Before retiring for the night we both did some much needed laundry. I lost my mind recently and listened to friends (you KNOW who you are) talk about packing light and wearing a bra for two days. WHO DOES THAT? Like I said, I lost my mind and only packed 5 for a 9 day trip. Seriously after a 10 hour flight and an hour drive into town, the last thing I EVER want to do is get anywhere near that disgusting thing. So, in four days I'm out. NOTE TO SELF: Don't listen to other people who do not live in my world -- I "gently glow" .... a great deal when I travel. My mother used say, "Dear, horses sweat, men perspire and ladies gently glow." Yeah, I know, TMI.
Alarm sounds at 6 am and Sharon bounds out of bed. This is noteworthy because she NEVER gets up before me. I'm up and done with the bathroom while she is still sawing logs and it is typically, part way through my third cup of coffee by the time she makes it to the breakfast room. But I digress. Trust me, she bounded. We did the basic morning routine and were at breakfast by 6:20 -- staff was a bit shocked as we're not typically breathing at that hour. Back upstairs and finished by 7:45. We check in with the front desk to ensure we look fabulous and have our picture taken.
"Yes, Sir!"
"Do you live in Paris?" he asks
"No Sir, I'm on holiday. I'm in London only for the day to see Phantom of the Opera with my friend."
"Outstanding!" he exclaimed, stamped my passport, actually smiled, and waved me on.
Turns out Sharon got the same guy a few minutes later and when she exclaimed that she was going to see Phantom, he asked if she was traveling with a friend, smiled, stamped her passport and waved her through as well. We both give good attitude to any and all cops.
I had had several problems months ago trying to purchase two tickets so I did the purchasing separately. Bad Shon! Turns out we were on separate coaches but seats that would be next to each other if we were only on the same coach. Well, that wasn't happening!
Stopped at the Information Desk to ask for directions and she sent Sharon in one direction and me in another. Wait, what? When we explained the problem, she immediately got to work and found us two seats on a different coach -- AWESOME service! Now we knew we'd have to deal with that on the return trip, but that was for a later time. It was a "cattle call" boarding, people jockeying for position to get on a train with an assigned seat????? These are the things that I'll never understand. Once on board and in a seat we settled in for a lovely and very comfortable ride.
The countryside is beautiful, talk about green space! Mostly it's rolling hills and farm land with scattered wind turbines along the way. I'm so impressed with how France is dedicating itself to renewable energy -- tomorrow we continue our hunt for the wind turbine trees that Lori sent us to find.
Anyway, about then Sharon started her nap -- the train had gently rocked her to sleep when it clearly slowed down and we entered the tunnel under the channel. The overhead screen had indicated that we would be traveling around 180 mph and slow down to 100 when we went through the tunnel which is approximately 65 miles long, which means we would cross the channel in less than 30 minutes.
I remember crossing the channel when I spent the summer in Europe in 1969. We left from the white cliffs of Dover on a boat. The water was choppy and to my 18 year old way of thinking we were on the water for a week. I'm sure it was more like 4-6 hours, but I was queazy (a real rarity for me) and I wanted it to be over. Sharon missed the entire tunnel and woke just before we arrived in London. Then the mad dash to de-train was back to people cramming each other to get out of the station faster than anyone else. Good grief. We found a sign welcoming us to London and immediately determined it was a photo opportunity! Another country to check off the list.
Actually I think England will become a destination for us in the future. So much to see and experience in London. Maybe I can talk Sharon into visiting Downton Abbey? We'll see.
We flagged a cab and headed for Haymarket (which, it turns out, is the theater district). Theaters and restaurants for blocks. Wonderful! We found Brumus but we were 30 minutes early and while they were quite willing to seat us, the kitchen doesn't change over for luncheon until noon. Would we like to wait in the bar? Silly man! Show us the way!!
We were shown to the bar to wait (and chat up the bar tender who was from Greece). Such interesting people! We sat down to an amazing meal, we shared a beautiful roasted beet and carrot salad and each had an amazing roast pork rib that was out of this world followed by a birthday celebration for Sharon. When I made the reservation back in January I told the guy on the phone that it was Sharon's birthday hoping that they would have a nice dessert for her and she was so pleased!
The macroon was mint! Such a nice presentation.
With about 30 minutes remaining we walked a bit to settle the meal and snapped a sweet shot of Her Majesty's Theater which was directly across the street. 20 minutes later it was mobbed. We entered and were directed to the Royal Circle. Now how often are we going to "hop over to London" for a play? We went all out and had the best seats in the house: first balcony, front row, dead center! Doesn't get better than that. And the acoustics! OMG, I could CLEARLY hear and discern every word they sang! The music was amazing, the singing was FABULOUS! OG (the Opera Ghost) had an astonishing voice and Christina, well, wow, just WOW! Brava!
Sharon had been chatting with the people directly behind us -- this was their 12th time seeing Phantom all over the world. Sharon and the lady were both talking about how they cry when they are moved. At the final curtain, Sharon put her hand up and the lady plopped a tissue into it -- very sweet. Girl bonding at its finest :)
Before I noticed several pages holding up ABSOLUTEY NO PHOTOGRAPHY signs ... well, my bad.
Then we had to figure out how to find a cab. Me? I'm looking everywhere for the obvious taxi stands, none anywhere. Sharon? She leans into the road and holds out her hand. Individually we are both strong and good at what we do, but together -- we're an unbeatable team! It took just a few moments before a cabbie pulled up.
Once we got to the correct train station (yes, there are two -- who knew?) we had an hour before boarding and we knew we had to fix the coach problem. We found a delightful "information" lady who kept saying that she couldn't guarantee anything but she would try. We had confidence in her and she pulled out a lovely surprise. Our coach was MUCH nicer than the first one, we could face each other which meant Sharon didn't have to have her back to the travel direction (didn't bother me). And they served us a light meal which was a delightful surprise. I knew we could purchase food on the train, but neither of us were particularly hungry. And it was DELICIOUS! AND comes with complimentary wine -- who doesn't like that!
And to top our amazing day the couple across the aisle from us were simply delightful. It was their 10th anniversary celebration. 2 days in Paris, 1 day in London, they were leaving in the morning for Rome and then Venice, and have to be home to their THREE children on Tuesday! Wow, young people with energy! We spent the trip chatting with each other, wish I had thought of snapping their picture because they were too cute.
"So what did you do for your BIG celebration?" I ask.
He volunteers, "I arranged for a picture shoot in front of the Eiffel Tower. I had special glasses engraved with our names and 10th Anniversary, and had champagne and a photographer."
Yes, boys and girls, HE did all the planning and surprised her! He packed the glasses without her knowledge and talked her into packing a special dress without knowing why. Seriously, he's quite the catch! They were darling -- there is hope for the future.
We made it back to our hotel by 10:45 and I'm still wound up (it's 12:45) but this needs to get posted. Have a great rest of your day. Many of my Humboldt friends are struggling with this heat -- I hope it breaks for you all soon. We have been blessed with reasonable weather, it rained like crazy last night about 30 minutes after we were in for the night. Like I said, we've been lucky.
Tomorrow will be a light day as on Monday (Sharon's actual birthday) we are traveling to Mt St Michel. We are both very excited. Stay tuned!
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