Cute shops, Lille, France

Living in Los Angeles, I crave color and cute shops and the countryside. We don't have seasons here, everything is the same, everyday. I know when people take vacations they take a cruise, go to the beach, not me, I already live 1/2 a mile away from the Pacific Ocean. I crave quaintness, I crave the quaintness of France, Italy and Spain. I was excited to be back in Europe, we were there only a year ago. I was in Cairo in February this year and Yunnan, China in June also this year.

So walking in the old quarter of Lille was so pleasant, taking pictures was even more fun. We were in the south of France last year but this trip we were in the north. I like Lille, it's small and very pleasant.

Lille, France

When the cafe signs is in French, I knew we were not in England anymore. Not too many people visit Lille. It has no claim to fame except being a stop for the London to Brussels Euro star train. We were heading deep into Europe and I wanted a stop in between to avoid the very long train trip. So I picked Lille, just to stop for a day to stretch our legs before heading to Munich. I could have chosen Strasbourg, France but we were staying in Strasbourg for a few days on the way back. It has a huge TGV station and one can make train connections to anywhere in France from here.

It is a nice French city, not too busy, very dignified and has a beautiful old quarter.

Being so close to Belgium, it looked and felt more like a Belgian city. It reminded me of Nice, Nice is French but feels like Italy because of it close proximity to Italy and it's cosmopolitan mix of people gives it a totally different feel. I like Lille.

Eurostar

This is an addendum to the St Pancras posting. On our way back to London after we've toured the continent, we heard an announcement on the train that we can purchase Oyster cards on board. We should have bought our Oyster card on board the train instead of waiting in line at St Pancras station. It makes sense to use an Oyster card in London. Public transportation is very expensive in London. It's a few pounds to ride the tube or the bus. We usually buy a day pass for all regions in London, we can use it the whole day, it works on a 24 hour clock. It saves time and money rather than buy a ticket each time you board the tube or the bus. With the day pass, you just swipe the card, it allows for limitless travel till midnight the same day. It helps, especially when we get lost all the time or go in the wrong direction. We can be visiting somewhere and decide to have lunch in Soho, we just jump on the tube and not think about how much more it's going to cost. The Oyster card works differently. To get an Oyster card, one pays 3 pounds and one can load the card with 10 pounds of travel, each time you swipe the card, the cost is deducted from your card. You can always load it up with more travel money. What happens to the leftover money in your card when you leave the country? Ah, not to worry. At London Heathrow you can return your card, they'll refund the 3 pounds to you and whatever money is left unused on the card. I love it.

St Pancras station, London

In November 1994, train travel all the way to Paris and Brussels from London was made possible by the opening of the Euro tunnel and the operation of Eurostar. Eurostar is the high speed train that takes people from London to and from Paris and Brussels in less than 3 hours. I made my first Eurostar trip in December 1999, I spent a few days at Christmas with family in London and decided to spend 2 days in Paris also. It was my first time in Paris. I was both scared and excited. I loved Eurostar even then, the old station was at Waterloo. I think they moved to St Pancras 2 years ago. I've been on Eurostar many times since my first trip but this was the first time at St Pancras. I love this station. St Pancras is also the name of the tube station stop and King's Cross train station. It is an extremely busy place. One can get easily overwhelmed at seeing the crowds. St Pancras is a beautifully refurbished station. Unfortunately I don't have pictures of the beautiful exterior. I think it was a church before.

We saw huge groups of British housewives going to Paris and Brussels.

Here we are, getting ready to board, one train is going to Brussels, the other to Paris. We were on the Brussels train which also stops at Lille, France. Lille was our stop. I've been to Brussels on this train a few years ago. Just before we pulled off the station, both Sophie and I ran out to take these pictures.

I'm ready to take off now. It goes through the chunnel (the tunnel under the English channel) for about 20 minutes and you emerge on the other side either in England or in France. It is one of the most amazing engineering feat ever. I saw a documentary on TV last night of the astronauts repairing the Hubble telescope in Space. Wow. That's another amazing engineering feat. The chunnel took 15 years and 20 billion dollars to complete. Have you been there yet? A second class ticket doesn't cost that much. We stayed at a fleapit hostels just minutes away from St Pancras. Rooms are expensive in London. We shared a dorm room with 10 other girls. It was only for one night. We arrived the day before and here we are, the next day on the next leg of our trip.... Lille, France!

The train actually stopped at Gare Lille Europe which was a bigger station but it is a 5 minutes walk to the old station at Gare Lille Flandres. We didn't have any hotel reservation but there are many hotels just in front of Gare Lille Flandres. We found one for 60 euros double occupancy with en suite bathroom.

The tearoom

There were so many more things we wanted to do on this trip but didn't have enough time to do them all. We didn't have time to stop for tea, imagine that. No cream tea? How dreadful. We did watch people have cream tea. We just had a huge lunch at Soho (London' s Chinatown). While visiting Oxford, I had wanted to have some clotted cream ice cream but didn't have time, the tour guide was rushing us to get on the bus, she said it was only a bathroom break. We did stop for lunch at another place in Oxford and had a proper English meal. Sigh! I had the roasted pork belly, Sophie had the Shepherd's pie. It was really good. It was a really pretty English pub. The photos will come in later postings.

It's great, you don't know where the shop ends and where the tearoom begins. It's one and the same room. Next to it is the kitchen and the display area, the dishwasher area. It was wonderful to be back in England again and to be back in Europe. It is scenes like this that keeps me going every day. Mind you, this was our first day back, we've just arrived at Heathrow airport and we've already hit the ground running. There's no time to lose.

The changing season

Change, one thing that is certain in life, whether it be the changing season or the changing of the guards, or the changing times. We saw old Europe and we saw new Europe, we saw the opening of borders which not too recently were closed. There is a slight chill in the air even though it was still pretty warm but we knew that Fall is in the air and the season will change. As this trip drew to a close, we know that the year 2009 is drawing to a close. I'm glad I was able to pack in as much as I could handle this year, both work and travel. I know that as I'm getting up in age, the time to do anything is pretty tight. The time to do anything is now. I feel a sense of urgency in my life. The picture shows the changing of the guards at Prague castle, the Stazi, which not too recently was used to oppress the people, now is on show to 'protect' Prague castle. There is an exhibit at Prague castle on the history of the Stazi. Now tourists mill around the castle and pose for pictures with the Stazi standing at attention.

Prague and Eastern Europe, which until the Cold war ended, was a mystery to us Americans, now people from all over the world throng the old square in Prague. Literally there are people from all over the world represented here. I was surprised at the huge number of Asians that are here visiting.

There were the myriad of American icons in Eastern Europe, Mickey D is here, so is Starbucks, KFC and Burger King. This is the McDonald at Na Prikope, a very fashionable street in Prague.

A very fashionable store in Prague. Here is high fashion in Eastern Europe.

It was Ocktober fest in Munich, a sign that the year is drawing to a close. I hadn't plan on going to Ocktober fest but when we arrived at 9.30pm we happened upon it. There was ompah pah going on every where and beer drinking and a lot of merry making and guys dressed in Lederhosens and girls in dirndl...What's happening, we asked, when we arrived? Duh! Luckily we could find a room, I hadn't made any reservation for this leg of the trip.

When the apples ripen, it's the year drawing to a close. There were crab apples every where.

A pear tree, along the Thames river, in England.

In Fall the Hydrangea changes to this glorious rust color, they were every where.

Soon I have to make plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year. I have to arrange for next year's trips also.