Farewell to London, Bonjour from Paris!

| Wandering over to Notre Dame Cathedral on our first night in Paris. |

England 2015 Travel Journal Entry
Monday, March 23

(11:46 AM) London, it's been grand. You showed one of your best sides last at St Pancras Station, making it even harder to leave you. I wasn't sentimental about leaving until this morning. That thought that we plan to come back, and most likely will, softens the blow considerably – but deep down I almost wish I was never leaving.

Leaving London from one of it's grandest stations: St. Pancras International.

The fact that we're coming back to England in a few days softens the blow even more. Really, it feels like we're going on holiday, especially since there are so many Brits traveling with us to Paris. There is an adorable group of ladies in our carriage, probably just older than Mom, who seem to be having the grandest time chatting and enjoying each others' company. One of them came out to the luggage area where we were seated in the poor relation folding seats, having missed our original train because we didn't read the instructions on our ticket that said to check in 30 minutes early, to look for her coffee she'd forgotten about and left out in the luggage rack. Sadly, it was gone, but she seemed quite a cheerful, talkative soul, simply laughing with us about the whole thing.

Making the most of sitting with the luggage.

Now we have normal seats, and they are quite luxurious! I think they are more comfortable than plane seats. They are certainly more commodious than plane seats! A friendly conductor was walking through the train and found us with the luggage, so he asked us if we liked the comfortable new seating area, and Mom just told him we were stowaways, which seemed to amuse him. :) He told us he would check for some empty seats, and after merely a couple of minutes he returned with the good news of two seats for us!

We had planned to leave at 8:30 to catch the Eurostar but somehow we didn't wake up until 8:15, which was the end of that plan. However, despite my minor dissolution into tears, there was no harm done. The lady who got us places on the 11:31 didn't even let us pay for them (again). And on top of that we got to sit and have a coffee from Caffè Nero. :) When will I ever learn not to worry...

I'm always tense when we have to travel anywhere on public transportation. I only sort of relax once we're seated in the vehicle – bus, Tube, train, plane, whatever. But, not only does God say He will protect and care for us, I have seen Him do so countless times.

So, we're under the channel now, presumably. Otherwise it is an unnecessarily long tunnel. At least I won't miss any scenery while I'm journaling.

On the way to our apartment in the 6ìeme Arrondissement

(9:00 PM) Well, bonjour from Paris! I think I am enjoying myself much more this time than the first time we came. I feel in much less danger of being lost in an unfamiliar non-English speaking land, where I could easily be confused into a state of collapse. Travel can be challenging enough without a language barrier. It sounds a bit dramatic, I know, but I believe it gets to the root of what would actually happen to me. :)

Now the people and culture seem much less foreign, and more likely to be friendly and try to help you (even when you can remember almost zero French). Basically, I have learned to see them as people – people like me. The gentleman who carried my bag for me down some stairs in the Metro help bring that about, especially when it's added to my experience with people in general.

The Metro certainly takes time to get oriented to (or re-oriented to, in our case), so we walked back and forth, up and down stairs in the Gâre du Nord trying to figure out where we were going. But if you have a map and can trace the Metro line you need to take to the last stop (happily, they are numbered rather than named and each is a different color), then you can get somewhere. Once you figure that out, then you will find the signs with each subsequent stop from your current location.

It felt a bit unreal when a guy got on during our first Metro ride playing a lively French tune on an accordion. I was thinking, "Is this actually happening? Or are we a part of a tourism video?"

Once we surfaced it was easy to find the apartment. We hovered outside for a bit because we were early and we hadn't asked how to actually get in once we arrived. After standing uncertainly for a few minutes we tried the door, then we tried wifi, and then our host herself appeared! That was quite a relief. She felt bad that she was still cleaning, and we felt bad for arriving early, but it all worked out since she was able to finish cleaning while we began our sightseeing and got to get rid of our bags before doing so by leaving them there.

We promptly found a pâtisserie with a delicious-looking quiche lorraine and chocolate éclairs. :) (Just like our first visit!) Then we decided to walk to the Seine to eat them. I love being in a place like Paris or London and being able to say, pretending to be casual, "Why don't we eat our dinner by one of the most famous, iconic and picturesque rivers in the world, and then maybe walk to Notre Dame cathedral and the Left Bank afterwards?"

In France the food is half of the cultural experience.
Here is our quiche that melted in our mouths.

And an éclair du chocolat.

Our view for dinner: the Pont Neuf and Notre Dame.

