We can finally read the signs!

Monday, May 23, 2016

Last night we had a farwell dinner with the Dutkowskis and Dominguezes at a brasserie our Viking concierge recommended that was a short walk from our hotel. It was a lovely restaurant and a fitting way to end our time together with our friends.  We had a great time with them and thanked them for about the fourth or fifth time on the trip for including us.

We had a lousy Monday morning in Paris, or as lousy as it is possible to be in Paris. There was a steady rain as we set off in seach of kitchen supplies shoppe that Lynda's cousin, Beverly, recommended.  We took a bus to a stop that we thought was reasonably close to our destination.  We had a longer walk than it looked on the map (duh!) Through steady rain and the closer we got to the street we were looking for the more confused we became.  We're sure we were within a block or two, but, with Lynda's permission we gave up the search.  We returned to our hotel, packed our bags, and took a cab to the train station. Before leaving home we had booked tickets on the Eurostar train from Paris to London.  The Eurostar is the luxury train of the European rail system. The carriages are clean and comfortable, there is more leg room then on an airplane, and the train travels smoothly  at over 100 miles per hour.
Check in that included security screening and passport control for both France and Great Britian was handled smoothly and efficiently. (Later in the day our friends reported a horrid mess checking into their flight in Paris)  Within 10 minutes of arriving in London we were in a cab heading for our rental appartment.  When the cab pulled up to the address we had been given, the building looked nothing like the picture we had seen on the website.  Fortunately, we had a contact number and our cabbie was nice enough to let us use his phone to call.  He said he would wait until we had sorted out the situation.  Within 2 minutes our contact opened the door and led us through what was actually a wall where we found steps leading up to a small plaza with the building pictured on the website sitting right there.  The apartment is as advertised; cozy, but not too, and comfortable.  While Lynda unpacked, Tim went out to reconnoiter the area around our apartment. After fish and chips at a nearby pub we called it a night.

Our apartment is located in the eastend of London in an area called the Spitalfields. We had only visited this area once before so we are anxious to explore it in more depth. Frankly, the streets around our apartment are not paticularly attractive.  They feature mostly low end shops, particularly  textile shops and cell phone shops where you can buy just about any cell phone case imaginable. As we left our apartment this morning we discovered that two blocks of the street were closed to traffic for the Petticoat Lane Market.  Think supercheap clothing.  Just to the west of us is the business/finance center of London.  As a result there are few pubs or nice restaurants in the area.  Tim went out for coffee Tuesday morning and encountered an interesting ethnic mix of young people heading to work. You may be interested in the fact that Spitalfields is the area where Jack the Ripper gained fame.  There is a pub just a short walk away that claims to be where Jack had a pint before killing one of his victims.  We've passed two walking groups with guides pointing out varous sites we suspect are Jack's haunts.

Across from the aforementioned pub is the Old Spitalfields Market which has been in existence since 1736.  The market is a large open building where merchants set up stalls while the perimeter of the building has a number of different types of restaurants.  Most of the stalls contained souvenir tee shirts and sweat shirts, hats and clothing that was a step above that in the Petticoat Lane Market.  After exploring Old Spitalfields Market we took a bus, Lynda's favorite mode of transportation around major cities, to Oxford Street to shop at several major department stores.  Oxford Street contains the flagship stores for such chains as Selfridges, Marks and Spencer, and Debenhams.  After Lynda's shopping sojourn, Tim wanted to walk along New Bond Street which ran into Old Bond Street. Old Bond Street is where fine gentlemen use to go for bespoke tailoring.  Not anymore.  All of the high end retailors have taken over.  Lynda saw a purse in the window of Bally's that she liked.  We went in to look at it. The price was 1,250 pounds.  Unfortunately, they did not have the color Lynda wanted.  Tiffany's had exquisite window displays of very minimalist designed jewlery.  The diamond and emerald jewlery window display at Cartier looked downright gauche in comparison.  Lynda did not try on any Jimmy Choo's.  You get the picture.  After a much needed pint at a pub we returned to our apartment, by bus, where we have decided to stay in for the night.  What that means is that Tim will go back out and bring in a pizza.  Pizza delivery elf!

Cheers for now.