Europe - Episode IV

Tuesday, September 4^th

We had reluctantly decided that we should leave England to leave time for Switzerland and Italy. So we had booked a flight from London Gatwick to Geneva, Switzerland. We were to fly on EasyJet. Europe has several small airline companies that offer reasonable rates on short notice. We found them online by going to sites like Orbitz and Travelocity to see what airlines offered cheap fares and then book directly with those airlines. It’s easier to deal directly with airlines about schedule changes than with Orbitz and Travelocity.

Chalk Cliffs of England 

We also had found a hotel near Geneva. Geneva is very expensive, and we discovered that it is about a third cheaper to stay across the border in France. We also stayed in France because during our stay we were to attend one of Alex’s friend’s wedding in a small village a short distance by bus from our hotel.

We checked out of our London hotel, took the train from Victoria Station to Gatwick Airport, flew to Geneva, and took a cab to our hotel. On the way to the hotel, the cab driver told us we were driving through CERN - Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire, which is the large European super collider.

We eventually found our hotel in Saint Genis Pouilly, hoping that it was reasonably close to public transportation to downtown Geneva and to the nearby village where the wedding would be. It turned out to be perfect. There were regular buses to the Swiss border near the CERN headquarters where we could catch the light rail into Geneva, and the buses went to the nearby villages.

We explored the town and ate at a kebab place run by a crazy blue-eyed Moroccan man who was on his 7^th marriage.

Wednesday, September 5^th

We took the short bus ride across the border into Switzerland and went to the CERN visitor’s center. We’re from Los Alamos. We had to go in and see the particle accelerator displays. 

Visitors from Los Alamos at CERN

I talked to one of the museum staff and learned that the next day, September 6^th would be a Geneva holiday. Not a Swiss holiday, just a Geneva holiday. The residents of Geneva get September 6^th off to fast and eat plums. “Wait,” I said. “You get the day off to fast (go without food) and eat plums (food)?”

“Exactly,” he said.

This was good information because when there is a holiday, the bus and train schedules are goofy.

We took the train into Geneva and walked down by Lake Geneva, saying hello to the swans, watching boats, and exploring. 

Feed the Bird - Tuppence a Bag

We went to see the famous floral clock and walked into the old part of town to visit the cathedral and explore some of the other sights. 

Le Clocke du Flowers

There is a park in Geneva with giant statues honoring the protestant reformers. Alex had learned about it in a religion class at BYU, so he asked someone about them. It was short walk down to the park to see the statues.  

Alex and the Giant Reformers

While in the park, Alex and I played chess using giant chess pieces. Alex usually beats me at chess, but we fought to a draw, which made me very happy. 

The End of the Draw Game
Vexation for Alex

We were hungry, so we stopped at a pizza place. Geneva is one of the most expensive cities in the world. We studied the menu. It was clear that we were expected to sit down, order several courses, and then empty our wallets. Instead we probably offended them by buying one small pizza to split.

Swiss Pizza a la Mucho Dollars

Thursday, September 6^th

We decided that while the residents of Geneva took time off to fast and gorge themselves on plums, we would rent a car and drive into the mountains. 

Switzerland Scene

There are places where you can pay lots of money to go to the distant glaciers on trams, and that sounds wonderful, but we opted to go to Reichenbach Falls. It would continue with our Sherlock Holmes theme. It is where Holmes fought his arch enemy Professor Moriarty, and the online information showed it to be a spectacular sight. And it was. Our drive was enjoyable. I drove. Alex navigated and taught us about European traffic signs and things. The Swiss country side is lovely. The high mountains are spectacular. We had fun. We took the funicular rail to the base of the falls, then walked to the top and hiked back down. 

Funicular

Reichenbach Falls

A Reenactment 

Elementary

Relaxing at the Top

It was beautiful.
We found the original note Sherlock wrote to Watson.

My Dear Watson

This is the Place Monument

On the way back to Geneva, we stopped at the Swiss Temple. 

Swiss Temple in the Evening

Alex’s GPS took us there. It’s fun to see the temples up close. We dined on supermarket food and drove to the hotel.  I returned the car early the following morning to avoid the goofy holiday transport schedules.

