7 september 2023, London
We hit the trains again, from Lyon to Lille and then through the chunnel to London. (Spoiled as we are, it feels like an imposition that we need a third non-US currency.)
This post isn’t about anything specific; it just catches up some fun photos and random impressions from someone who hasn’t traveled far in four years.
Near our hotel in Lyon, we found our next home. When advancing age makes it impossible to live in our house in San Francisco, we’ll move here, getting long-term care and a great view at the same time.
Did I mention that it was HOT in Lyon? (Gee, unlike anywhere else in the world.) At one side of this pedestrian bridge across the Saône, temporary relief was provided by jets of mist coming up from the walkway. It was popular with everyone.
Remember educational films about exotic places that always seemed to include the phrase “. . . land of old and new”? I like to look for examples, and the St. Pancras train station in London almost qualifies.
Random thoughts:
- How do the Europeans manage to have such wonderfully quiet and comfortable trains? That go over 100 mph?
- Announcements on French trains, however, aren’t great. Whether it was in French or English, all I could hear and understand was the boilerplate “please be sure you have all your personal belongings.”
- Announcements on the London underground, at least on the Circle Line, are audible and clear. Of course, one must always Mind The Gap.
- Why do the little tubes of shampoo and body wash in hotels identify their contents in tiny letters, printed in gray on blur?
- More sounds than sights: the reminder that people in London speak more languages, most of them unrecognizabe to me, than in any other place I’ve been.
- Great smells: the street near our hotel with one so-called ethnic restaurant after another — Thai, Greek, Turkish, Chinese, Arabic, Italian, Indian, Japanese, McDonalds— within two blocks.
The MHB Foghorn 