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I have two phobias I am keenly aware of - a fear of heights and of enclosed places.

Fear sucks. When the Irrational fear becomes debilitating, it sucks even more. An irrational debilitating fear hit hard this morning when we tried to get on the Eurostar to Paris.

When we were first planning our trip to Europe, we were going to fly to Rome and then London.  As we planned further, it made more sense to only visit England and Paris.  We then narrowed it down to Bath, London, and a quick day trip to Paris.  Flying was one option to go to Paris.  But a cheaper and (to some) easier way is to use Eurostar which places you near the city center.

If you don’t know what the Eurostar is it is a fast train to Pairs.  Part of the train trip is going through a tunnel created under the English Channel (or Chunnel).  Yes, that’s right, under the English Channel.  When I found out about this, I first said I’d rather fly.  But then reading about Eurostar further (it’s only 20 minutes under) I felt I could do it.  We booked the tickets.

We arrived at Waterloo station early since our Eurostar train left early.  I took my two Dramamine once we got to the station, but something was still lingering in the back of my mind.  We went through the security checkpoint and then waited to board the train.

Nothing really conscious was going through my mind, nothing I could put my finger on, but I was getting anxious.  I was getting nervous.  Then there was an announced delay in boarding.  This allowed my mind more time to wander.

I could feel my breathing getting heavier, my legs feeling like cement, and my head becoming light.  Then came the boarding call.  I coughed several times as if I was going to vomit, but I knew I wasn’t.  Farrah kept asking me if I was ok.  I kept saying yes, hoping I could get past this.

Another boarding call.

More coughing.  I couldn’t stand up.  I looked at Farrah and told her I don’t think I can do this.  I honestly don’t know why I can’t as I’m not really thinking about it.  She looks at me, smiles, and says everything is all right.  She touches my face, kisses me on the cheek, and says, “Let’s book a flight instead.  We’ll get to Paris.”

My beautiful understanding wife is strong for me in this moment of irrational fear.  We walk out of the station and head back to the flat.

Unfortunately, the two Dramamine hit me hard when we are back at the flat.  Farrah lets me sleep it off until the afternoon.  We then get online to book the tickets through British Airways and then book a room since we decide to spend the night in Paris.

So, we’re set to be in Paris late Thursday morning and will be staying at the Francais Hotel.  I apologize throughout the evening for ruining this day.  Farrah just smiles and says it’s all right.  I can be apologetic until midnight, then no more talking about it.

I love my wife.

We made today a light day since we are heading to Paris tomorrow.  In Paris, we need to cram in as much in one day, and I know we’ll be tired.  This morning we did a dry run to the Eurostar station where we caught the train to Paris.

We started the day off late since the day’s activities are light.  We picked up our tickets and then ate lunch bought at the local Marks & Spencer.  We tried to see the London Eye from the Waterloo station where we were eating, but couldn’t get our bearings straight.  But the London Eye wasn’t really on the schedule for the day, so we went back on the Tube to our destinations.

Buckingham Palace

The Palace isn’t open to visitors during most of the year.  It is only open when the royal family is away on vacation.  But this fact doesn’t stop people from visiting and taking photos in front of Buckingham Palace.  There were plenty of tour buses and roaming tourists, but we managed to get the requisite photo in front.

Our plan afterward was to walk to the two adjacent parks, St. James Park and Green Park.  We first walked through St. James Park. A light rain started coming down as we entered the park.  This didn’t stop people from eating their lunches or feeding the birds in the park.  As we made our way halfway through the park, Farrah noticed it ended near the Churchill War Room.  We were planning on seeing it earlier in our trip, but it dropped from our must-see list.

But then Farrah reminded me that Number 10 Downing Street is close.  So we wandered off our course to see the home of the Prime Minister.  If you haven’t been following the news lately, the current Prime Minister is stepping down shortly, so it’d be good to see this location.  Unfortunately, it is very well guarded. Oh well.

We continued our walk past a horse guard, then walked up to Trafalgar Square which leads to the National Museum.  Trafalgar Square is beautiful with huge statues to look at all day - or at least during a lunch hour.  We saw many people milling around even though a slight drizzle was present.

We didn’t realize we walked so far from Green Park, so we caught the Tube near Trafalgar Square and walked through Green Park.  The lunchtime crowd that occupied St. James Park across the street seemed to be non-existent in Green Park.  We then headed back to the flat because we were going to see a play tonight.

