Days 4 and 5: London and Paris

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My family and I spent our last morning in London trekking to St. Pancras train station, where we got our passports stamped and boarded a high-speed Eurostar train bound for Paris’ Gare du Nord station. The three-hour train ride went by quickly and was impeccably comfortable, although hectic and seemingly without order (carriages were unnumbered, luggage was arbitrarily shoved away).

In Paris, we quickly became familiarized with the metro station. A note on Paris: Unsurprisingly, nothing is in English. This is fine if you studied French in school, but unfortunately I studied Spanish. Still, after a little reorientation we were fine and on our way to our apartment in the 15th arrondissement, at quartier Saint-Lambert near Vaugirard. Our apartment couldn’t be easier to find and the neighborhood was perfect, conveniently located near lots of markets, bakeries and delis. It was so stereotypically French; during the five-minute walk from the metro to our apartment, I lost count of how many impeccably-dressed Parisians I saw carrying baguettes under one arm and a small dog under the other.

We were tired from the journey so we spent the rest of the day getting settled in and exploring the neigbhorhood. The next morning, we got up early and took the metro to Place Maubert, an open-air market with vendors selling everything from roast chicken and tapestries to foie gras and flowers:

Place Maubert Market

Our next stop was the Pantheon, within walking distance, but we were getting hungry. We stopped on our way at La Methode, where I ordered the prix fixe because I was craving the featured coffee and dessert that came with the meal. What followed was a sign of things to come. Apparently at La Methode, if you don’t speak French, you don’t get your whole prix fixe and the waiter will insist to you that he doesn’t know what you’re talking about, even though the tables next to you who ordered the exact same thing are enjoying coffee and dessert, and the prix fixe menu clearly has “cafe” and “le gateau” scrawled on. This happened at a couple of other restaurants too.

Anyway.

My “prix fixe” included a penne eggplant salad appetizer and a country sausage and mashed potatoes entree:

Penne eggplant salad

Country sausage and mashed potatoes

The Pantheon was a stone’s throw away, and it was stunning:

Panthéon

Inside, the Foucalt pendulum is the centerpiece among impressive Corinthian columns and domes:

Foucault pendulum at the Panthéon

Downstairs lies the burial place of French heroes such as Voltaire, Rosseau, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola and Marie Curie.

After we exited, we continued to explore Paris by foot, even though it had begun to rain. We shortly arrived at the city’s largest park, Jardin du Luxembourg, which is now among my favorite parks in the world. It certainly didn’t hurt that a high school brass band was playing hits such as “The Final Countdown,” and playing them well! That pretty much made my day.

High school band at the Jardin du Luxembourg gazebo

The main feature is Luxembourg Palace, but the park also boasts a puppet theatre, merry-go-round, a pond, and statues scattered throughout the entire area. We loved it so much that if it wasn’t starting to pour, we would have stayed longer.

Luxembourg Palace

Our last stop for the day was Musee D’Orsay, an art museum housed in a former train station along the Seine River:

Musée d'Orsay

The museum is best known for its extensive collection of impressionist paintings, but my favorite part was the unique and eclectic layout of the museum:

Musée d'Orsay

Oh, and it didn’t hurt that Musee D’Orsay has an amazing rooftop view:

Paris skyline

We saw a whole lot on our first full day in Paris and just about fell in love with the city’s breathtaking architecture and depth of history. I dunno about those pseudo-prix fixes or eight dollar coffees (thanks, Euro), but Paris is gorgeous.

Day Three: London

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I’m not particularly interested in royalty, but can you really visit London and not see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace? I mostly wanted to see the funny hats enjoy the parade and surrounding architecture, so it was memorable to see it firsthand.

Main gates

The Victoria Memorial

Changing of the Guard

Changing of the Guard

The whole thing lasted a lot longer than I expected, about half an hour from start to finish. It was hard to get a good look over all the crowds, so towards the end of the changing we walked across the street towards St. James Park for a stroll:

St. James's Park

St. James's Park

It sort of reminded me of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, sans Japanese Tea Garden and nouveau-hippies.

For the second part of our day, we took the Underground to Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, also in Westminster:

Big Ben

And there it is.

The Millenium Bridge and London Eye are all in the same neighborhood, so we strolled along the River Thames and took in the view for the rest of the afternoon before heading back to Woking. We had to get back early and prepare for the next part of our journey: Paris.

