I got off the tube at St Pancras International, where you get the Eurostar train to Paris and Brussels. St Pancras is surely the most beautiful station building in London if not Britain:
I found Der Spiegel and Stern on a newsstand outside. The hubbub of French voices drew me into the hi-tech inner hall where screens displaying 13:28 Paris Nord set off a frisson of excitement and longing inside me. It's been such a long time since I travelled anywhere at all except just down the road...
The last time I saw a newsstand with a half-decent selection was near Baker Street tube. Baker Street of course being famous for Sherlock Holmes... Madame Tussuad's museum is right by the tube station so the place is thronging with tourists (unlike in this snap!)...
Madame Tussauds is next to the Planetarium:
I picked up a weekly Take-a-Break -style magazine called Freizeit Revue. It is an old woman's magazine but I bought it for the endless crossword puzzles sandwiched next to advertisements for piles ointments and surgical support stockings ...Then I meandered down to Regents' Park which is a Royal Park and so extremely well manicured.
The houses overlooking the vast greens are pretty impressive too ...
... then it was nearly rush hour so I had to fly home before the trains were too crammed to breathe.
And there we are! My first day out in London-London in over a year!
*******
Have a look at the arrogant French woman in the bottom clip ~ this is absolute classic telly!!
THE LATE, GREAT KEITH FLOYD was one of the most classic TV cooks of all time. There was a retrospective on his life and work on TV last night and these were the best clips shown:
Here from his best series Floyd On France, is his attempt at a mushroom omelette ~ with "angry dragon lady" "simmering" behind ...
And here's the most classic clip of all. This wasn't a set-up ~ the French-Basque lady was for real! "FLOYD CAN'T COOK!"
London has got to be a fascinating city. One day I'll be there...
ReplyDeleteWhat is the German word for piles? I bet it takes up half a page like some of those German words that are more like a run on sentence. Probably translates loosely into something like giant lump on a ring bologna.
ReplyDeleteHey don't feel too bad about not leaving the country. I know I'm not going anywhere as the customs pricks wouldn't let me back in. I can go to any US city though and feel like I'm traveling as nobody speaks English anyway. Shoot when I get enough beer in me, I don't speak English either. I do a pretty good job of walking into things and falling down and that's something anybody can understand that no matter what language you speak.
GFY Gleds, your working hard learning German. The only German I know I learned from Hogan's Heros.
ReplyDeleteJanice~
Jeannie: as Dr Johnson said (who was our Noah Webster and wrote the 1st dictionary ever in English. It was because Johnson chose to list "colour" and "centre" and "honour" that Webster contrarily decided upon "color" "center" and "honor" ~ which were no less "correct" at the time, whatever British English purists might like to say ... Anyway, as Dr Johnson said: WHEN ONE IS TIRED OF LONDON ONE IS TIRED OF LIFE~!!
ReplyDeleteMolson: why wouldn't they let you back?? Are you not an American citizen? Did you know Elvis's manager Col Parker/whatever he called himself wouldn't let Elvis leave America bc he knew if he left the country he'd never get let in again as he was an illegal himself~ haha!
BTW "piles ointment" in German is Hämorrhoiden-Salbe
Janice: it's a lot of fun. Sometimes. But those crosswords are making me feel very "retarted" indeed ...
I love crosswords especially cryptics...although I've never yet got the Guardian one out!
ReplyDeleteWell, good for you getting out and about...it's much better than sitting in your digs. Those photos are beautiful...wish I was in London...sigh.
Love that final clip, too funny! By the way, thanks for sharing the interesting array of pics.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you had a good day wondering around, very nice :-)
ReplyDeleteThat station remined me of central station in Amsterdam the moment I saw it. This is a photo of central station in A'dam:
Gleddy,
ReplyDeleteI loved the dungeon in Madame Tussaud's, when I visited. All those evil murderers. It was a thrill!
Your day out looked fun.
Well good for you Gleds! There's so much to see in London I can't wait for my next trip, though I suspect it won't be until next year sometime. :)
ReplyDeleteI love London it's a buzzy city but I've never been to St Pancras station. Looks like you're beginning to get high on life Gleds, there's a load to do out there. Make it a regular habit!
ReplyDeleteHämorrhoiden-Salbe... Now that sounds painful.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the US being retarded, if you leave the US say to go to Canada, you need a passport or a birth certificate to get back. A drivers license doesn't work because they give those to anybody. A drivers license used to work, but no more since 9/11. Now if I could locate my birth certificate, I could apply for a passport or just use the birth certificate, but without those, I would have to be stuck in Canada or just jump the fence somewhere I guess. Maybe one day I'll pay to get all the paperwork I need to have a passport, but for now I'll stay locked in the US because I don't want to be bothered. It's not a big deal as the US is a big country so, I have plenty to see and do.