Sunday evening we were able to purchase tickets online for tonight’s showing of The Sound of Music.  It has received many positive reviews.  We didn’t realize the theater was relatively close to the flat - one Tube stop away. We rested for a couple of hours then headed to the show.

We had somewhat nosebleed seats on the upper balcony.  From our theater sets, we lose partial sight of the front stage right, but it didn’t affect enjoying the play.  The performers were good, but it’s hard to live up to an iconic movie. This is only my third theater experience - the other two beings The Phantom of the Opera and The Lion King.  This ranks third, but it was my first London play!

We ended the night anxious to head to Paris.

This weekend we went to the two big markets that happen on the weekend: Notting Hill and Camden Town.  Both markets are very popular, very crowded, but also very different.  Rain was in the forecast for a majority of the weekend, but we wouldn’t let that stop us from going out.

Saturday - Notting Hill

The market opens around 7:00 am, but we started out late in the morning hoping some of the clouds would break.  The walk down Portobello Road was crowded and dangerous at times, as cross traffic is still open.  You just need to remember to look right-left-right instead of left-right-left.  Oi!

The shops and stalls seemed to line the road at least a mile long.  The stalls were part antiques, part flea market, and part farmers’ market.  We walked the whole thing, with the rain pouring in and out through times.  The sun managed to peak out for about 10 minutes at one point.  But as we were heading back to the Tube station, the rain had started to come down in a steady downpour.

Camden Town

We awoke to steady rain Sunday morning, but this wouldn’t stop us from heading to Camden Town. For some reason I really enjoyed taking the Tube today.  I was impressed that we were able to transfer to a couple of trains quickly. I can imagine living in London without car.

Camden Town has a more youth and fashion oriented appeal.  The majority of the crowds there remind me of my record store days.  You can see several goth clothing stores and music shops along the streets.  Most of stalls in the market areas deal with clothing, jewelry, and accessories.  The food court area in one portion of the market offers a variety of tasty looking dishes easily served in an aluminum tin for your takeaway pleasure.

We stayed in Camden Town for several hours before heading off to a more touristy endeavor - The Victoria & Albert Museum (aka V&A).

V&A

The Tube station stops near the bottom section of The V&A.  A long walk down a tunnel takes you to an underground entrance.

The V&A has both a mixture of old and modern art.  Heck, they even had an exhibition for Kylie Minogue!  We didn’t go see that exhibit or the surreal exhibit as they cost extra.  But the rest of the museum, like most of the British museums, was free.  We were able to view the amazing Raphael Cartoons - for which I was chastised for taking the photo below.  Luckily I was able to say it wasn’t of the cartoon themselves but of the archway.  Otherwise I probably would have been chided even further.

The museum was impressive.  I will need to post other photos once we get home.  The internet connection here isn’t bad but it isn’t that great either.  Plus some of the photos really need work.  I hate taking photos in museums, as they normally have low lighting due to the nature of the work being displayed.  I was able to take a few photos, like the one of the idiot leaning on an exhibit below while trying to admire other art before him.  More will follow once we are back in the states.

Harrods

The last stop of the day was at the world famous Harrods.  We walked around a while looking at many things.  This is one large department store that has many brands available.  But it isn’t really my cup of tea.  On the lower floor you can find a small memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, the son of the store owner Mohammad Al-Fayed.

We didn’t much after Harrods as our feet were dead tired after walking all day.

Stonehenge!

We are in our rented London flat now.  It is an excellent one-bedroom flat in St. Christopher’s Place, which is of one of busiest shopping streets in the world - Oxford Street.  Luckily, we are on a quiet branch of the busy hustle and bustle of the main shopping lane.

We arrived in London early Thursday afternoon by coach (bus) from our time in Bath.  I meant to blog more often than I have and about our last two days in Bath, as well as our past two days here, but the jet lag is still hitting me.  Farrah and I find ourselves up at 5:00 am, then knackered by 1:00 pm in the afternoon.  We get our second wind after a quick afternoon nap.  Hopefully, we’ll be on full London time by tomorrow.

Stonehenge and Avebury via Mad Max

On Tuesday we took the Mad Max tour of Stonehenge and Avebury stone circles.  Mad Max Tours received a very good review in the trip planning references we used.  I thought the tour was going to be rough when we first got on the small tour bus of about 12 people.  Our tour guide Nick seemed a little flustered in the beginning, but his demeanor and the tour picked up as we moved through the day.

