Brussels to London - All Aboard the EuroStar!

Tuesday, May 23rd, we had our final breakfast in Brussels, checked out, took the train from Nord to Midi, and reserved seats for the 12:58 EuroStar to London. I finally convinced Vee to get herself a new book, and she bought "The Devil's Feather" by Minette Walters. After passing through several layers of passport checks, and security checks, we boarded the train for the 2 1/2 trip to London, passing the the "Chunnel" for 20 minutes along the way. It was a very comfortable and the time passed quickly as I chugged through the German paper "The Guardian" and Vee bit into her new book. In London, we found a very friendly guy at the Underground ticketing booth to help us with buying the right pass for the week, and with our 7 Day "Oyster" cards in hand, we took the tube from Waterloo to Goodge Street Station on the Central line. I was immediately reminded of one of the aspects of Londong that I love so much, and that is the musicians who play in the underground tunnels. Just as I remembered, the musicians were numerous, and very good! The Madison House, is only a few blocks from the Underground so we found it easily with the aid of a large map inside the entrance to the stop. We were greeted by the Professor in charge of this Summer's JMU Study Abroad program and he brought us inside and showed us his room, explaining that Maggie, the house manager would be back shortly to explain everything to us. We dumped our bags, and Maggie and her very sweet little daughter showed us around and gave us our keys. Then, we hit the road. First stop, was a pint, and fish and chips, which Vee and I both deeply savored. It was a small place that seems to have some designation as the best place in the city for Fish and Chips, and it was also recommended to us by Maggie. From there we just walked, and got acquainted with our surroundings. Having walked down Gower Street and eventually in the Liecester Square area, it was a bit strange, but immensely exciting to see the places that I had been back as a student in 1993. We passed St.Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, Parliament, Whitehall and crossed the bridge to where we bought some last minute half-price tickets to a Mozart symphony orchestra production in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Hardly believing the surreality of our circumstances, we sat down in the lobby to share some coffee, all smiles, and waited for the doors to open. The show was amazing, and we left electrified. From there we crossed back over to Embankment and then just wandered in the darkening night and rain, passing through SoHo, Covent Garden, China Town, and eventually back to the Madison House sometime after 11pm. I met some of the guys and they were very friendly, asking me to join them out for a few late night 1 pound pints, but exhausted, I declined, as I needed to get online and check 3 days worth of unread emails before going off to bed.