This should prbably have happened yesterday on our anniversary, but it is today!.  The Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris is a very gentle trip, but it goes very quickly.  Why would you ever catch a plane?  We took the (mostly above ground) Hammersmith line from Hammersmith to St Pancras for an 11:31 train.  How civilised?  Time for coffee at the station after passing Border Control.

The app showing the train's progress to Paris moves so quickly.  Why can't we have one of these in Australia?

The Hotel Bellevue Graham had organised in Montmatre is great.  They were ready for us a little early, so time to dump bags and go exploring.  Dinner, guess what it is: Gallettes on the street near Montmatre

We explored a little more of London.  Today the London Meuseum. We are getting quite good at finding places for tea or coffee. Next week we will be trying to order in French.  I wonder how that will go.

Today's afternoon tea was in the courtyard outside the Museum.  A little spot of green and tranquility in the midst of a metropolis.

Then dinner in a lovely Tapas restaurant in Hammersmith. Downstars, upstars was booked out by the locals!  A quite anniversary like many others, but in a special place.

The gift of time to study and explore the world. To be a University student in such a place.

The experience for locals, living with history at your door. So normal. For us so inspirational and more than a bit awestruck! The temptation to return to student heaven we got a glimpse of, or thought we saw .. But when we think again we remember exams, deadlines and living closely with people  - some of whom we would not choose to! It was also a wonderful sunny and mild autumn day in Oxford. Not cold. Not freezing .. Very pleasant.

Afternoon tea, still warm and summery. What a view?

Dinner with Jennie at the end of the day was a wonderful way to end our day exploring Oxford.

Today we caught the train to St Pancras, just to familiarise ourselves with the trip in preparation for Friday when we catch the EuroStar.  What a magnificent building.  Filled with light and the elegance of silent High Speed Trains.  What a difference from when it was filled with smoke from stema engines.  The pink sign at the end is part of an Art Installation.  My photography skills aren’t good enough to make it ‘pop’ like it does in life.

We spent the afternoon in the British Museum. Another magnificent glass roof!  The intellectual challenge for the day was “How to repsond to the Elgin Marbles".  There were some student surveys about the subject that meant you had to engage in “what is the right thing to do?” I’m not sure I still know.

Dinner again at La Petite Bretange.

After a slight delay in Singapore we still landed on time in London at 7am. The queues at Immigration, which we had been warned about, were legendary.  A hall full of people rapidly becomes humid and stale.  Gail felt the need for some asthma reliever. First time we have been 'rewarded' for this - one of the ushers noticed and quickly escorted us to the 'Medical Assistance queue'.  We were out by 8am and heading for the train.  Now, what transport card to buy, how much credit to load on it... so many questions for a sleep deprived brain.

Our accommodation in Hammersmith is very nice.  We walked around Hammersmith, exploring the Bridge, finding lunch, expliring the shopping strip.  How many pubs can you cramm in a single area.  For an Aussie the only similar density of pubs I can think of is Kalgoorlie.  Summer lingers here and the flower baskets are still splashes of colour. Many pubs and houses have them.

Dinner at La Petite Bretange - gluten free Galettes and cider brut.  Neither of us are game to venture a little French, but we do understand it when the owner slips into French, before she repeats in English for us.  Maybe we have learned something over these last few semesters.