not send any email this day either...so again, "filling in"....
When I checked the weather for Paris last night, it reported snow. So I
started checking for other cities in the region - Brussels, Amsterdam,
Lyon, Avignon, Mont St Michelle, Strasbourg, etc. Every place was either
snowing or raining!
Early on the morning of the 2nd, I checked weather in all those places again,
and it was still all the same. So I "expanded my territory" -- checked London
weather. Voila! London was freezing, but at least no precipitation of any kind!
And it was only a 3-hour train ride! And I still had the Tower of London left
to see -- no thanks to my poor planning on the first trip to London!
So I checked the Eurostar train schedules -- it was 7 AM by now, and the next
train was at 8:10 AM -- perfect! Just enough time to get my things and head out
to Gare De Nord train station ...
I bought the first-class ticket (only 25 euros more than economy) and boarded
the 8:10 AM train to London. It left right on time (before sunrise), and 3
hours later I was in an English-speaking country for the first time this year!
It really helps when others actually know english or are willing to speak it!
I only knew a few words of French -- enough to get by (which means I knew
how to ask "Do you speak English?") -- but nothing compares to actually
KNOWING the language of the country you are visiting!
One and half hours in France, 20 minutes across the Channel, and one hour inside
England -- total trip time 2:50, and I was in London Waterloo station. I stopped
by at the information center in the train station to pick up a map of London
and an underground map, and also bought tickets to the Tower of London.
First stop after that was the underground to the Tower Hill station.
When I got to the Tower of London, the line to buy the tickets was probably
well over one hour long! Thank god i had already bought them -- such a huge
time-saver!
I got inside, and immediately joined a very entertaining tour given by one
of the "Beefeaters" -- nickname given to the keepers of the Tower, in part
because in the olden days they were the only ones who had money to buy and
eat beef.
The 1-hour tour of the tower was absolutely NOT what I had expected it to be!
We never went inside any of the buildings in the tower complex except for the
chapel. I was expecting a tour of the crown jewels... nope. But it was
made to be extremely entertaining, although also gory. They described
in too much detail how the torture and executions were carried out at the tower
during the middle ages. All the famous people who lost their heads.... Anne Boleyn,
Catherine (5th wife of Henry VIII), and many many others... but not just the
stories that they lost their heads, but HOW... in extreme detail!
But it was still a nice tour... The last stop was the chapel where more than
a thousand unknown people are still buried.
After that I was on my own -- went to see the crown jewels, including the
Kohinoor diamond which I was expecting to be bigger than it really is...
also the various towers, the royal armory, and of course the torture chambers.
All in all, a very nice fort and very educational and entertaining tour...
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) everything took a little longer than expected
and by the time I was finished, it was time to head back to Waterloo station for
the train back to Paris.
So in my whole day in London, the only thing I saw was the Tower of London (and
the Tower Bridge behind it). The train back to Paris was right on time, and it was
then that I really saw how fast that train moves...
Normally, if you're driving at night and see out on the horizon, the lights
on the horizon don't seem to move. Well, from this train, even those lights
far, far away were actually moving! The train's top speed is 186 miles/hour
and I'm sure it was going pretty close to that - especially while in France.
Not to mention the fact that while the train was travelling next to a highway,
we were passing the cars going at least twice as fast!
After reaching back in Paris, I didn't quite go back immediately to the hotel.
It was about 10:40pm and it wasn't snowing. I thought I'd go for a walk again.
Along the Seine river, at night, facing the still-lit Eiffel Tower -- an
absolutely GORGEOUS walk, although slightly cold at night.
Correction - I was freezing my butt off!
But it was beautiful - all the lights reflecting in the river again as a couple
days ago, and of course the Eiffel Tower ahead, all lit up just like on the 31st.
From exactly 11:00 to 11:10 at night, the "other" lights came on again... the
tower looks remarkable with those on! It looks remarkable with those OFF.... and
on is even prettier! WOW!
As you can see below I took a lot more pictures that night than I did during the
day in London... it was just too good! Just before midnight though I had had enough
of the cold and took the metro back to the hotel... the lights on the tower would
be turning off at midnight anyway...
My second day in London:
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My last night in Paris:
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