Monet Maison et Jardins

Sat, Aug 29, Giverny:  Up this morning and downstairs to enjoy a lovely full breakfast prepared by the owner himself, after which we headed to Giverny and the Monet Maison et Jardin.  Everyone warned us there would be lines, but we zipped right in.  I bought the tickets weeks ago on line.  The gardens are beautiful.  He bought this property and moved here in 1886 when he was 46.  He built the lily pond, and both the gardens and lily pond were the inspiration for most of his paintings since.  The house is much larger than I thought.  A very comfortable home and he created for himself a beautiful, bright and airy studio.  After touring the house and gardens we stopped at a little café for some lunch.  On the way over here, I took a stab at driving the car.  I thought I did pretty well.  Only jerked it once and never stalled it out.  Mike thinks he’s an Indy driver now with this six-speed Opel.  Back to our lovely B&B and relaxed with the resident cat.  Think we’ll go back to Giverny for dinner tonight.  Tomorrow we head to Normandy.  That’s if we/I can program the GPS correctly (sigh).  A beautiful, sunny day today and really warm—somewhere in the 80s.

Walking through Giverny.

Touring the gardens.

So beautiful!

Dining room in Monet's home.

The kitchen.

Look at that stove!

Photo of Monet.  He reminds me of Hemmingway.

Back to our B&B.  That's our entrance up the stairs.  This used to be a barn.  Animals were housed downstairs, people lived upstairs.

The resident cat.

London to Paris

Fri, Aug 28, London to Paris:  Got all packed up and took a taxi to St. Pancras Station for the Eurostar service.  Got there really early and had plenty of time to get our bearings.  The train left right on time, although one of the stewards on our car said it was going to be 50 minutes late.  But it left at 11:30 on the dot.  We were soon out of London and in the rolling English countryside with fallow fields and brilliant green pastures dotted with sheep.  Very pretty  And then we were in the chunnel.  They served our lunch then and pretty soon we popped out to the French countryside.  This vista could have been Illinois or Indiana with lots of farms with fields of mature corn.  We arrived at Gare du Nord at 2:45.  We gained a hour.  My first impressions of Paris were not good.  Gare du Nord was rather plain and unwelcoming.  Plus, you had to pay .7 Euros to use the bathroom.  Plus there were soldiers carrying some kind of automatic weapons around.  We got our rental car—and then the fun began.  What a CF! I had printed extensive directions on how to get from Gare du Nord to our B&B in Limetz.  If our car hadn’t had GPS, we’d still be roaming around Paris trying to find our way.  Also, the car was stick shift.  Mike hasn’t driven a stick in probably 40 years.  We made it here, thanks to the GPS.  This place is so quaint and our suite is spectacular.  The owner recommended a restaurant which we actually found and actually made our way back.  Tomorrow we go to Giverny and the Monet house and gardens.  My sinus thing has turned into a nasty head cold.  Feeling lousy.  Go figure. 

St. Pancras Station in London which is bright and airy--compared to Gare du Nord which is dark, dank, and spartan.  Plus you have to pay .7 Euro to use the bathroom.  What?

Thank God for the GPS!!!

Went through a bunch of cute little villages with winding streets.

We have the whole top floor.  The owner lives downstairs.

Our sleeping area.

Our sitting area.

Stairs to outside.

Our little outside sitting area--complete with a cat.

View from the restaurant where we had dinner.

HMS Belfast

Thu, Aug 27, London:  Off to the HMS Belfast this morning, which is on the other side of the Thames.  On the tube again to Westminster Station and change to the Jubilee Line, then south to the London Bridge Station.  A short walk to the ship.  The HMS Belfast was one of the first ships to fire its guns on D-Day.  After touring the Belfast we wandered over to the Galleria which is housed in the historic Hay’s Wharf complex of buildings.  Had lunch at a little French restaurant there and then checked out some of the shops.  I bought a scarf there.  Took the subway back to our hotel and relaxed.  Asked for some more complimentary drink tickets at the champagne bar for tonight.  Yay!  Today is our last day here.  Tomorrow we take the Eurostar to Paris.

On our walk from the subway station to the HMS Belfast, we noticed this building that had a V2 rocket replica on the side of the building.  Wonder if one landed in this area during WWII?

HMS Belfast

City Hall and its complex of buildings as seen from the HMS Belfast.

Atrium at the Galleria.  The ships used to moor here back in the day. 

There were warehouse buildings on this spot as far back as the Middle Ages.

Blackfriars subway and train station across from our hotel.

London on a rainy day and E-Cigarettes

Wed, Aug 26, London:  Another nasty, rainy day.  Now I have the sinus thing—drainage and a scratchy throat.  On our way back from breakfast this morning we stopped at a pharmacy and bought some throat lozenges Not very effective, but better than nothing. We’re just laying low today.  At around 4:00 we’ll head out for Piccadilly to find a place to eat and then head to the theater.  The rain is supposed to let up by then.  We’ll take the subway there and probably get a taxi back—depending on the weather.

