Last of London Pics

I added some pics on the previous post (London bike tour, etc) and ran out of room for space provided for one post.  So this is the rest of the Days in London updates.

THE LONDON EYE

Friend Janis said that the one thing she didn’t do in London but wished she had was to ride on the London Eye, London’s humongous capsule ferris wheel. So, Janis, this was for you! We might not have gone on, considering the drizzle, and our hunger, but we’d bought our discount tickets onboard the Ryan Air plane, so we didn’t want to waste them.. We were glad we went. The ride was not busy, so we ended up in a capsule with only five other people. Lots of room to roam. And it was fun to have a bird’s-eye view over the city from the shore of the Thames, with good views of the Parliament Buildings with Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, all the parks and the places we’d just begun to know. A worthwhile last activity for our visit.

Starved, we ducked back into Waterloo station and found a pub for a quick dinner before catching the tube back to our little Fawlty Towers. Had to have bangers and mash…..tasty, but not exactly my usual diet. Maybe French food will be better.






JUNE 11^TH TRAVEL DAY - LONDON TO VANNES

All packed up and ready to go before 6:30. Peggy packs apples, croissants and chockies (chocolate pastries) for us to take, and waves us off like friends. As far as we know, we only left Mike’s sunglasses behind (That's them in the photo hanging on the light over his bed).  It’s becoming a tradition to buy him a new pair every holiday.

Note to self: leave earlier when catching International train. Our tube ride to the station went well, but it’s a huge station, and by the time we got to the International security check area we only had 20 minutes until our train left. We thought we’d have 40. Never mind…. We picked a line where the officer was processing quickly, and landed in our seats 8 minutes before departure time. Piece of Cake.

The Eurostar is fast, smooth, comfortable and quiet. The actual Chunnel crossing is anti-climactic. It’s just like being on a 20 minute subway ride through a dark tunnel, and then you’re there in France. The only noticeable difference was that now all the announcements are in French first, with a heavily accented English translation second. Warning: don’t order the English breakfast on board.




Thanks to the advice of the Eurostar ticket agent in London, we had Paris Metro tube tickets in hand and knew which line to look for to go clear across Paris to the next train station, Gare de Montparnasse, to catch the next train to Vannes in Brittany. What a contrast to the London Underground. The French subway train was old and dilapidated and super busy. Such a crush. As I sat there I felt a cold coming on. And no ‘lifts’.. all luggage must be carried up the stairs from the subways. Despite all this, we found our platform and our train, which was just fine, and 3 hours later arrived in Vannes, to the warm welcome of my Cousin Peter and his wife Ann.