Friday, September 7^th

The day of Alex’s friend’s wedding arrived. We were unsure of the bus schedule, so we left early, thinking we might have to wait for up to an hour, but the bus arrived at the stop almost exactly when we did. We had to run a little bit, but were growing accustomed to running to catch public transport. So we arrived in the town square in the little French village of Thoiry a couple of hours before the wedding. This gave us time to relax, buy a few things in the village shops, and take pictures.

Early Morning in Thoiry

Thoiry Courthouse before theWedding

A few minutes before 10:00, guests began arriving, and soon the courthouse patio was crowded. In Europe, LDS couples are married by a recognized civil authority and then they can go the next day to the temple for the sealing ceremony.

The room where the wedding ceremony occurred was really packed. I stayed out in the hall and helped entertain some young twins so their mother, who actually knew the couple, could poke her head in and watch parts of the ceremony.

We had our picture taken with the bride and groom. 

And We Came All the Way from America

I told Alex to flirt with the beautiful bridesmaids, but he would have had to flirt in French, which unfortunately limited his capability. 

Alex had purchased a gift for the couple in London: nice cutting boards (the French are wonderful cooks) and an English cookbook with recipes for Bubble and Squeak, Toad in the Hole, and other atrocities. We all agreed that it was the perfect gift.

A Gift for the Unsuspecting French Groom

We hitched a ride to the LDS chapel for the reception and sat through a few speeches in French, which once again brought on a little drowsiness.  It was worth it for the refreshments. The French, as you might expect, know how to make hors d'oeuvres.

Where is the Bubble and Squeak?

A bus we caught near the chapel took us to Saint Genis Pouilly, but we misunderstood the stops and got off in the next village. So we had to take another bus back to the stop near our hotel. 

Europe Trip - Episode III

Saturday, September 1

I remember driving by the Tower of London when I was first in England in 1973. I had recently seen A Man for All Seasons, a movie worth watching, and I was spellbound to see the actual Tower. It’s still interesting to visit there.

The Tower of London

Alex arranged to meet one of his missionary companions from Finland, who was in London, to join us for the day. We joined a group of tourists for one of the always-interesting-and-humourous Beefeater tours. 

Beefeater

He gave us a blow-by-blow description of Cromwell’s botched execution, an account of Anne Boleyn’s private execution and subsequent burial in the Tower church, and several other stories. 

Chapel where the body of Anne Boleyn is buried. Her head is also there. 

We then went to see the Crown Jewels, which are amazing, and then we were free to wander through the central White Tower and a few of the side towers.

Tower Bridge

We debated what to do in the afternoon but settled on going to Baker Street to the relatively new Sherlock Holmes Museum near 221B Baker Street. 

Sherlock's Violin

Having seen most of the Jeremy Brett Sherlock episodes and having read many of the Sherlock stories, it was fun to tour his “residence.” 

The Game's Afoot

There was a small plaster bust of Napoleon on a mantle, a stuffed hound’s head, a book about bee keeping, and hundreds of other knickknacks that Sherlock fans would recognize.

The Head of the Hound of the Baskervilles

After the tour we asked the Bobby outside where we could get some GOOD fish and chips. He recommended Holmes Fish & Chips, just down the street, and it was wonderful, like fish and chips are meant to taste: thick cod, golden batter, chips (French fries), malt vinegar, pickled onions -- the works. I want to go back.

Yummmmmmm!
(It's my passport pouch that makes me look fat.)

We strolled down Park Lane in the evening to look at expensive cars.

$$$

$$$

Sunday, September 2

It was Sunday morning, so we took a bus to South Kensington for church. Walking along Exhibition Road we noticed a section of the wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum that was very badly pockmarked. It is a section of bomb-damaged wall that has been left unrepaired as a reminder of the damage caused by German bombs.

We went into Hyde Park Chapel for sacrament meeting. The chapel has a large pipe organ. It’s a great instrument, and while I was there in the ‘70’s, a young church organist, James Drake, had been sent there by the church to play regular organ concerts and improve his music skills. He was a very talented organist. He and I had enjoyed some fun adventures together when I was on my mission. I glanced at my program, and noticed the name of today’s organist: James Drake. “What?” I thought, “He’s been here for the past forty years?” It turned out that Dr. Drake had finished in London, taught at Utah State for thirty years, and just happened to be in London for the weekend before going on to Eastern Europe to play a few organ concerts. He had played in a concert on the Hyde Park organ the evening before, which I wish we had known about.