I suppose stone circles can look like large rocks placed in unusual but possibly significant positions, but the mysticism that surrounds these formations is hard to ignore.  We arrived at Stonehenge after an hour’s ride from Bath.  The drive was uneventful.  We were the first tour group to arrive at Stonehenge.  This afforded us the opportunity to view Stonehenge without the many people coming in ten minutes after our arrival.

The photo above represents the first time I saw Stonehenge. I know it’s not the best photo, but it is an honest representation of what I first saw.  I can honestly tell you my heart skipped a beat upon seeing Stonehenge on the horizon.  To see Stonehenge in person is amazing.  We were able to walk around the whole structure.  I know we took too many photos, but I wasn’t sure what photos were going to turn out with the cloudy slash sunny weather we were having.

After Stonehenge, we headed to Avebury, another stone formation.  Avebury is not as famous as Stonehenge, but the rock formations are just as impressive.  The rocks at Avebury are more natural whereas the stones at Stonehenge were beaten smooth.

We then took a short ride to Lacock where we ate lunch at a small pub there, the George Inn.  We had the fish and chips there with a pint of Guinness for me and a half pint of the local bitter for Farrah.  We chatted it up with some of the other people on tour with us, finding out that two of the other single passengers were from California - one from San Diego and the other from Mountain View!  Small world.

Lacock has been used as a filming location from time to time since it can represent old England and it is a tiny town.  It has been employed in such productions as “Pride and Prejudice” (BBC version), Harry Potter, and a new Dame Judi Dench BBC mini-series.

Family in Bath

Wednesday morning we went to a hairdresser in Bath.  Not just any ordinary hairdresser but Farrah’s host mom’s business in Bath.  At first, Lin (Linda) wasn’t sure who she was seeing peering through her door, but after a quick smile and a “Do you recognize me?” from Farrah, memories of Farrah’s stay in Bath nine years ago came rushing back.

Farrah and Lin talked for about half an hour, which consisted of introducing me,  and quickly catching up on time spent apart.  Lin invited us to dinner that night, an opportunity to catch up with Brian and Louise.  We spent the rest of the daylight going to the Costume Museum and other sites we wanted to see before we were to leave on Thursday morning.

At about 4:30 pm, we started the slightly long uphill walk to Lin’s home.  Farrah said she remembered how to get there, questioned her recollection about halfway through our walk, then assuredly guided us to the right place.  The rain was steadily coming down that night.

We arrived at Lin, Brian, Louise, and Barnaby’s lovely home with smiles and hugs.  We spent the next four hours drinking wine, eating dinner, and talking about everything under the sun.  It was a lovely evening spent with warm, genuine people who I know Farrah can honestly call her family across the pond.

Our time spent in Bath was enjoyed to the fullest.  I wish we could devote more time there, but we needed to head off to the second part of our journey.

Travel Day

Thursday found us partaking in one last early morning walk around Bath, then a quick breakfast before catching the coach to London.  The three-and-a-half-hour drive to London wore us out.  Once we got off the coach, we headed to the crowded Tube station.  We bought an Oyster card which seemed more economical for our 10 stays in London.  Loading the card took a considerable amount of time as the blasted machine did not want to read my credit card.  Imagine the frustration after the tiring coach trip!

We boarded one Tube train and then another to our destination.  I must stay the Tube platform looked like a movie set.  Nice, clean, and unreal.  I’ll need to take photos of the station sometime later.  I couldn’t at that time as our hands were full with the luggage.

When we got out of the Bond Street Tube station to locate the rental office, it was pouring rain.  Oxford Street was crowded with shoppers even though it was raining cats and dogs.  We managed to quickly find the rental office, only about a three-minute walk from our location.  We received the keys from Lizzie - our representative at Globe - then found our flat.

The flat is beautiful and roomy, having a nice small kitchen, bedroom, bath, etc.  We’ve settled in pretty well, having bought the necessary groceries at the local Tesco Express.  I am happy we rented a flat, allowing us to live the local experience, unlike a hotel room.  Plus it almost cost the same as a decent hotel room here in pricey London!

Anyway, as I finish this up, it is coming up at 1:00 AM.  I better get some rest.  Farrah is already asleep.

I’ll blog more when I can.