Friday, April 19, 2013

School’s Out

Robin finished her week-long class today. She learned a lot about research and what resources are available, and she’s glad she made the trip for the class. That’s always a good thing.

I spent most of the day at the St. Pancras international train station enjoying the free and robust WiFi connection, catching up on blogging. 

Tomorrow morning we take the tube to Marble Arch station and catch a bus to Oxford for the day. We plan to meet Oxford friends Lynn and Neal (and probably great dog Winston) and possibly visit a nearby castle. And dinner at a pub. Castles and pubs, just part of the day here.

Every weekday, around 5 pm, the sidewalk outside of pubs fills up with patrons leaving work and heading home.

This pub and the one above are about two blocks from each other. Seems like a nice tradition to me. 

At the end of the day I walked from the St. Pancras Station, past the St. Pancras Hotel, to the British Library to meet Robin in the book store. 
Above: The British Library lobby. Do not try to sneak out with this book.

This is John Betjeman, the poet laureate who is mainly responsible for saving St. Pancras from being torn down. He also helped save the Black Friar pub from being destroyed.

Earlier in the day I tubed over to Covent Garden to visit the Apple Store. A quintet of buskers was performing for tips in the courtyard.  

The Covent Garden courtyard. It’s still early in the year so crowds are small. By mid-summer it’s a big swarm of people.

A performer thrills the audience with this high-wire act.

EuroStar trains at St. Pancras international train station. Go to Paris for lunch and you can be back in time for bed. 

A light lunch at Le Pain Quotidien in the St. Pancras station.  

I'm going to resist the temptation to compare this train station to the one in Lamy, New Mexico.