July 13 - On To the Continent

(John) As I write this entry, Gene and I are aboard the Eurostar train. We're gliding toward the English Channel at about 186 mph as announced by our French conductor.

The beautiful countryside of south England is whizzing by the windows. The crops are mostly wheat and barley and many sheep too.

The ride is very smooth with an occasional swaying motion. We will be stopping in Ashford and Lille before continuing on to Brussels.

As we leave England and Ireland behind, it seems a good time to note some interesting differerences between here and home. Did you know there are virtually no above ground power poles in the UK? Everything is buried, even in the suburbs. However, just about every home has one or two TV antennas or a satellite dish on the roof.

The taps in the UK and Ireland are different from the US too - at least in bathrooms. Mixing faucets are rare. Separate hot and cold taps are the norm, even in new sinks and public facilities.

In a pub, one generally orders drinks and food at the bar and pay immediately. You walk away with your drinks, and food is brought to you later.

On the road in England, it surprised us that miles are still the standard for measuring distance and speed - not kilometers. Our guidebook had that part wrong. But the UK does read temperature in Celsius. However, The Irish have fully embraced the metric system in all areas, and of course the Euro is the monetary standard in Ireland.

While on the motorways, we both noticed that the British and Irish are excellent drivers, far surpassing Americans in skill and courtesy.

Most obvious is the fact that everyone stays in the slower lanes unless passing. Traffic in the slowest lane goes below the speed limit, the center lane travels at about the limit, and the passing lane traffic travels 10 - 15 mph faster. Those who enter the passing lane always make certain that they are rapidly passing other traffic, then the driver immediately moves back to the slower lane. No one passes at a leisurely pace. Thus, it seemed that most people were regularly changing lanes.

It might seem that would be dangerous, but I never once saw anyone be cut off, and we did drive on some very busy motorways. Those that didn't want to drive fast or change lanes to pass simply kept to the slowest lane.

I wish drivers in the western US would do the same. I have noticed some of this courteous behavior in the eastern US. If only it would spread to the Pacific states.

Well, we have entered the Chunnel now. It's completely black outside the coach. I've been asked to complete a marketing survey for Eurostar, so I think I will do that now.
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I'm back. The customer survey is complete and we are in France zipping through farmland. It was sunny on the English side, but here it is a little foggy. We've given up the gray slate roofs of south England for the red tile roofs of Brittany. No more sheep either, just cows. Bon voyage!

(Gene) Bon jour. We had a relaxing day, the best we could. It was 86F degrees or so. This made it pretty unbearable during our hop on hop off bus tour. Brussels is well known for it's food and we have eaten quite well and for the best prices of our trip so far.

It has been challenging for me to remember my four years of high school French. I think we are doing okay so far with the language differences. It is interesting as folks switch between Flemish and French almost in the same sentence.

Tomorrow we are off to see Brugges. I am anxious to see lace, chocolate and the Church of the Holy Blood. The church houses drops of Christ's blood brought to Brussels by a pilgrim.