Land of literature, poetry and theater

Besides being rich in history, this place is also rich in all things literary. It's pretty kewl to see all the haunts of Charles Dickens, Shakespeare, and the like.

In addition to the traditional classics, there's also a plethora of new classics as well. Every street seems to have a history with the Beatles, Ian Flemming, the Rolling Stones and the like.

Just last night on the BBC, we watched an interview with John Cleese and Michale Caine. (There was also a national billiards competition -- which seems to have a similar following to the US's World Series of poker.)

Even the parks are filled with romantic and royal history (past & present.) Tonight, we strolled through Hyde Park along the lake to the Winter carnival. Enroute, we encountered the Peter Pan statue of the past, as well as the Princess Dianna memorial water fountain and playground.

London is a HUGE city. Yet, it still finds a way to maintain a sense of community charm. There are very few (if any) "slums" within the city (at least we didn't see any.) It seems every inch of land is valued, and someone would buy-out a property before it had a chance to fall into a state of disrepair. And the homes (flats) here are EXPENSIVE! Thus, most of the people who own property downtown London are pretty well off. Thus, they own newer cars (plus, there's an extra permit/fee for driving downtown.) So, it kinda keeps the clunkers and "riff raff" out of the city -- which helps to reduce congestion and pollution (especially noise pollution.) I have been pleasantly surprised by how quiet the city streets are (e.g. compared to Los Angeles.) Things here are purposeful, organized and orchestrated. We have never had an issue crossing a street, the cars have always stopped. There has been VERY LITTLE honking of horns by anyone. And, when they do, it's just a polite little hoot-hoot -- as opposed to a long, heavy-handed blaring of the horn in concert with a hand gesture that you commonly encounter in L.A.

It's still bitter cold here. It's basically just zero/freezing (or one degree above.) But, the wind (especially in the daytime) is heavy, biting, and constant. It's augmented by a grey sky, with a low-hung sun that only periodically peeks out from behind the clouds -- low on the horizon. Just when you think it's about to rise, it begins it's decline towards setting for the night.

I'm confident that we will make it back to London and the UK in the future. But, it will be in the Summer! And, we will rent a car the next time. Gas prices here are 1.20 (pounds per litre.) That converts to $5.30 Brtish pounds per gallon. (Which, at our current exchange rate, translates to $10.69 per USD per gallon!!!)

So, considering the challenge of driving on the wrong side of the car and the wrong side of the road, plus the extra fees to drive downtown London, plus the limited parking availability, and the exorbitant price of gasoline here, we confined ourselves to public transportation.

But, it also restricted our freedom to wander (which we don't enjoy.) The next time we visit, we will probably rent a car, and drive the coastlines, explore Scotland and take a ferry to Ireland. We will probably still reserve a day or two for London -- to catch some of the sites that we were just too chilled to wait for during this visit (who wants to wait in the freeing cold for two hours to ride the London Eye?) -- not us...

Tomorrow, we catch a train to the Dover coast, then a ferry across the English Channel to Calais, France. We then pickup a rental car, and drive three hours to Paris. Sure, the Chunnel Eurostar train could have whisked us from London to Paris in just over two hours. But, we are boaters and feel the draw to the water. We also want to warm-up to Paris -- as opposed to being plunked cold-turkey into it.

Tomorrow, we test Kelly's French navigation skills! (I get to drive, while she navigates.) At least that's how the trips start out. Within 30-60 minutes, of driving through the darkness, she will grab her pillow (yes, folks, she brought her favorite pillow with her,) and go to sleep -- entrusting me to find my way to Paris. (At least when I make a wrong turn while she's sleeping, she's none the wiser.) ;-)

Footnote about Kelly's Pillow: I love my wife dearly, but she IS a qwerky bird. She had a favorite pillow since childhood, that she continued to sleep with when we were married (for years.) It experienced periodic blow-outs, that she would then mend by hand. It was pretty much a tattered ol' rag of a pillow -- about a half or quarter the size of a normal pillow. After four years in the Army, we moved to South Carolina. When departing South Carolina once, she had accidentally left her pillow in the hotel. First, you should know that I was truly embarrassed to even bring the pillow with us into the hotel(s.) But, the things we do for love... Anyways, we are driving down the highway -- hours away from the hotel, when -- to my surprise -- she bursts out BALLING!!!! "I left my pillow at the hotel!!!!!!"

This was during the days before cell phones. For about an hour or so, I had to calm her as she repeatedly asked me if the hotel staff would keep/hold it for her. If memory serves me correctly, I think we pulled over somewhere so she could call the hotel and ask them to secure her pillow.

Well, that pillow had since been handed down to Amanda, then Chippy the dog. Somewhere along the line, it was FINALLY retired and laid to rest -- and was replaced with a new down pillow. Her clutch and bond on her new pillow is nearly as tight as her old one. It's traveled coast-to-coast with us, it's lived aboard the boat with us, and it's now traveling Europe with us.

We were recently given a gift/love box of about 100 3x5 cards with questions on them. Each night, we were to read a card to each other from the love box, and answer it. One of the questions read something like this: "If you were going overseas indefinitely and only had moments to pack, what four things would your bring with you?"

I, being the ever-prepared guys that I am, said something like: you, our passports, a Swiss Army knife, and our debit card.

Guess what SHE said? "My pillow, my chap stick, my visor, and my sunglasses."

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus -- and Kelly is from Pluto or something... ;-)

Cheers friends our next post will be from Paris in a day or two!

Nick (and Kelly.)