Day Two: London

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London is a rainy city. You probably already knew that, and as our luck would have it, it rained during every day of our stay in England. On our second day, it poured incessantly, which was unfortunate, because we had planned to visit the Tower of London.

We decided to brave the weather and go anyway, and arrived over an hour later than expected after some transportational rerouting and traffic jams as a result of the inclement weather. Famished, we took a break at Tower Hill Diner, where I had bangers and mash:

It was one of those dishes where the first couple of bites are good and then it all begins to taste heavy and overly-salty and yet simultaneously bland. I love sausages, but I’m guessing that sampling a British classic in the middle of a tourist zone flanked by Americans may not have been my best bet for authenticity.

We purchased our tickets and walked into the palace, poking in and out of the tower over the course of the next few hours:

My guidebook stated that the famous Kooh-i Noor diamond is housed here among the crown jewels, but much to my dissapointment the closest I got was seeing it in the Jewel House on a theater screen extolling the victories of the British Empire. (At least I got to get up close and personal with the Darya-e Noor diamond in Tehran a few years ago! And by up close and personal, I mean behind an alarm-generating, touch-sensitive, bullet-proof glass case.)

After a quick cup of coffee, my family and I walked across Tower Bridge over the River Thames, to get to the Underground:

Our next destination was Harrod’s, or as far as I’m concerned, Harrod’s Food Hall, also known as The Place Where Mariam Becomes Filled With Awe-Like Contentment And Wonder. Seriously, I was in my natural habitat. From foie gras and caviar to dim sum and South Asian sweets to cured meats and fresh seafood, this place has it all:

Part of me wishes we had something like this in California, and yet another part of me knows that if we did, I’d go broke on limequats and cecina and whatever else I could get my hands on.

Oh, London. So much rain, so little time to spend at your perfectly stocked gourmet foodstuffs.

Day One: London and Windsor

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I’m back! After three weeks in England, France and Turkey, I’ve spent the past week catching up and recovering from an unfortunate bout with pneumonia. (Note to travellers: Don’t ignore that cold.) I have lots of stories, so let’s just jump into things, shall we? (Plus, I have recipe updates I’ve been meaning to write up since, oh, January, and I need to get those too!)

My family and I arrived in London’s Heathrow Airport on a Saturday evening after our long transatlantic flight, marking the first and only time I’ve ever wished I was an East Coaster. I associate Heathrow with long stopovers on the way to Tehran, but this time we were picked up by Mom’s cousin and her husband (the most gracious hosts ever), where we were to stay at their house in Woking for the next few days.

The next morning, we set out to explore London. Woking is only half an hour by rail to London’s Waterloo station, so getting into the city was an easy task, and navigating the Underground was even easier.

Our first stop was the British Museum, which uh, is sort of really impressive, and stuff:

The British Museum

The museum’s ancient Near East and Islamic Middle East galleries are incredibly extensive, with more attention devoted to these cultures than anything I’d seen in the U.S. (Okay, so the Freer and Sackler Galleries at the Smithsonian come really close.)

Persian painting, miniature style

That’s my peoples.

The Ancient Iran gallery houses none other than the Cyrus Cylinder, the first human rights charter:

The Cyrus Cylinder

Persepolis relief

Oh hai. I’m in your territories, biting your bottoms.

Afterwards we took the train towards Tower Bridge, where we had lunch at Cafe Rouge before exploring the pier. I had the salmon croquettes with salad, french fries and lime mayonnaise:

Salmon croquettes with salad, french fries and lime mayonnaise

It was a little bland, but who can say no to deep-fried fishy goodness and french fries chips?

Tower Bridge

Later that evening, we drove to Windsor for dinner at Nandos, a restaurant specializing in really, really spicy chicken. You know, the kind where your lips go numb and an hour later you’re sipping hot tea with nabat wishing your stomach ache would subside. I had the chicken wings with Peri Peri sauce, spicy rice and corn on the cob. The chicken and corn hit the spot but the rice was undercooked:

Chicken wings with Peri Peri sauce, spicy rice and corn on the cob

After finishing up, we took a short walk around town and Windsor Castle:

Windsor Castle

Windsor seemed like a charming town, but we didn’t stay long since the drive back to Woking was almost an hour long and we were tired from jet lag and sightseeing. I’d spent the last several months planning this trip, and you know what? Not bad at all for our first day in England.