London

We travelled from Brussels to London by Eurostar. The aim was to spend the weekend with Ghislaine and Paul.

We stayed at the Hilton at Canary Wharf, which meant that we were close to Ghislaine and Paul's apartment. They met us there on the Friday evening and we had a Indian meal (the national cuisine of UK).

On Saturday we went to the Wallace Collection - a fine collection of painting and objects'd art, displayed in the London home of the Dukes of Hertford. The visit was made better by a knowledgable guide. A great place to visit, both to see the collection and also the home - and free.


After lunch at a pub (what else but sausages and mash?), we walked down Bond Street and through Green Park. We took a river ferry back to Canary Wharf from the London Eye bank, so we had a good look at the city from the river on a beautiful sunny day. That evening we went to the new Lebanese restuarant in Paul's apartment block, which was quite good.

On the Sunday morning we went through Buckingham Palace, which was excellent. We had booked tickets the day before, so we got in on one of the first entries of the day to avoid the queues and crowds. The tour takes you through the State Rooms and then through the gardens. As it happened, this was the last day the palace was open for the summer season.

We walked through Hyde Park to Speakers Corner, was was ceraintly interesting. Bring your own steps and away you go.......

Paul and Ghislaine went off home and Bernadette and I visited the Courtauld Gallery, which is located in Somerset House, on the banks of the Thames. This is an excellent collection, with great Impressionist paintings.

That evening we dressed up and dined at Gordon Ramsay's restaurant at Claridges. We had the fixed menu of a soup, two entrees, a main and two desserts. Even though the servings are small, that makes for plenty of food. I thought that the food was great (especially the truffle and corn soup and the lobster and crayfish ravioli), though it is fairly rich. Overall, a great experience.

On the Monday morning, we were off early to get to St Pancras to get on a Eurostar service to Brussels. A fire in a tunnel two weeks earlier was still causing disrupted services and our booked service was cancelled. Nonetheless, we got on a train which got us to Brussels, even if the service was about an hour longer than normal. From there, it's a easy three hour trip to Amsterdam.