BACK TO LONDON

For a very hurried trip to London and Paris, it worked out well.  We got up, had our tea with Geoff this morning, then walked to Cactus Cafe for the wonderful croissants.  Geoff's leg was bothering him, so Charlie and I hoofed it down Rue de Temple to the Jewish Historical Museum.  Weirdest part were two semitic guys out front hovering around.  They didn't seem to belong to the place, but as we walked up to the door, they asked us to put our carry bags through security.  It's a beautifully laid out museum, but many of the items, I knew - torah decorations and the like.  One room, however, had models of Eastern European Temples which were interesting. They had another room of Hanuka lamps, many the traditional candle holders, but some with oil that were more interesting. Another larger room had costumes and jewelry from Sephardic Jewish communities in Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria.  Really interesting, and things I had never seen.  I was gearing up for the historical drag through the Nazis, but fortunately, they first had a room of art ( a lot of which was black on black), another artist did doll-like things hanging from threads, then a wall which was visible through a stair landing with people's names on it.  Then they gently let us outside.

Back to Geoff's.  After a bit of conversation, we walked downstairs to his local boulangerie - it's called Le Gai Choc - Geoff's section of Paris is famous for it's gay and bisexual population.  This particular boulangerie has brioches made in the shape of men's parts.  Last year when we visited the creations were prominently displayed because there was a gay pride parade.  This time, they were discretely in the back.  We got sandwiches which were delicious.  Charlie and Geoff got ham and cheese, I got a chicken all of which were on wonderful short baguettes.

After lunch, we walked to the Pompidou centre.

 Geoff went off on a bus to work, Charlie and I took the 38 bus to Gare du Nord.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the bus is very easy to get, clear as to where you are (there is a LCD display telling you what the next stop is, what the last stop is, and how long you can expect to get there).  Gare du Nord is the terminus for the 38 bus, so we really couldn't mess this up.

We took the ride back to London, and, of course, gained our hour back.  We then got tube tickets for today, and day-passes for tomorrow.  I remember that the ride to Heathrow by tube is 5 pounds each.  For 8.50 pounds, we got day passes that would let us ride to Heathrow at the end of the day.  We took the Piccadilly Line from St. Pancreas to Russell Square.  Charlie remembered (I'd forgotten) that particular station has an elevator to the street - that or 175 steps - we took the elevator.  We then walked to our hotel.  Radisson Eduardian Kennelworth on Great Russell Street.  There are two Radisson hotels within a block of each other - ours and the Bloombury (something) - ours is clearly the "deal" of the two.  We still have a fun view from our window.

We walked to  Covant Garden for dinner.  Right in the middle is "The Pie Shop"  Hurray!  More pies!  Back to the hotel for a quick pint.  Now in our room with free WIFI.    Tomorrow - our last day of the trip - will be wandering around London for fun.

Hasta manana