After dinner we made our way to the "Iles" – also known as Ile-Saint-Louis and Ile-de-la-Cité – to wander their picturesque streets in the twilight of an early Spring evening. There were a few shop windows that glowed in the waning light, filled with decadent and ornamental stationery, toys, food, or, my favorite, chocolate.

A bridge to Paris's Rivre Gauche – aka the Left Bank, the artistic quarter.

A shop window with chocolate!

As we reached the middle of the Ile-Saint-Louis, standing on one of its narrow cobbled streets that has been there for a thousand years, I looked up and asked Mom, "Where did Notre Dame go?" It just seemed very peculiar to be a couple hundred yards away and not be able to see even a spire of that enormous thing. But that happens to us all of the time. We suddenly turn a corner and there is the Eiffel Tower, a ruined cathedral, even the seaside staring us in the face.

The main street down the Ile-de-la-Cité.

There is no mistaking that Gothic architecture of Notre Dame.

It makes a statement.

Pretending to be Parisians. :)

As we reached the front of Notre Dame the sun was completely set and it got rather chilly. So, being tired and cold we headed back to our own neighborhood and the highly recommended Creperie Bretonne. And thank you, Trip Advisor! We got a ham and cheese crepe for dinner, and a chocolate and chantilly (aka whipped cream) crepe for dessert. That was real chocolate, people. Honestly, a dessert cannot have a much higher quality than that crepe. The same goes for the coffee.

I tell you, in Paris, half the pictures involve food. It is the best in the world!

Mom enjoying our peerless coffee.

And me with dessert. :)

The atmosphere was a very traditional French country with a definite Brittany seaside feel. It was quite small, with one stone wall and one half-timbered wall. It was also only a few blocks away from our apartment... :)



© 2015 Anna Morton

London's Tabernacle, Thames, Tea and Tanks: Our Last Day in the Capital

| Our last sight we saw in London: the Imperial War Museum. |

2015 England Trip Travel Journal Entry
Sunday, March 22

We made it to the Met Tab (aka Metropolitan Tabernacle) again. I must say that although it seems more formal than what I have become used to at home, compared to evensong at Westminster it feels almost informal! It certainly feels more alive and more like a place where everyone is happy to be. The sermon was from Romans 2:1-19. I understood and learned more about the passage than I had before. Dr. Peter Masters certainly loves the Bible! That is quite evident.

Inside the Metropolitan Tabernacle

We had a lovely afternoon at the Kitchen Door Cafe and the charity shop nearby. :) Our bus went through Clapham Common (ref: Poirot), then on the way back we stopped by the river side and got a marvelous view of Vauxhall Bridge and the city up the Thames.

A view of Vauxhall Bridge from the south bank of the Thames.

The Battersea Power Station on the left (an unexpected surprise – and a film location on 'Sherlock').

The Cafe was cozy and whimsical, with our bright spotted and striped tea pots and cups in red and blue. The tuna and sweetcorn and cheese sandwiches on soft whole wheat bread were scrumptious. We got a slice of coffee flavored cake and of Victoria Sponge, plus a delicious scone. We were stuffed!

Mom, before we devoured our cake and sandwiches.
At the Kitchen Door Cafe.

And me... :)

Our happy tea cups and pots.

Another delicious scone...

We also enjoyed listening in a bit to the group of twenty-somethings at the table behind Mom, and planning for Paris from the Rick Steves guide that Mom had just found in the charity shop.

Inside the Kitchen Door Cafe.

Next was the IWM, also known as the Imperial War Museum, which is not far from our flat. It is rather a powerful experience visiting that place. The first thing to catch your eye is the display of life-sized plane hanging from the ceiling – real planes, as in a Spitfire from the Battle of Britain. Yes, that kind of real plane.

A Spitfire from the Battle of Britain.

Outside the IWM - it was a lovely last day in London.

Guns, planes, tanks, boats, cars and the like were all over the place! It was heartbreaking to walk through the WWI exhibit. The weapons and uniforms, and especially the faux trench with a real tank seemingly about to land on your head and crush you made me shudder, thinking of the misery those soldiers suffered through.

A WWI nurse's uniform - just like Lady Sybil's. :)

The WWII exhibits had a less melancholy air about them, and the 'Family in Wartime' exhibit was almost cheerful, even considering the air raid shelter. There were even a couple original dresses to see!

Living room memorabilia in the 'Family in Wartime' exhibit.

A real Enigma machine!!

Original WWII fashion.

