Lille is in northwest France, not far from the English Channel. My original thought had been to travel to London old-school by ferry from Calais to Dover. I soon discovered that since the channel tunnel opened, this is no longer a realistic option for a foot passenger (1). Perhaps kayak across (2)? Not allowed due to heavy freighter traffic, fog, and strong tides in the channel. So, a train through the tunnel to London it would be (3).
After eating some bangers and mash at a pub, I headed to the Charles Dickens House Museum (4), poked about the museum, and had tea and scones.
Like Lille, London has a simple bike share system (5). Wending through Wednesday rush hour traffic (6) in a general southwesterly direction, I came to the Thames, and cycled around Westminster. Buckingham Palace was not reachable due to street closures associated with the Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration this month.
The Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank was the venue for the Philharmonia Orchestra's performance of Mahler's Second "Resurrection" Symphony. The performance was sublime and chills ran down spine toward the end when the combined musical forces sang the text with power but restraint:
Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n wirst du,
Mein Herz, in einem Nu!
English translation:
Yes, you shall rise again
My heart, in an instant
The Orchestra's new 33 year old (!) conductor made the familiar piece sound fresh (7). I walked, rather than cycled, the few miles back to the hotel to slowly savor the performace.
(1) Back in the day, the trains connected with the ferries directly (a). Since the tunnel opened, the ferry ports have moved outside of town to more readily accommodate cars and trucks. Foot passengers now are not even allowed on most of the crossings.
(a) Many were even labelled "boat trains."
(2) Twenty miles of paddling would be a stretch for me, but doable with a good boat and a local guide (b).
(b) While comfortable setting out on my own on a bike or a hike, local knowledge of the sea conditions is necessary for kayaking.
(3) The Eurostar train was cheaper and much faster than the few cumbersome train/bus/shuttle/boat options available, which would have taken all day anyway.
(4) I read my first Dickens novel (Bleak House) as an undergraduate to vary my reading while taking an intensive economics course. It was so good, I proceeded to read all of Dickens' novels.
(5) Pop your credit card in, get a code, take a bike. Some cities (e.g. Brussels) require emails, app downloads, passwords, authentication, etc. Not worth the hassle for a visitor.
(6) I generally stuck close to other cyclists when I could. Many of the bike lanes double as bus lanes. While the bus drivers respect the process, the double decker buses are much bigger than the bikes. Very different riding style than in the Belgian countryside yesterday.
(7) One of the percussion players performed on the xylophone and tubular bells. She walked over at one point to play one of the two timpani drum sets (c) with one of the timpanists. So, two sets of timpani drum and three performers, simultaneously (d).
(c) That's serious cross-training.
(d) There was a third timpani set offstage (with some more horns also).
Typocal Belle Epoque architecture in Lille
The Dickens House Museum
Italian illustrator's depiction of a chair come to life from Dicken's first novel The Pickwick Papers:
"The chair was an ugly old gentleman; and what was more, he was winking at Tom Smart."
Inspiration for window Oliver Twist was pushed through to rob a house:
"Sikes ... put Oliver gently through the window with his feet first; and, without leaving hold of his collar, planted him safely on the floor inside."
The gate from the Marshalsea Debtors Prison, which features prominently in Little Dorrit
"It is gone now; and the world is none the worse without it”
Bust of Dicken's father who was held in the Marshalsea when Charles was a boy
Dickens welcomes you upstairs
The servants quarters downstairs
Riding through Lobdon
Sunset on the Thames
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