Saturday, April 25, 2015

Bruges to London

At the train station shlepping our bags through the terminal required a cappuccino break.

Time for a new adventure.  Stevie and I departed this rainy morning heading to London via high speed train.  Our driver, Stef, was an Elvis junkie and had an Elvis CD playing for the entire hour and a half car ride to the train station.  I've never been an Elvis fan, and this did NOT change my mind.  

When we arrived at the train station in Brussels, I thought I would buy some Belgium chocolate to bring home for friends.  Here's what I found in the chocolate shop at the station.

Godiva Chocolates!

 
Stevie and I are not exactly "train" savvy   Actually, we know NOTHING about train travel.  First thing we learned is that one does not check baggage on the train.  That was a bit of a surprise, but we managed to haul all of our luggage through the station, down the escalator to the train platform, to the train and somehow managed to get the heavy bags on the train and into the baggage compartment.  Whew!  Ten points off for train travel.  (Spoiled Americans!)

Refreshments on the Train.   Can't see anything behind us because it's a HIGH SPEED train.

After changing seats three times, we were finally comfortably rolling through the Belgium countryside.  The ride was quick and smooth, taking us through the Chunnel and finally into London in just under two hours.  

Our London Taxi Driver.  We quickly turned the bags over to him.

We arranged a taxi through the conductor on the train, so we were delighted to see Reginald holding a "Gillman" sign as we were dragging our bags through the London train terminal.  Really folks!  What ever happened to the guys with the big wooden wagons that carried the luggage??  I guess that was back in the 60's, which was about the last time I was on a train. 

We went to the Claridges Hotel in London to rooms that were not ready for us.  Stevie's son, Chris, arrived in London today as well.   Since our rooms were not ready, we met Chris in the hotel bar, where he had ordered lunch.  

The bar at Claridges where we spent a lovely afternoon.

We had a great time talking, laughing, telling old stories and drinking lots of wine for SEVEN hours.  Somehow, amidst all the conversation, we managed to forget to eat dinner so I was starved when I finally made it up to my room.  Thank goodness they had a selection of fruit and macaroons waiting for me in the room.  That carried me over until breakfast. 

Speaking of rooms.  This room is really quite special.  It's a one bedroom apartment with a bath and a half.   The hotel is very traditional yet extremely elegant.  My rooms are huge with high ceilings surrounded by incredibly ornate crown moldings.  The old English furnishings in the living room are comfortably arranged around a warm fireplace.  Although everything looks old world, a touch of today shines through with USB plug-ins and 110V power outlets.  I could be comfortable here for a while.

Time to turn in for the evening.  Nite nite.