London here I come…..

By the third day of our trip, I had finished the photography that I needed to do so it was time to take a day trip to LONDON!!!

Joe had organized my train ticket and dropped me off at the station early on Thursday morning.

I was met with this sign (sorry for the blurry photo)…..

Yes, that blurry word is CANCELLED and London Euston was where I was headed!! Apparently there was an “engineering” emergency that was causing the cancelling of a bunch of lines!! The next train due in the station also stopped in Euston so I decided to take it instead.

So…..we are all standing at platform 5, waiting for the train to Watford. It is about 4 minutes before arrival. A station worker walks down the stairs and says something and immediately everybody starts running. What was I to do but follow!!!

We ran up the stairs, over the bridge and back down to the other side, arriving at Platform 2 just as the train pulled in!!

Okay….that excitement was over!!! I am comfortably seated on my train and looking forward to the 35 minute ride into London.

People watching is one of my favorite hobbies when I am on a train and this trip provided several fun observations.

First of all, a woman boarded the train, sat right across from me and pulled out her cross-stitch.

(I know that it isn’t a great photo, but when you are trying to be surreptitious, you can’t pick your poses!!)

She worked diligently as we swayed along and stitched a 2-inch section during the trip. What a good way to use your time!!

Another woman on the “tube” used her phone as a mirror and proceeded to put her makeup on…..

I meant to take a photo at the end but forgot about it!!

As you can imagine, with so many lines closed down, the train became VERY crowded. There were people standing all along the aisle and the entryway beside the doors was jammed….

There was a service announcement saying that “If you are feeling the effects of being crammed in, please alight and take the next service”. While that is a great idea, I can’t imagine that the next train would be any better!

It was interesting to watch as we pulled into a station and waiting passengers would see that there was no way to board. They would immediately pull out their phone, presumably to either call someone and tell them that they were running late or to find another train!!

We arrived at Euston station. I disembarked and started looking for the Underground (“Tube”) Station. Fortunately, it was next door to the National Railway station and I arrived quickly. Then I spent 8-10 minutes standing in a line for the escalator! I never knew why it was closed but was very happy when it opened up again.

I purchased my Tube Day Pass and headed into the station maze. As I was standing at one of the boards, desperately trying to figure out which train I needed, an older gentleman in a turban approached and asked me for help. As soon as I opened my mouth he knew that he had picked the WRONG white woman to help him!!

My destination was the Victoria and Albert Museum and it didn’t take long to arrive.

My plan was to start the tour of the V&A in this post, but it is already too long, so I will save that for tomorrow.

But before I close out for the day, two other things that I found interesting….

As Joe was driving me to the station, he asked if I needed any cash and I replied that I had 40+ pounds that were left over from a previous trip. He asked if they were bills and I replied that yes, I had two 20 pound notes. He then told me that they had changed all of the money several years ago and that my pounds were no longer valid!!! I possibly could have gone to a bank to change them but didn’t want to spend the time!! As it ended up, I didn’t spend any cash on the trip. Everything was done via credit, but it is sad to think that my cash is useless!

The other item was an announcement that played numerous times while I was in transit. It would remind people that they should report anything unusual or troubling that they saw on the journey. Their slogan was “See it, Say it, Sort it”. You see it and tell them about it and they will sort it out!! Very catchy!!

OKAY….we are at the V&A. Come back tomorrow!!

.

Michael and I love to travel and see new parts of the world and then I love to take those memories and turn them into quilts!!! I hope that you enjoy traveling along with us!!

Be sure to subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss a single trip!!