Getting to London: Read and you'll see why there are no pix!

Fri. Apr. 15: It was an early morning to a full day of travel for us today! We got up at 7:00, finished packing, and enjoyed another fine breakfast. First Challenge: Getting from Honfleur to the Le Havre Train Station—After checking out, Marv went to get the car so we could load our bags without taking them so far. We had rush hour traffic but no problems getting to Le Havre to return the car. After checking the car and finding all was in order, the young woman told us her colleague could drive us to the train station. What a wonderful surprise that was! So we were at our first Gare of the day an hour before the train took off to return us to Paris. This time our (very unnecessary) First Class ticket gave us a little cabin of 6 seats to ourselves for the first hour. Two women joined us in Rouen for the next hour of the trip. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
Second Challenge: Getting from Gare St. Lazare to the EuroStar—While we waited for the train in Le Havre we found our Metro schedule and figured out how to get from Gare St. Lazare to Gare Du Nord to take the EuroStar bullet train through the Chunnel to London. When we arrived at St. Lazare Station we followed the signs to take RER E, the intercity commuter train, found a change booth, and then bought 2 tickets. That led us to what we thought was the right platform but we weren’t positive until we looked in a door and could see the route the train was taking. WHEW! We were correct. The next stop was Magenta, where we followed signs to Gare du Nord. Then we could follow signs to EuroStar. Not knowing what to expect on the train, we bought sandwiches and drinks for lunch before checking in for our train. After going through French and British Passport checks we waited only about 10 minutes and boarded the train. And everything had been accomplished without ever going outside! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! On board the train and underway, they let us know they would be serving lunch in about half an hour! Oh well, live and learn! The GPS showed a top speed of 192mph! When we passed another bullet train going the other way the combined speed made it flash by in seconds. It was awesome. They served a light lunch of salmon pate and couscous with lemon mousse and choice of beer, wine or other beverage. The French countryside looked similar to Normandy but mostly a bit flatter. We passed quaint villages and lots of farm fields for an hour or so. We were in the Chunnel about 20 minutes and came out in England where the countryside looked very similar but everyone was driving on the wrong side! Before we knew it (a little over two hours, we think) we arrived at St. Pancras Station in London.
Third Challenge: Getting from St. Pancras Station to our hotel—We had pre-paid Oyster cards in our packet of materials which were good on buses and the underground in London. After we studied a map for a while we figured out how to take the blue Piccadilly line to Earl’s Court. Away we went, rolling our backpacks for this trip. A friendly “assistant” showed us how to scan our cards getting on and getting off each trip. We got off at Earl’s Court, went up the stairs and came out just around the block and about two blocks away from the hotel. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!! We got signed in and settled and decided to head right back out. We took the underground again and went down to the Westminster/Parliament area and did a Rick Steves Podcast walking tour called “Westminster Walk”. It started on Westminster Bridge, nearly under Big Ben, and then walked us by Westminster Abby and up Parliament Street and Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, pointing out #10 Downing Street and other famous spots along the way. What made this a bit different was that Marv had decided he didn’t need to carry the backpack for this short trip. But that meant he hadn’t brought a camera, which was very unlike him! He was quite unencumbered and could perhaps pay more attention to what we listened to and didn’t have to figure out how to line up his next shot. After wandering around the area at the square we walked around the theater district for a bit. It was all very busy on a Friday night with lots of traffic and noise. The London Marathon is this weekend (after being in Paris for their Marathon last weekend!) and things were being set up for that. After we had enough of being part of the “scene” we took the underground back to Earl’s Court and found a typical corner pub where we could enjoy—what else?—fish and chips with a pint!! It was around 10:00 here and it had been a long day, so, after removing the requisite duvet from the sheets and setting it aside (too hot! We have done this at nearly every hotel) we went to bed.