E-Cigarettes:  Right after we arrived in London, there were headlines on the front pages of the paper and items in the news about e-cigarettes.  Apparently, the National Health Service here says that e-cigarettes are 95% healthier than real cigarettes.  On one report they said that they should be issued for free (what?) to smokers. Another report said that doctors should prescribe them to smokers. Interesting…

The girls who wait on us at our favorite breakfast cafe.

There are two of these little sitting areas outside our hotel where you can sit and have a cigarette.  Mike is here every morning.  We do have a smoking room, which is a shocker.

The London Eye.  No, we did not.  Apparently, they bring in about 225,000 pounds a day on this thing.

They still have phone booths all over London.  Can't think of the last time I've seen one in the US.

These little narrow side streets.

One of the lions at Trafalgar Square.

Cute little eating establishment.

Later:  The show was great!  Full of the songs and amazing dance moves of Michael Jackson.  The athleticism and energy of the dancers was incredible.  I am so glad we were able to get tickets.  The guy who played Michael in his later years was really good.  They had everyone on their feet clapping and dancing—even Mike…well, clapping anyway.  My kind of show!  We had an overpriced dinner before the show at the Angus Steakhouse. It was really pricey and if you wanted a salad or bread with it, it was extra.  We ended up taking the subway to and from Piccadilly.  We had to transfer to another line once, but it was quick and easy.  An efficient way to get just about anywhere in this city.

On the tube.

Piccadilly Circus is aptly named--it is a circus.  It's London's version of Times Square in NYC.

Cute little theater.  Three balconies--one is way up there.  My sister and I were  in NYC years ago and decided to see a play.  She insisted on cheap tickets, so we ended up in the uppermost balcony.  You constantly felt like you would be pitched off the thing if you stood up.  She crawled out of the thing at the end of the play.  Marlo Thomas was the lead.

They call the seats "stalls" here.

Horse Guards and Trafalgar Square

Tue, Aug 25:  London:  A beautiful, sunny morning, but a rainy afternoon.  On the subway again to Westminster and walked down to the Horseguards parade ground.  At 11:00 sharp one group entered through the archway in the building and another group (the red coats) came up from behind.  Impressive, but not as much as the Clydesdales 8-horse hitch.  After that, we walked over to Trafalgar Square.  I bought tickets for the Thriller show tomorrow night.  It’s playing at the Lyric Theater over by Piccadilly.  Walked up Whitehall St. and there were two more Horseguards outside the museum—allowing everyone to take pictures and pet the horses.  These horses are so well trained.  Back to the Westminster Station and took the subway back to Blackfriars.  Stopped at the little grocery store before heading back to our hotel.  Going to Garfunkles for dinner tonight and picking up our laundry before heading back to relax at the hotel.

Horseguards Parade Ground

On our way to Trafalgar Square.  Not sure what this building is, but it looks impressive.

Trafalgar Square

Mike petting the horse.  What a face!  On the horse, that is...

Imperial War Museum

Mon, Aug 24:  London:  A really dreadful day today.  Rainy, windy, and cold.  Undaunted, we headed out with our laundry to a wash-and-fold place to drop it off.  The valet service here in the hotel is really expensive.  8.50 pounds for a tee shirt.  That equates to about $12.00 per tee shirt.  Yikes!  I brought a little bottle of Tide with me and washed out my tops, sockies and underwear and hung them to dry.  They usually dried overnight and I would use the blow dryer to speed things up a little.  The rest of our laundry (jeans, Mike’s tee shirts and underwear) we dropped off at the wash-and-fold.  It’s based on weight and will cost us 20 pounds—about $30.  Expensive, but not as bad as the hotel.  After dropping off our laundry, we continued on to our favorite café and enjoyed a leisure breakfast.  Then back to the hotel.  Mike not feeling so great.  His sinuses are killing him.  No wonder, since it's cold and rainy with humidity of 96%.  He wanted to go to the Imperial War Museum today, but not sure if he feels well enough.  We hung around for a while at the hotel and then headed out. We took the bus this time.  There’s a bus stop right in front of the hotel, so very convenient.  Only three stops and we were at our stop for the museum.  A short walk in the rain and we were there.  A very impressive museum with state-of-the-art exhibits.  After we had our fill of the museum we struggled back to our bus stop trying to find our way through all kinds of road construction and a roundabout to deal with.  But we made it to our stop okay and in a couple of minutes our bus showed up.  We got off right at Blackfriars Pub, so stopped there for dinner.  Back to our hotel and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Imperial War Museum

Back at Blackfriars and a glass or two of Chardonnay.  Is there a pattern here?