London Weekend

This year we decided to take a long weekend to London and Paris instead of our yearly weekend in December in New York. Sandy and I have been going to NYC in December for the past twenty years to celebrate our anniversary, and to celebrate Christmas in the Big Apple. This year while checking airfare and hotel rates Sandy found we could go to London for 4 nights at the same price as 2 nights in NYC. We actually had been wanting to see London and Paris during the Christmas season so we booked the flights and left Lexington to Atlanta and then on to Heathrow. The only negative is the flight is 8 1/2 hours in a crowded airplane with child size seats for adults. Our plane finally landed at around 8 am and our trip to the hotel lasted 1 1/2 hours. The traffic toward the airport was backed up for probably 20 miles due to a horrible wreck involving a large BMW sedan that had been made into a convertible by rescue workers. I doubt there was a happy ending to that wreck. We finally made it to our hotel which was across the Thames in south London . The trip was very picturesque as part was along the busy river side with modern buildings and old traditional landmarks as well. The Shard was there as usual, as well as the London City Hall, affectionately known as The Onion or the Biscuit due to its strange bulbous shape. You could see the Eye rotating across from Parliament, and you could see the ancient Tower of London on the North Bank. It was becoming evident London doesn't have the love of Christmas as does the USA. The most common element of the highways of London was the countless Black Cabs . There were hundreds of them everywhere you looked, some with advertising like on New York Taxis, some without. Everyone we asked said to take Uber because of the cost, but we are skeptical about Uber from American reports. The Black Cabs hold 3 people in the rear seat and have 2 jump seats facing the rear. When designed,  the cabs were given a tall interior that accommodates tall formal hats on gentlemen, something we didn't test as we had left our Bowler hats at home this trip.Our hotel was a Hilton Doubletree at Excel and on the banks of the Thames, close to the London City Airport. It was interesting to watch large British Air and Swiss Air jets coming in to land as their approach path is directly over the river The hotel had two Christmas trees and holiday  music playing,but nothing like New York. It cost around 40 pounds one way to get to Trafalgar Square or Piccadilly Circus but that was better than hitch hiking. The story is that Lord Admiral Nelson defeated the French and Spanish navies at Trafalgar off the Spanish coast , but was killed in the battle. Being the hero that he was , his officers placed his body in a keg of rum to preserve it for a proper burial back in England. The sailors on the ship sneaked around at night and drank all the rum, leaving his body without preservation. The sailors said afterwards they were"having a drink with Nelson". London in mid December is chilly and often raining, but we had the first day with sunshine. Our plans were to catch the Eurostar at St Pancras Station and travel to Paris . Now the trip costs around $80 American round trip and takes two hours and 15 minutes to arrive at Paris. St Pancras is a Victorian Station that was nearly demolished but saved and today is a main hub for trains leaving London to France and then to all destinations in Europe. The Eurostar is an engineering marvel  traveling at 185 miles per hour in smooth ultra quit comfort. Each train carries up to 900 passengers. Our train was filled coming and going with mainly business commuters. The tunnel under the English Channel was completed in 1994 with two trains meeting midpoint under the Channel, one carrying Queen Elizabeth II and the other with French Prime Minister Francois Mitterand. The tunnel is 31 miles long and 250 feet deep at the lowest point.  All you see for 15 or twenty minutes are green lights  hurling by at 185 mph, then you suddenly are propelled into bright sunshine and French countryside.The trip to Paris is  a continual flash by of cultivated farms and villages every ten minutes or so. Each village has cathedrals towering over the houses and businesses. Occasionally there will appear wind farms with alien towers generating electricity. The train hurls itself into Paris and the Gare Du Nord station, one of the busiest in Europe. The name means the North Gate. From there we catch a taxi to Batteau Parisienne for a scheduled lunch cruise on the Seine. The boats are moored on the Seine River with The Eiffel Tower only 100 yards away. The tower is closed on this day as the threat of protesting workers wearing yellow vests loom ahead. As

it turns out the Lunch cruise became one of our most memorable times in Paris.