Day 4 -- We shall never surrender

Being as I'm the sole proprietor of this blog, I guess I'm the ombudsman by default. As a result, more housecleaning to start off with. Re: Madeline/Maureen and who's who. Ultimately, this is a choice I will allow the respective parties to make because cat fights are always interesting if not necessary worthwhile. Though one would be hard pressed to come up with a better reason to throw down than an alias on some obscure blog. Nevertheless, I believe Madeline should be this one and Maureen should be that one. Fair enough.

The above nonsense was due to a comment left in the, er, comment section presenting a perfect opportunity to advertise just that. As many already have, feel free to leave a comment if you want. You don't have an account and can leave it anonymously. Moving on...

We left the hotel this morning about 9 and got to the train station and settled in for the Eurostar a little after 10. It was fun to have spent more time in Paris and not feel so rushed. Of course, I could have stayed another 2 weeks or longer in France just roaming, but I must admit that from a language standpoint I was not up to the level I had hoped to be. I suppose I did about as I expected which is to say not great but enough to get by. I certainly wouldn't want to try it, but I would think it entirely possible to speak not a word of French and survive pretty easy there.

I had been looking forward to taking that train because I did enjoy it so much last time. Zooming through the countryside and marveling at, not unlike Georgia, once you get out of the city you are in the absolute middle of nowhere. Just a guess, but I would figure that 30 minutes in any direction from Paris, one would find acres and acres of farm land. Anyway, I didn't see a whole lot of the countryside this time as I decided I'd attempt to resume my interrupted nap. That didn't work too well either, but I tried nonetheless.

We were supposed to arrive in London around 11 but for some reason the train was delayed so it was actually after 12. This had no real effect on my day or the days of countless Londoners but is merely included in the interest of being thorough. Currently and for the rest of the trip we'll be residing in room 500 of the Hotel Montana, located in the Kensington District. I've no idea where the name comes from. Apologies to the good folk of the Treasure State but its hardly what I think of when I think of posh, urban and British. I'm fairly certain our concierge and presumably any/all power players in the Hotel Montana global corporate structure do not come from there either unless there's Bombay suburb named Montana. The concierge was of Indian descent and the hotel restaurant is Indian cuisine. Perhaps I'll ask at some point though I suspect not.

The important thing is that there's a Burger King and a KFC right down from our hotel as well as several pubs and a Tesco (supermarket). Yay, yay and yay. And free wireless internet. So that means instead of exploring the city and country, we'll probably just stick around here all week watch the reruns of American shows and play on the internet. In short, it will be just like home. If people talked funny and drove on the wrong side of the road and had a farcical system of government established by a sword-throwing tart in a lake. I keed and feel free to correct that quote. You know who you are.

Andy's plan was to go Greenwich and stand on the prime meridian. Again. Maybe even take a picture. Alas, the tube route to Greenwich was down for the day so that will have to wait until Wed. or Thurs. So yes, dear reader, we get to London and our first intended destination isn't Buckingham Palace or the Tower. Oh no. It's where he can stand a 0 degrees longitude and imagine what it feels like to be God or something. Sorry ladies, he's taken.

Instead after our delightful Whopper lunch, we decided to go from tube stop to tube stop just because. Eventually, we ended up by the Tower of London and then on to Westminster Abbey and all that. On to the Churchill Museum which, contrary to what Andy thinks, I actually found rather interesting and given our trip to Normandy, I suppose helped give things even more of a WWII bend this time around. I learned that Churchill lit and went through about 12 cigars a day though he never actually smoked them. It will make the museum folks proud to know that was the ultimate fun fact I left with. That plus he and Hitler never met.

Actually, I really was surprised to know that he was voted out of office in 1945. I found this shocking considering his role in modern world history. I would have definitely voted for him so he did have that going for him.

The first and sometimes only question I was asked about our trip in 1997 was, "Did you go to Buckingham Palace." Unaware that this was tantamount to not seeing the stable in Bethlehem, I always answered, "No." Which was then met with an exasperated, "You didn't" without fail. I explained then as now that it never came up but none of us had any particular inclination. Not out of malice towards the delightful queen and her oh so silly family, but just because we'd rather do other things. Like go record store and the prime meridian. Therefore, it is with great joy, excitement, relief and all around something that I announce the following:

"WE WENT TO BUCKINGHAM PALACE!!!!"

Not unlike that stable in Bethlehem, it was life-changing. I am a better person for it. If only I'd known the previous 11 years could have been like the past few hours of my life, I would have flown over here just to go. In fact, I think I'll go again tomorrow and probably the next day. I would suggest that any and all stop whatever they are doing right now and hop the next plane or boat, hell, swim the Atlantic if you have to. Just get over here and experience it.

I suspect every remaining moment of this trip will be a complete and total letdown.

Since we've been gone since Thursday and Andy packed light, it was time to do a bit of laundry this evening. Being a logical fellow, he did just that and washed his delicates in the sink. They now are hanging over the shower curtain rail drying. I do not know if he used hotel soap, a box of Tide he smuggled on to the plane or just ran water over them to get the germs off. Those details are quite inconsequential to the overriding fact that he decided he would rather do laundry by hand at some point than bear the extra weight of 2,3 or perhaps 4 more pairs of socks and underwear. Millicent was aghast when he told her of his own housecleaning. I must side with her on this one. She may not know how to interweb but by gum she can wash a mean cloth.

I think that's why Andy married her.