London and Paris on the Tube and Metro

More “after the trip” thoughts…

If you’re going to London or Paris and like to explore on your own, I suggest you make a list of places you want to visit, centering each day around one major event but throwing in some more or less “day’s off” along the way.

Then, as you plan, make serious use of the London Journey Planner and the Paris Recherche avancée. You can specify quickest – bus – train – etc. for the journey. Do a copy/paste into a document, one page for each day.

Then, as you travel around use the information you’ve gathered.

I surprised myself in Paris as we left the Eiffel Tower, wanting to take the bus (to see Paris as we went) to the Louvre. Per my own instructions we walked along an avenue, turned at the right place, and there sat two busses with the correct route number on them. When we approached the front bus, the driver pointed across the street to yet another bus, just loading. My self-made instructions were almost perfect, just not pointing to the correct side of the street.

We did stuff like that as we found our way around London and Paris, not quite moving around as locals, but independently flowing from one place to another in a satisfying way.

On both the Tube and Metro (subway and bus alike) you need to know the train or bus’ ultimate destination plus your stop along the way. Having a pre-printed page of instructions (to and from) makes a huge difference as you stand in an underground station deciding which platform is the right one. Of course, you have big maps in every station and, of course, you have a pocket map – but things feel rather confusing when there are thousands of rushing commuters all around you.

There’s no chance people will think you’re a local, but having the piece of paper in your hand that says, in your own words: “At Green Park station, take the Jubilee Line towards Stratford Underground Station or West Ham – get off at Canary Wharf” gives you more confidence than just knowing you need to “take the tube to Canary Wharf.”

London/Paris 2011 trip report–part 3

Monday night came early and we were glad for it.  We went to bed about 8:00 local and 2:00 “home time.”  After going pretty much without sleep overnight Sunday and then hitting the ground running for a day of sightseeing, we struggled to stay awake that late.  Jackie pretty much slept all night.  I conked out for about 4 hours and then woke up.  I’m no fan of sleeping pills, but I took one and then slept the rest of the night.  We both woke around 8:00am feeling refreshed and ready for the day.

We walked a few blocks to the Canary Wharf pier and to the Thames Clipper into the heart of London, passing under Tower Bridge and seeing many of the famous sights of London from the water.

After taking some photos of Big Ben and Parliament we walked over to the Churchill War Rooms and Museum.  It was here that Winston Churchill lead England through WWII.  It’s quite an interesting place and we surprised ourselves by staying about 2 hours.

We grabbed some sandwiches from a shop that is part of a chain, Tesco Express.  Prepackaged sandwiches, chips and drinks.  We ate, sitting on a wall with many other locals and tourists, right across the street from Big Ben.

From there we hopped on the tube headed for our next destination.  It’s easy to see why Londoners have a love/hate relationship with the tube.  You can go about anywhere on the tube and trains are quite frequent, generally less than 5 minutes apart.  However, the trains are very crowded and not air conditioned.  On one journey we made people were packed in, standing room only.  Hardly anyone speaks and everyone reads the paper or a book – I guess it’s a way to isolate oneself in such an uninsolated situation.

Our other big stop of the day was the British Library.  One room, in particular is worth visiting.  It is full of rare books, etc.  including 400 year old Bibles, original Shakespearen manuscripts, and one of the earliest handwritten copies of Handel’s Messiah.

We found our way back to Canary Wharf, the Wall Street of London.  It also has a huge shopping mall.  At one end we found a big grocery store and bought some supper to take back to the flat.