Our stay in England

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I have not been posting regularly, it seems my blog site was locked.
I'll try again now.

Day 1 - Sunday july 8th - London

We arrived in London somewhat jet lagged Sunday morning at
7am. Even though Heathrow airport was VERY busy we got to our hotel
at approx 9am. The Heathrow express train (15 min ride) goes to Paddington station.
We then took a taxi to our hotel, the K+K George near Earls Court subway. Our room
was not ready yet for another 5 hours and
We were pretty jet-lagged so our main activity that day was take a 2 hour double-decker
bus tour of London and a 1 hour Thames cruise. Very impressive city, The tour guides
were very knowledgeable and entertaining.
Tomorrow we will go to Stonehenge, Bath and Salisbury. The day after that to Liverpool.
We are staying in the west end of the city , near Earl's Court subway. It's about 6
subway stops from the center of the city . Our Hotel is the K+K George. It is Austrian
owned, it is nicely renovated, wireless Internet in the rooms, very clean and modern,
with Austrian attention to service. It is mid-priced by London standards. The only
drawback is the rooms are quite small. After the city tours, we got back to the hotel and
tried to sleep off the jet lag.
Maria slept for 14 hours !

Day 2 - Monday july 9 London


We slept late, had breakfast at the hotel (which was fantastic)!
Mariyka and Christia went to Harrods which is the ultimate London shopping experience.
I wandered aroung town a bit. Went to Victoria railway station and bought train
tickets for our trip to Liverpool (in 2 days). London-Liverpool has very
good connections - the express train journey is only 2.5 hours one way.
I also bought a cell phone wich can be used all over Europe.
Together with our wireless laptop - that's a dynamic duo !
We met up in the afternoon - then took the Subway to St Pauls Cathedral in London's east end.
Built in 1666, it is extermely large and very ornate.
We attended a mass there - someone from the royal family was there (patron of Freinds of St Pauls).
After mass we had supper at Old Chessire Cheese pub (which is said to have the
oldest bar in London). By bar , I mean the piece of wood - over 500 years old !
The pub food was fascinating - stuff you would rarely see in Canada:
Toad in a hole, yorkshire pudding, welsh rarebit, shank of lamb, bangers and mash,
mushy peas, bubble and squeek (Christia's favourite).
We then tried to visit Westminster cathedral, but it was closed for that day already.
We walked by Buckingham palace. There must have been a reception there, all sorts of ambassadors
were driving in. We then took a bus back to the hotel.

Day 3 - Tuesday July 10th - England

Our day started early. At 8am we caught the bus for or tour of Salisbury, Stonehenge and Bath.
Unfortunately due to London traffic, a large part of the day is spent in the bus.
For example, we got back to London at 7pm, so we were away 11 hours.
Times we spent at the sites:
Salisbury 2 hours (including lunch at an old pub)
Stonehenge 1 hour
Bath 1.5 hours
However this is not all bad because the bus goes thru some very picturesque and historical villages
( Dead maid's crossing , black dog house, cotswood stone walls, wiltshire blinds).
All three sites were fascinating. The cathedral in Salisbury houses an original copy
of the Magna Carta from 1215. Bath was the 18th century Las Vegas of the British elite
and also has wonderfully preserved Roman bath ( excavated in the 1870's.)
Back in town, we ate near our hotel in a local Italian restaurant (medium quality , medium prices (for London !))


Day 4 Wednesday, July 11th - England

Our last full day in England was spent in Liverpool.
We caught the London-Liverpool train at 10:15 am
and the return train at 6:15 pm , so we had about 5 full hours in the city.
Plenty of time to explore - it's not nearly as big as London.
The city has gone through a rough patch after WWII (industial decline).
However now it is going thru a rebirth - it will be the Europe City of Culture in 2008 !
As usual, the open air double decker bus tour (1 hour) was fascinating.
The driver pointed out some amazing facts and sight about the City.
In its heyday, it had a numerous claims to worldwide fame:
18th century - premiere slave shipping port from Europe to the Americas (Britain banned slave trade in 1807)
19th century - premiere immigrant shipping port from Europe to the Americas
Early 20th century - Headquartes of Cunard, White Star shipping lines and one of the major shipbuiling cities in the world.
I visited it's Maritime Museum which was fascinating. There was a fantastic exhibit about the WWII 'Battle of the Atlantic'.
Also , its 2 main cathedrals (Protestant and Catholic) are among the largest in the world.
Then there is of course the Beatles. I went in to a replica of The Cavern - the night
club where the Beatles started their career. Maria and Christina visited te Beatles Museum ,also facsinating.
In all of England and especially in Liverpool, the people ar extremely talkative and friendly.
The tours we went on were extremey intersting.

Day 5 - Thursday July 12th - Travel from London to Paris.

At noon today we took the Eurostar train from London to Paris.
The train takes 3 hours (stops only a few times). But there is a 1 hour time difference,
so we arrived at 4pm in Paris (Gare du Nord). We were at the Hotel Delavigne (in the Latin quarter) by about 5 pm, by taxi.
The hotel is about 30% less expensive than the one in London , but I would rate this as a 3 star compared
to the 4 star service we enjoyed in London (K+K George).
As with London, we are fairly close to the center, so we plan to explore a bit on foot this evening.
Tomorrow we may take a city bus tour. The day after that (Saturday) we plan to rent a car and start our 21 day road trip
(Alsace area of France, Switzerland, northern Italy,then back to Paris via Burgundy).

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