VACATION!!!!

For those of you who wondered where I was, I went on vacation. My first vacation since 2018. No one is counting 2020 as a vacation, plus I was still working. Anyway, I was off to London and Paris with my two sisters, who are also my roommates. I am happy to report that we did NOT kill one another, although we did turn our backs and eyeroll one another, but that's a regular occurrence, so it doesn't count. The trip started off rocky. Our UBER driver drove over an obvious curb and banked turns so severely, we thought we'd get tossed out of the car. But we arrived at the airport safely. The three of us had a row to ourselves, with my eldest sister sitting in the middle. She took both armrests, elbowed my other sister and I almost nonstop for seven hours and is so left-hand dominate that she does absolutely nothing with her right hand. And I mean nothing. I know this because on the way home, she had the window seat, with her right arm free and refused to use her right arm to scroll the tv screen. More elbowing for seven hours. The first hotel was so horrible, it's almost laughable. The "suite" was a room the size of my bedroom at home, with a pullout bed. The door didn't lock so we didn't sleep. The next morning, we were out of there. A new hotel, a little shopping and the vacation was on! London was in the middle of a heatwave. 90 degrees at night. Did I have a good time? Absolutely. Am I exhausted? Absolutely. Am I jetlagged? Three days later and ABSOLUTELY!!! My body still thinks it's 6 hours in the future, or whatever the time difference is. What have I learned? 1. Hotels in London do not have air conditioning. Or at least the one we were in didn't. Eldest sister purchased two fans and gave them to the hotel as a gift. I wanted to take them home but couldn't figure out how. 2. London Fish and Chips are a little bland and disappointing. Again at least where we ate. Need spices, any spices. Salt and pepper would have helped. Keep in mind, I put hot sauce on almost everything. 3. Beans at breakfast? I don't get it. 4. Every morning, the same breakfast at London hotel. I'll discuss the Paris hotel later. 5. Look both ways before crossing the street. Seriously. In London, they drive on the other side of the road and you naturally look the way you're used to. Don't do that. 6. Beer, lots of it. Mixed drinks? Not so much. 7. London is huge. Saw a lot of things via the On and Off Bus. Buy your tickets when you get there; there is no discount buying ahead of time and the website is incredibly misleading. 8. If the rink says "Skate, Bowl and Bar", it will be a small, hot ice rink. And dark. 9. Apparently, airlines charge for wifi? 10. Cars are a luxury with many, many people on bicycles and motorcycles in London and Vespas in Paris 11. Speed limits and traffic rules are just a suggestion. So are traffic lights. 12. The air is filled with sirens: police, fire and ambulances. Sounded like NYC. 13. I was told that Paris would smell like urine. Nope. Smells like poop. They use real manure in the parks. 14. The Louvre Museum requires a separate vacation; it's huge. 15. The train from London to Paris is really cool; about 2 1/2 - 3 hours. It's also a very long train - 15 cars long. I highly recommend it. 16. Breakfast at the Paris hotel left a lot to be desired. No, it was horrible. Powdered eggs with powdered cheese that was grossly undercooked. Sausages that tasted like hotdogs and bad coffee. 100% do not recommend. 17. Was told women don't wear sneakers (or trainers). That's not true, but I now own a nice pair of walking shoes. 18. People in Paris smoke a lot. Near kids, with kids, while eating, while waiting to get into restaurants, right after leaving restaurants. And if you're eating at an outdoor cafe, right there at the table. 19. A lot of Italian food in Paris. I'm confused. 20. My sister's knowledge of Spanish saved the day when my eldest sister's French was not strong at all. Okay, she forgot all of her French and the class she was doing online did nothing for her memory. 21. You will walk a lot. All in all, I had an awesome sauce time. We went to Harrods for afternoon tea, which was amazing!!! You don't expect to feel full eating small sandwiches, but you do. Liked the tea so much, I may cut down on my coffee consumption. I cannot leave out the tour of the Royal Opera House, a theatre so magnificent, it defies description. We were unable to take any pictures inside because they were working out the kinks in the set for the opera Das Rheingold, and that would be a copyright violation. However, it is gorgeous, breathtakingly so. I am trying to plan a trip for next October. My hope is to see the Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House. I don't care where I'm sitting, as long as it's in that theatre. And of course, another trip to Harrods for afternoon tea. It's back to work for all three of us. I have over 300 photos to sort through, some of them just blurs thanks to the bus. But regardless of the bad pictures, the lack of knowledge of French, the smoking, the heat, the bad food, 8000+ steps per day, I had a wonderful time. Can't wait to go back.