© 2015 Anna Morton

Food for Body and Soul in London

 | A morning visit to the Borough Market. |

England 2015 Travel Journal Entry
Saturday, March 21

We had the perfect amount of time for the Borough Market. We got to eat there – I even found the Scotch egg with sweet potato fries that had looked so delicious on Pinterest! And before I'd even tried to look for it! We found dessert at a Turkish food stall and very much enjoyed the pistachio baklava while we wondered about.

We discovered scenes filled with vibrant colors and a kaleidoscope of foods: cheeses, olives, meat, pies, ice cream, fruit, pastries, mushrooms – plus lots of people. It's like a little food village with a sky held up by cheerful green poles and a breeze wafting varying scents of delicious food everywhere.

Inside the Borough Market

That was a fun morning! Definitely an London cultural experience not to be missed.

We grabbed a coffee at Pret so we could thaw out as we rode the Tube from London Bridge station to Westminster and it's Abbey for evensong. Even at twenty minutes early there was a line outside for the service. We stood inside for 10 minutes or so and could hear the choir rehearsing. The music just made my mind and senses soar, lifting my eyes to the vast, vaulted ceilings of the Abbey and beyond, right up into Heaven. It was truly beautiful music. It had God, the Creator, as its inspiration, and it reminded me that He is the Creator of beauty itself.

The western door of Westminster Abbey

Then at half past three we filed into the seats just above the choir stalls. It was quite an unusual experience, that service. There was a lot of Scripture in the songs and the readings, which was uplifting. Yet there also seemed a lot of choreography in it, with the clergyman reading written prayers and singing traditional responses. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I could hardly help wondering what all the other visitors were thinking. Were they just bored? Or even offended? Or did the Scripture and the truth of it become clear to anyone? I was praying that the latter was true for one person, at least.

Hearing the service and being in the Abbey got me contemplating about why it was built. Wasn't it partly motivated by doing good works to try to earn God's favor? Along with making a statement of power? That being so, how much does it truly glorify God? I suppose that as long as there were people who worship God based on the truth of Scripture and have trusted in Christ, it is being repurposed to do so.

Our next stop was Sloane Street Station and the National Army Museum – which was closed until 2016. We ended up spending the better part of the next hour looking for a powder room, which in Chelsea are apparently as rare as a trash can on the streets of Whitehall. At least we saw some lovely scenery at the Royal Hospital for Pensioners and its park along the river. We at last found a pub and got some tea while we rested for a bit.

Then instead of trekking to Oxford Street we stayed around Sloane Street Station. Some stores were surprisingly reasonable, considering they were so close to Sloane Street itself, and Marks & Spencer had some teal leather gloves for £7 at 60% off. :) And they were just what I was looking for! We spent the rest of our night eating our pizza, watching Foyle and renting our car online.

And now bed sounds like luxury...




© 2015 Anna Morton

Doughnuts make a nice silver lining in London...

| And we enjoyed a lovely cloudless day on Primrose Hill. |

2015 England Travel Journal Entry
Friday, March 20

(10:51 AM) Despite the fact that we have to go off for a few hours to pick up some undelivered mail, which at first glance appears to be an unpleasant interruption to our plans, I can already see at least one silver lining – then who knows what's coming!

It was a very pleasant thing to catch our train at Herne Hill Station because just around the corner is a gem of a bakery called 'Ye Olde Bakery.' There is no seating and it is a bit cramped, but when we left it was packed with apparent regulars on their way to work. We could see a gentleman rolling dough in the kitchen, and I glimpsed a photo on the wall of what looked like a younger version of him. I think he's been here a long time. We decided on a croissant (chocolate, of course) and an enormous jelly doughnut; with some coffee to top it off (and to warm us up... it is so chilly outside). These items came to a grand total of £2.60, which means it was a total win because they were not only delicious, but cheap!

Enjoying our silver lining. :)

It is such a lovely feeling to run around a train station with freshly bought pastries and a cup of hot coffee early on a cold morning, and, on top of it all, to actually know what you're doing. :)

(12:11 PM) So, it turns out that our mail is not in the place we spent all morning trying to find, but at the Brixton Post Office. Oh, well, at least we know... Our train is due at 16 past. At least the wind isn't blowing in my face too much anymore and making it numb.

(7:49 PM) We are currently relaxing in our beloved St Pancras Station. We took the load off of our weary feet by buying a caramel cappucino in Costa, which gave us permission to sit down inside. We have enjoyed our sandwiches and coleslaw, and especially our eclairs, all courtesy of the Marks & Spencer in the station, just opposite us.

