Totally Terrific Travels: Arriving in London

To cap off our trip, we decided to spend a few days exploring London. We left Paris this morning, and hopped aboard the Eurostar high speed train. After a Parisian style bread and cheese picnic in our seats, we traveled through the "chunnel", and shortly thereafter we arrived in London. The entire journey was 2 1/2 hours. Awesome!

Arriving at London's train station.

What we didn't realize is that this is the weekend of the Queen's Jubilee, celebrating 60 years of reign. It's almost as big as the Olympics. So consequently some of the "normal" touristy activities we were planning are either sold out or canceled. We'll have to see, but hopefully we can join in the celebration and maybe get a glimpse of the Queen herself!

Our flat is in the Fulham area of South London. This area is really cute, and very livable. We are across from Bishop's Park, and there's a really nice bustling area just a small walk over the Thames via Putney Bridge. There are a ton of shops, pubs, and other establishments, all cozied up next to rows of small, clean looking cottage style houses. We also appreciate that everything is in English, for a change.

For lunch, we found an upscale pub called The Rocket, and snagged a outside table overlooking the river. The kids had never had British food before, and I encouraged them to try the traditional dishes. Bryce got Fish and Chips, and coveted his fried cod so much that nobody else got a bite. Sue and Laurel got Bangers and Mash (sausages and mashed potatoes), and shared some with me. The peas in particular were quite tasty, and mixed with the mashed potatoes gave us a nice home cooking feeling.