Lisa and Ann on the London Eye
We had a terrific time together and it all went much too fast.
Jack and I flew into London on Feb 1st, on the same plane but not, sadly, in the same cabin. I had bought my ticket before I knew Jack would be traveling the same day and had upgraded to fist class. So while I was enjoying a quite decent meal and as much as I wanted to drink, Jack was back with the punters surviving on his one drink and unrecognizable chicken.
We spent Thursday and Friday getting the flat organized and ourselves over the inevitable jet-lag. Then early Saturday morning Jack took off for the French Alps and a skiing holiday with old friends while I watched for Lisa's car to arrive from Heathrow.
Lisa arrived at 8:00 am looking remarkably alert and prefering to take a walk in search of breakfast over hitting the bed. So off we went. Nothing much was open locally and we walked the mile to Tooting Bec, the nearest tube stop, to find nothing much open there either, other than dubious-looking fry-up shops. Lisa was game for further exploration, so we took the tube to Clapham, one of my favorite areas. We found breakfast, browsed the shops, and then continued on into Central London to visit Liberty. After that we tubed it back to Tooting Bec and then hiked to the flat where Lisa had a nap on the couch before dinner and an early night.
The next day we walked up King's Road to Sloane Square in Chelsea, checking out the many fashionable shops and getting waylaid in one because of a remarkable sale. We essentially took over their downstairs dressing rooms and tried on everything. Then we staggered to the tube with our bags and on back to the flat.
Monday was off to Paris on the EuroStar via the Chunnel. Our conductor made announcements in both English and French, but it was quite impossible to discern exactly when he stopped speaking English and started speaking French, so we resigned ourselves to not understanding anything henceforth. We got into Paris in good time and took a cab to our hotel. The room was small, the beds quite short and placed about 4 inches apart, the pillows flat. Always some body-part was hanging off one edge or another. Still, it was cozy.
We spent most of our days walking. Lisa took me to visit Marlene Terini's shop, full of beautifully designed clothing, and run by the fiesty Marlene. We went to Sacre Coeur in Monmartre and then stopped for coffee, where we found ourselves accosted by would-be artists who would not take "no" for an answer. Poor Lisa got the worst of it, I must say. Far from representing her as she actually looked, the "artist" came up with this. My picture, while not resembling me in the slightest, was at least somewhat pretty.
Soon enough it was time to head back to London. We started one day on the London Eye (learn more) and then walked across the river in search of Covent Garden. We found many things, including Picadelly Circus and Buckingham Palace, but managed to misplace Covent Garden altogether. We ended that day with tea at the Ritz... an altogether lovely experience for both of us. The next day was to be a walk through the market at Portobello Road in Notting Hill, but we both decided the crowds were too much almost immediately and walked off to look at design shops in Chelsea.
That evening Jack returned from skiing and our friend Al dropped by. We celebrated a holiday well-done by ordering in an immense amount of Indian food and drinking a moderate (well, some of us) amount of wine. And then it was time to go home. On the very Sunday that the Northeast was crippled by a blizzard. Suffice to say that Lisa's flight was cancelled and she didn't get out for 36 hours, while my flight left on time but was diverted to Newfoundland (to the same airport that sheltered so many planes on 9/11) for four hours while we all waited for Newark to re-open (which it did for international flights only). After nearly 14 hours on that plan I was heartily glad I chosen that particular trip to upgrade.
Lisa, I had such a wonderful time with you. I hope we can do it again soon.
