5/30 - Crossing the Channel

Regretting the hotel decision a little. First, they were doing some construction this morning. Quite irritating when I was trying to sleep late. Second, it’s too far west. Cab from Victoria was around L16. Over to Waterloo was L15 (less traffic). Next time, check out Thistle Trafalgar or Picadilly, or anything on the central/south side of zone 1.

Nice train ride – I always enjoy the Eurostar. A little longer underground than I remembered from last time. Got to the station a little earlier than necessary. Could probably have caught the earlier train, but it stopped somewhere along the way and wouldn’t have made it to Paris any earlier. French guy right across from me has the exact same model of laptop; weird - it's brand new. Older American couple next to me. Not too bad. No crying babies/children!

Finished the first pulp fiction book I brought with. Interesting little sci-fi/alternate history combination by Arthur C. Clarke and some other guy. Will definitely want to read the sequel. I think the other book is a Crichton novel. Didn’t watch any video on the train – I had the sunny side and it would have washed out the screen anyway. Guess I’ll work through a bundle on all the flights home.
Switching to the RER at Gare du Nord was no problem. Except for the ATM/Kiosk machines that are supposed to take credit cards, let you get all the way through the process of picking and choosing, then don't recognize the card. :( So I waited in line instead. Not a big deal. The turnstile machines are great fun when you've got a giant suitcase. :) Direct train to CDG. There's a shuttle bus to the hotel, but I had no idea where to catch it and I couldn't figure out how to get my (American) phone to call a French number. Hopefully there aren't tons of charges waiting for me. Decided on a cab, which was just as well. I'm going to try to keep tabs on all the misc expenses like that to see whether I end up saving any money with this whole Houston-London-Paris-Moscow-St Petersburg-Paris-Houston thing. I'm sure I will, but not a ton. Still worth it to sit up front (at least one direction, hopefully two) and get a taste of London. I do wish I'd gotten some time in Paris, but the Eurostar arrived (on schedule) at just before 8pm (I booked the 4:12 train in case I got bumped from the Continental flights on Sunday). No way to store luggage at the rail station, so I really didn't get any true Paris time. :( Debating whether to go down to the bar here at the hotel before calling it a night. I'd like a quick drink, but don't want to get a headache from the cigarette smoke. Hmmm.

5/29 - Chilling in London

Smooth trip into the city (again, I’ve done it enough). Bad news is that there’s no longer an airline (or at least, not a Continental) discount on the Gatwick Express. My karma was good, though, because after debating tubing or cabbing to the hotel I chose the cab option (bag is big, and I was too tired to drag it through the stations). Turns out the entire Central line was close for emergency maintenance today – I would have been stuck a few stops away from Holland Park had I tried to cab it.
Cleaned up and the hotel, and headed to the tube stop (this is when I found out it was closed). Trekked back to the hotel to ask the concierge where the second closest tube stop was, and the answer was “there isn’t one”. But he was very helpful and gave me a bus lesson. Number 148 took me to Victoria (albeit quite slowly) where I switched to the tube. Got off at Pimlico and walked to the Tate Gallery.
Nice museum, but not my style. I liked some of the modern stuff, some of the British historical stuff, but nothing blew my socks off. Strangest setup was a video display of some Phil Collins dance-off against something (poverty/discrimination/hunger/whatever). You just rounded a corner and suddenly Brittany Spears is blaring over some speakers and there is video of some very tired-looking kids dancing. ???
Decided to walk from there, and walk I did. (Might come to regret that tomorrow) The Tate is right on the Thames, so I crossed to the east side and followed it up to Parliament and beyond. It was good to connect a new part of the city to the areas I already know well. Wandered up past a few bridges, then headed west to Covent Garden. The damn mouse guy wasn’t there. This is like the third time I’ve tried to find him with no luck. L Maybe he’s moved on. Extremely busy, which surprised me a little. And all during the walk lots of foreign accents – more than the British ones. Standard wanderer trek from there – Covent to Leicester Square to Picadilly to Regent Street to Oxford Circus. It was very windy all day (I missed my sunglasses), and on Oxford it started to rain. That’s when I learned another bus number – 94 takes you back down Oxford/Bayswater/Holland Park Street past Hyde Park to Kensington. Relaxed at the hotel for a few minutes before the parents called to test out the international capabilities of the new cell phone. Works like a charm. Short talk, but at $1.29 a minute it should be.
Oh, and Mickey Rooney is staying at my hotel today. I saw his little midget-sized body as I rounded the corner just before six. :-o
That’s about it so far. Bed will definitely come early tonight. If the weather is nice tomorrow, I might try to walk some of Hyde Park before heading to Waterloo (train a 4 something). Oh, and the wireless access in the lobby at the Hilton Kensington is pay via BT. How crappy is that? I got free wireless in strange hotels in the middle of Turkey, but have to pay in London at the Hilton? Bite me.
That’s enough typing with no pictures, and this won’t even get posted today thanks to the Hilton’s cheapness. Maybe the Millenium in Paris is better. The boobie necklace is with me, BTW, so expect some pictures on the “travelinboobies” blog as well. (And hopefully my adapter plug will work so I can recharge the laptop) My club sandwich is waiting (and I know it’s no British – this isn’t an England trip, just a stopover).

Post-script from the bar:
My TV addiction has just been vindicated. I’m calmly eating my club sandwich after wrapping up the above, when the hotel guys start debating American Idol. I believe the word of choice for Taylor Hicks’s last song was “rubbish”. Usually there’s a notable delay when UK shows come to the US and vice versa, but that must have changed if they’re already up on this. X-Men 3 is also already playing here (although the miserable Poseidon has yet to debut).

Post, Post-script (still from the lobby bar)
Music scenario getting weirder. Plasmas have a music video channel playing. We’ve had Tarkan (number 1 Turkish pop singer) “Bounce” on, followed in “Oops Upside Your Head” by the Gap Band. Hmmmmm.

5/28 - Back from the dead ...

Yes, the blog is back from the dead. While my life in Houton may not be Hollywood-worthy, it's not *that* bad - maybe I'm just too lazy (or too self-important) to do this kind of thing unless I'm on a big trip of something. Anyway ...

Sunday was pretty strange. Middle of the long, holiday weekend back home, plus I was packed very early in case I needed to catch the 3:45 flight. Checkin was crazy in Terminal E – the worst I’ve seen it. I swore off internet checking for international flights after I got screwed on the way to London once, but might have to rethink that after waiting in line 45 minutes this time. I was plenty early, though – I was pacing the house watching crap movies on the Sci-Fi channel (“Deadly Swarm”, anyone?). All smooth once I got to the gate, and even had a little time to stop by the P-Club before settling into seat 1E. The flight attendant working my section thought she recognized me (she may have – I’ve done the London flight enough), but thought I worked with someone who did the aircraft interiors (I don’t). Anyway, nice smooth flight with a decent selection of movies. I snuck in “The Matador” before heading to sleep. (Love that movie – Brosnan is brilliant)