This year there are four French holidays in May: May 1 (Labor Day/Fête du Travail), May 8 (VE Day), May 17 (Ascension) and May 28 (Pentecost Monday). When the holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, taking the adjacent Monday or Friday off to make a long weekend is called “faire le pont” (to bridge the gap). We bridged the gap between Labor Day and the weekend to take a trip to London.
This was the first visit to an Anglophone country for either me or J since we moved to France last fall. As much French as I have learned since moving here, it was so nice to have a long weekend where I did not have to mentally prepare for every single interaction.
We did not have a set itinerary going into the trip; our big plans were to speak English and eat Indian food. When we realized that the weather was going to be cold and wet, we picked a few museums to visit to keep out of the rain. We went to the National Portrait Gallery, the Tate Modern, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the British Museum.
The National Portrait Gallery was fascinating. The paintings are arranged in a mostly chronological order, with information next to each portrait about that individual’s role in history. I really enjoyed seeing the faces of so many people that I’d read about, authors I’ve enjoyed, and scientists whose constants and laws I’ve used.
We had a great time exploring both the Tate Modern and the surrounding neighborhood. We wandered through the Borough Market, but the weather was too miserable to take full advantage of the many interesting food stands and vendors selling cups of prosecco.
The rain finally cleared up for the last 24 hours that we were in London and we were able to take a long walk through Hyde Park.
On our last morning we took a quick trip to the British Museum to see just a few of the many treasures there. We visited the Rosetta Stone, saw the gorgeous Elgin Marbles taken from the Parthenon in Greece, and inspected a series of Assyrian reliefs.
Despite the weather for most of the trip we had an amazing time and some fantastic meals. I was excited to introduce J to the Cinnamon Club, an upscale Indian restaurant that I had eaten at on a business trip to London a few years ago, though I think the edible highlight for him might have been the pints of British cask ales. It was so easy to take the train from Paris to London that we decided we’ll have to make it back soon!
