Our day in jolly old England

Gare du Nord was about a ten minute walk from our apartment - very nice, especially with no luggage. We took the 6:43 Eurostar, which got us in to London at around 8:00AM (1 hour time difference). Since it was a beautiful day, we decided to do the London Eye, and got tickets for the first flight at 10:00.

Here's the shadow of the Eye in the muddy Thames.
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.A class of students from France was on the pod behind us.
Um...yeah...we didn't eat here.
We did eat at the Masala Zone, which was wonderful.

This was in the section called "street food." Spicy lentils, and this interesting concoction: a puff pastry filled with veggies; there's an opening on top and you fill it to the brim with the spicy liquid in the beaker. and then pop the whole thing in your mouth. Yum and fun!Next we had what was called "thali," which entailed a choice of curry, rice, papadum, and three sides: lentils, okra, and potatoes. All delicious.We had to squeeze in a pub - so many choices. This one did have quality ales, as the signed advertised, and served at the perfect temperature, of course.
The view of Oxford Street from the top level of the double decker bus. Our day passes covered both the Tube and buses and was well worth it. St. Pancras Station, I discovered before we left for the trip, has the longest champagne bar (in the world, I think.) Yes, we purposely got there a little early for our 8:05PM train. What a great idea, and what an utterly sophisticated way to travel.
We also hit The National Gallery TWICE (hey, it's free) and heard a wonderful piano quartet during the lunchtime series at St. James Church (Schubert and Dvorak). It was a great 12 hours in London!