We couldn’t get flights from Paris to San Francisco, but we could get flights from London to San Francisco, so we took an early Eurostar train from Gare du Nord in Paris and arrived into the Waterloo Station in London before lunch. Our Leisure Select tickets included breakfast, not that it was anything to write home about, but the train itself was comfortable, smooth, and fast. The trip takes three hours, but you gain an hour going in this direction because of the time difference. Our flight to San Francisco leaves tomorrow, so we had to squeeze in a lot in the few hours we had today. We started out with the Tower Bridge, then we stopped in for a pub lunch, followed by Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Park, Hyde Park, another pub break, and we even stopped into the half-price ticket booth at Leicester Square to try to get theatre tickets for tonight, but the theatre was closed on Sundays. For dinner we took the tube over to an area called Brick Lane for Indian food. This area is also known as Curry Mile, with Indian restaurants lining both sides of the street. We settled on Clifton Restaurant (1 Whitechapel Rd, Brick Lane), where it was not necessary to reserve a table ahead of time. Actually, the whole area was pretty quiet, and I must say, I was a bit disappointed, maybe because it was Sunday night, or maybe because we just didn’t really know where to go, but I don’t think we’ll be rushing back here. Clifton’s wasn’t bad, but it was nothing special either. We’ve always had outstanding Indian food in London, so that made tonight’s dinner especially disappointing. I guess we’ll head back to Chutney Mary’s and Tamarind next time.
London Pub
Admiral Lord Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square
Houses of Parliament
Westminster Abbey
Saint James’s Park
Buckhingham Palace