Costa: One of our favorite places to rest our feet.

So, we at last found our mail! And it was only up the street a couple of blocks away from our flat... We could have walked there. But at least we got the doughnut and I found a skirt at Oxfam by Herne Hill Station. :)

We then got on at Oval Station, since from there the Tube goes straight to Primrose Hill on the Northern Line. It's a 5-10 minute walk to the hill from the station, but at last the sun was shining, warming up the hitherto very chilly London. It's a short hill on the back side, so the magnificent view  suddenly appears before you!

It was unlike anything – it was London.

A sunny view of London from Primrose Hill in Regent's Park.

The eastern side of London from Primrose Hill.

The southwestern view of London, with the Eye and the Houses of Parliament (somewhere).

We had a lovely time snacking, and evesdropping on our fellow viewers.

There was a large plaque with the skyline etched in and the landmarks marked out. But Mom very sagaciously pointed out that every time something new is built that adds to the skyline a new plaque would have to be made. Lots of people were just relaxing on the grass, locals and tourists alike, and I was listening to the two guys next to us who were just chatting about the various buildings, calling one "the cheese grater," while wondering what was taking their friend so long to arrive (which he did at last, I'm happy to report).

We walked through the park to Camden Town Station, also passing through some ice cream colored homes in Camden. While walking, the (50th) instance of my tripping on the sidewalk occurred. Only this time there was a dad with his son walking toward us, and he made a sympathetic groan. Mom afterwards thought she heard him say, "Have a nice trip!" (Oh, the puns...)

Walking (and tripping) in Camden.

One of the lovely Spring scenes in Camden.

Whole Foods is on Parkway in Camden, if we ever need to know. And we will also want to in future avoid Camden Town Station – it was packed with loud young people – but we did manage to find a quiet car at the end of the train.

Getting off at St. Pancras was so exciting! It's quite a pleasant station, despite being hugely large and busy. We zipped over to the British Library, and were relieved to see that it closes at 6:00 and not 5:00, as it was just 5:00 when we arrived (except on Saturdays it does close at 5:00). We decided against the Magna Carta exhibit since it was £12 each and we've already seen the original. We shopped a bit in their lovely shop and actually bought a few things. I couldn't resist the Magna Carta memorabilia! An 800th anniversary isn't something one sees every day.

The lobby of the world's most amazing library.

I can never get over the fact that I'm looking at Jane Austen's writing desk. I feel like I'm looking through time. That makes her seem more real and visible than ever. My other favorites this time were the Spem in alium (the ambitious and unique choral arrangement from the 1500s with 40 parts), Thomas Wyatt's poems from 1537-42 and Jane Eyre. This time the Tyndale Bible was open to Acts 1 and the Greek manuscript Codex Sinalticus was open to Isaiah 59-62. Just as Matthew 7 was encouraging back on our 2013 trip, Acts was exhorting this time, and reminded me of the most important reason of why I'm in England – or why I'm even alive – it is so God can share the message of Christ through me. It's amazing how the words translated by Tyndale 500 years ago are just as powerful today as they were then!

We wanted to eat and rest our weary legs, but it was nearing dark, and North Gower Street – also known as Baker Street on Sherlock – was only a few blocks away. So we bit the bullet and trekked over there. And it was all there, just as we expected! But it was still a surprise to actually see it. There is no 221B on the door, I'm afraid, but it is black and the door knocker is there, as well as Speedy's Cafe. :) It was rather daunting to see a guy sitting at the first floor window, but Mom, who was more brave than I and looked up, said he merely seemed amused. I suppose he's used to it.

"It's Sherlock Holmes, of 221B Baker Street."

Unfortunately, neither of them came out...

There's the actual resident of "221B"

(10:33 PM) Walking up to the gate that belongs to our flat these last few days has really started to feel like I'm coming home. It would really feel like home if we could connect regularly with people – like a church or a branch of the Jane Austen Society. :) If I ever get a chance to stay in London for a long period of time I will endeavor to find ways to connect.

Mom and I nearly had an attack of the giggles on the Tube ride home while reading the Evening Standard article about politicians' clothing styles. It was the comment about George Osborne's rising hemlines illustrating rising markets that really did it. (He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer.) The whole article had an unmistakable undercurrent of irony and teasing – so perfectly English. But that is dangerous when you mix it with exhaustion and caffeine on a quiet Tube car...


© 2015 Anna Morton