I went up and talked to him a while after sacrament meeting. Sunday school was taught by a young female barrister who was very sharp. It’s always fun to attend Hyde Park Ward. Last time we were there I ran into my cousin Paul Thomas who happened to be in London teaching English for BYU Semester Abroad.

After church we went to the science museum across the street and saw some interesting displays.

Enigma Machines in Science Museum

Then we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum around the corner where we ate lunch in the courtyard. 

Sunday Lunch

After-Lunch Exercise

We hoped to go to Speaker’s Corner to listen to the kooks and scholars talking to the masses. But we also wanted to go to St. Paul’s for their evensong and listen to the choir and organ in that magnificent cathedral. We opted for St. Paul’s.

St. Paul's

I also recommend taking a train to Canterbury to go to evensong there in the evenings. You get to sit in the choir seats next to the boys' choir, and it is incredible. We had done that with Erik. We didn’t have time to do everything on this trip though.  

After evensong at St. Paul’s, we ate pizza at a place across the street. European pizza is okay, but it’s sort of flimsy by Pizza Hut standards.

Sunday is the Day of Rest

Monday, September 3^rd

We wanted to spend a day in the English countryside. We had originally wanted to rent a car and drive to Churchill’s house, GiIwell, Waltham Abbey, Stonehenge, Warwick Castle, Bath, Wales, and lots of other places. But, we also wanted to leave time to visit other countries in Europe. So, for our one day in the country, we elected to see Churchill’s house at Chartwell. It would be perfect: gardens, history, Churchill’s paintings, and the Kent countryside. Our plans were set. I looked at the website for travel information, and we took a train from London to Sevenoaks, the station nearest Chartwell. At the station we called Chartwell to get bus information (We were becoming savvy public transport travelers.), and . . . Chartwell is only open Wednesdays through Sundays. One small glitch in our web research. So, what else could we do near Sevenoaks? Alex and I wanted to go back to London to see a bit more of the British Museum or something. But Lisa persuaded us to find other things to out in the country since we’d come all that way, which was a good idea. A train station brochure noted that Charles Darwin’s home is also near Sevenoaks. Well, both Alex and I have recently read Origin of the Species, and it might be fun to go see Darwin’s collection of stuffed pigeons and things.  Darwin’s house was also closed. What’s with this Wednesday through Sunday stuff? In America, Monticello is open every day of the year, including Sundays, except Christmas. But England is not America. Sometime we forget.

So, what do you do when Darwin’s house is closed? You adapt. Looking at the map of Sevenoaks, we noticed that there was a wildlife reserve a short walk away, so away we walked to explore nature, eating blackberries from the hedges as we went.

Wildlife

Alex and the Bees

Kent is the Garden of England, and it was very peaceful and beautiful in the Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve. We crept into bird watching blinds and gazed at the flora and fauna. It really was a good break from the city and a good recovery from botched plans.

Wildlife

Wildlife

Tree Snake

Snail on Nettles

Wildlife

Returning to London’s Charing Cross Station, we found ourselves at Trafalgar Square, which ordinarily is a public square where you can buy bird seed to persuade a dozen pigeons to sit on you while you pose for pictures. But during the Olympics it had been transformed into a place to sit and watch Olympic events on a giant screen. 

Lord Nelson Watching over Olympics

The main Olympics were over, but the Paralympics were in full swing. We had looked online to see if we could get tickets to a Paralympics event, but they were just as popular and hard to find tickets for as the other Olympic events. We could have gone to a Paralympics lawn bowling competition, but it didn’t sound as exciting as some of the other events.

The National Gallery is situated just up from Trafalgar Square, so we enjoyed a whirlwind tour before it closed. We hustled around to see paintings by many of the masters: Monet, Manet, Mayonnet, Rembrandt, Picasso, Vermeer, Rubens, van Gogh, and others. Alex had not seen any paintings by the great masters, and it’s always enjoyable to see the originals.