Off to London

This is the week we begin our extended trip to London and beyond. We decided that we needed to pack lightly with the expectation of having to haul our luggage over cobbled streets, up escalators, stairs and trains. It was a challenge to decide just what we might need for this three month trip, shoes and rain-gear being the most vexing. In the end we packed what we thought made sense and decided to shop at thrift stores if we needed something extra, remembering, of course,  we would have to ditch something in return.



That,s all the luggage and now to San Francisco airport to London via LA. The flights were good, not too crowded. We managed to get exit row seats on the Boeing 777-300 to London with the comfort of more legroom.
Took the tube from Heathrow, not the express, much to expensive, the Piccadilly line was about $10 each  with no changes to Kings Cross. We had booked a hotel for three days to recover from jet-lag and see a bit of London, room was small but OK, hotel full of travelers from all over Europe.

At least we had a view over the rooftops to St Pancreas rail terminus.

Just had to start the day with an almost full English breakfast.

Kings Cross is a very busy station but with a great facade and this incredible structure inside. It was very interesting to listen to the voices around us, English was not what was most prevalent, many changes in 40 years!

Traveling by tube is always a great experience and easy and convenient.
We needed to get another SIM card for our phone which turned out to be a bit of a challenge, but in the end we were able to figure it out (mostly). It is odd that I can text to European phones, but texting to US phones does not work, maybe has to do with different technologies between US and Europe!
We wandered around the City streets heading towards Oxford street via Soho.

This is a wonderful Hungarian restaurant that I used to visit occasionally in the 1970's, has not changed a bit and the "wild cherry soup" is still on the menu.

Walked through Selfridges and had to take a break and sit in the park surrounding the Marble Arch. We were blessed with lovely weather, sunny but not hot.

Interesting sculpture in the same park.

On to Kensington and museums.

This is the Natural History museum, but we were headed for the V&A.

Great museum and entry is free.

This is just one small gallery as you enter. There are seven miles of hallways in this museum, so it is very difficult to comprehend the scale.

One of the three rooms to have your lunch, or you can eat outside in the garden.

It was a short walk to Harrods, a "must visit" just for fun.

I just love the food halls, just look at this ceiling!

 We just had to have ice cream, very expensive. This is Jenna who took our order and was very nice and friendly.

All packed up again and off to St Pancreas to catch the Eurostar to Paris.

Pretty long lines and passport control and all of that. Train was pretty full as this weekend was a long holiday weekend and many folks were taking advantage of an extra day off.

I guess all entry's to train stations look pretty much the same, even in France. At least the train ride was very smooth and fast.

Negotiated the Metro and emerged on the Ille de France, just a short walk to our rented apartment.

A peak at Notre Dame as we pulled our luggage along.

Over the Seine.

Onto Ille St Louis.

And down the street to our apartment.
Stay tuned as we stumble around Paris.