Today I surprised Josh. I picked him up from school and told him we had an appointment with daddy at 17:30. He asked, astonished, why his father had already returned from his trip to London. I answered him that he had not returned... After thinking a bit up, he finally understood and enlightened! "We go to London? Now?". "Yes, we go to London today and we spend a long weekend there."
We arrived to the Gare du Nord where we had our booked tickets with the Eurostar. I expected a much longer line, instead the security controls, both on the French and the British side, were fast and in less than no time we were on the train.
Beautiful, comfortable, clean. After just over an hour we entered the tunnel under the English Channel (panic! 75 meters of water over our heads!) and at 17:30 o'clock we arrived at London's St. Pancras Station.
Greeting us were the Olympic rings...
and a typical black cab: the interior is wider and more comfortable than it looks like from the outside.
I told the driver the name of our hotel and, as usual in USA or in Paris, I was getting ready to explain him the area...well, I couldn't believe it. He knew by heart the exact address! I have always believed that the history of London taxi drivers who know by heart more than 25000 addresses was an urban legend. I was wrong big. The driver told me that to get the license has studied about 5 years! I checked: there was no GPS in the taxi.
Despite the traffic, we arrived at our hotel, the Park Plaza Victoria, in time to take a drink with Giuseppe, who had returned to Cambridge in the afternoon.
The hotel was very nice, in a convenient location in the central area of the City, with a big room, a huge bathroom and a beautiful terrace. Good choice!
We went for a walk around the neighborhood: it was cold but not more than in Paris. We walked past Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, then we came under the Big Ben: Josh has quickly found a new name for this historic and famous bell tower: "The puny Ben" because, he said, he expected it to be much more high.
I must admit that this first night gave us the opportunity to do a little practice with the traffic and the left-hand drive: I never realized how much was spontaneous in me to look left before crossing the road. It is quite natural. In this city you have to recalibrate everything to avoid the cars. The last time I had a similar experience I was in Sydney and I almost end up in the hospital! Here they have wised up: at every intersection and every pedestrian crossing, they have written a nice sign on the asphalt.
Good thought!
We arrived to the Gare du Nord where we had our booked tickets with the Eurostar. I expected a much longer line, instead the security controls, both on the French and the British side, were fast and in less than no time we were on the train.
Beautiful, comfortable, clean. After just over an hour we entered the tunnel under the English Channel (panic! 75 meters of water over our heads!) and at 17:30 o'clock we arrived at London's St. Pancras Station.
Greeting us were the Olympic rings...
and a typical black cab: the interior is wider and more comfortable than it looks like from the outside.
I told the driver the name of our hotel and, as usual in USA or in Paris, I was getting ready to explain him the area...well, I couldn't believe it. He knew by heart the exact address! I have always believed that the history of London taxi drivers who know by heart more than 25000 addresses was an urban legend. I was wrong big. The driver told me that to get the license has studied about 5 years! I checked: there was no GPS in the taxi.
Despite the traffic, we arrived at our hotel, the Park Plaza Victoria, in time to take a drink with Giuseppe, who had returned to Cambridge in the afternoon.
The hotel was very nice, in a convenient location in the central area of the City, with a big room, a huge bathroom and a beautiful terrace. Good choice!
We went for a walk around the neighborhood: it was cold but not more than in Paris. We walked past Buckingham Palace and Westminster Abbey, then we came under the Big Ben: Josh has quickly found a new name for this historic and famous bell tower: "The puny Ben" because, he said, he expected it to be much more high.
I must admit that this first night gave us the opportunity to do a little practice with the traffic and the left-hand drive: I never realized how much was spontaneous in me to look left before crossing the road. It is quite natural. In this city you have to recalibrate everything to avoid the cars. The last time I had a similar experience I was in Sydney and I almost end up in the hospital! Here they have wised up: at every intersection and every pedestrian crossing, they have written a nice sign on the asphalt.
Good thought!
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