Salmons on tour–Europe ‘07

Arrival in London was smooth. We were met by my great uncle Les, who lives in a flat just east of London, and right off of the “tube” or subway line. Les was kind enough to invite us to stay with him while we were here. I had met Les on a few occasions prior to this trip, but we had never spent any amount of time together, so I think none of us knew exactly what to expect. Right from the start, though we knew we would get along just fine. After dropping our things off at the flat, we went out for lunch and then stopped by 3 of his favorite pubs for a pint.

For Thursday, Les had purchased transit passes for us so we headed into the city to take in the sights. We started at the Tower of London and then took the tube into the middle of things to see the National Gallery, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. Following that, we had lunch in Chinatown, walked down to Admiralty Arch, and then walked the mile or two from the Arch to Buckingham Palace. While on this walk a police escorted motorcade passed us, so we waved in case it was the Queen. Then we walked back to Leicester Square and caught the tube into Harrods. As we headed back to the flat dragging, Les (who claims to be 79 years young) was still running circles around us!

We had dinner last night at an Italian restaurant called Luigis that is right around the corner. Les had heard about it, but had never been, and it turned out to be one of the best meals we have had on our entire trip. Italian food in Ilford, Essex, UK! Try it if you are ever in the neighborhood.

Friday we bought another transit pass and headed in to the British Museum, which is impressive, and the Tate Modern, which was a mix of bizarre and very cool. Maybe I don’t have the eye for it, but some modern art looks like the work of pre-school children, while some of it was truly amazing.

Les has been a wonderful chauffer, host and tour guide. At the same time, we have really enjoyed getting to know him better. We hope to come back and visit him soon, and see more of England, and will invite him to explore North Carolina when he comes our way.

We have used all the space we were allowed for pictures now. Pretty good timing since, sadly we have to fly home tomorrow. We have had a wonderful time in each place we visited. Thanks for following along back home. See ya’ll soon!

The Merry Fiddlers

Aaron, Meg and Les

Tower Bridge

Night 1

We took the subway from the airport. It took us about 2 hours total travel time from the time we landed and walked through customs until we checked in to the hotel. We saw several shady characters giving our eye to our luggage, so we gave them evil, knowing eyes back, and held on tightly. We arrived and got settled in an hour or so before dark. Took a walk up the Seine a few blocks, and around to get the lay of the land. We stopped in at a corner cafe for dinner. Unfortunately it was too cold to eat out on the sidewalk, but we had a good meal, and they spoke enough English for us to complete the transaction. It really is true that with a few basic words of French, you can draw them into a conversation in English without them acting like they hate you.

Monday in Paris

Monday morning we got up and got ready to see Paris. The hotel concierge told us about the Museum pass which allows access to 60 or so museums in the area, and allows holders to skip the long ticket lines. He also told us that the shortest lines to buy the pass would be at the French Army museum –Invalades. So we went to the French Army museum-where Napoleons tomb is, got our pass, visited a little with Napoleon and then headed off to the Louvre. The Louvre is massive, and you cannot see the whole thing in a few hours, or a few days, or a few weeks. We spent most of our time in the Italian and French paintings and some sculpture. We also saw some African pieces. Once we had had enough, we headed to the Conciergerie- an old jail where Marie Antoinette was held before she was tried and put to death. From there we walked on down to Notre Dame and walked through this amazing Cathedral. We then took the subway back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner. We booked a dinner cruise on the Seine for this evening. The hotel concierge told us multiple times “no jeans and no tennis shoes” I guess Americans do have a bit of a reputation.

Dinner was quite an experience. This is a great way to see the city- on the river after dark with everything illuminated. (thanks for the advice, Lucia!)

Tuesday in Paris-

Tuesday was dedicated to the Musee d’ Orsay. We got up (a little late, as quite a bit of wine was included with the dinner cruise) and headed to Musee d’ Orsay with its spectacular collections. We really enjoyed it and spent quite a long time exploring here. I think we were exhausted from all the walking we had done in Paris, so after a nice dinner out we headed back to the room and called it a night early in order to get up and catch our early flight out on Wednesday.

In between the walking and museums, we ate quite a bit of cheese, and had some wonderful wines. We worked on our French a little bit. We really enjoyed our time in Paris, and would like to come back and see and do more.