I love London. I hate London. I love London when I climb the steps onto the street from my first underground or train trip into the City. Double decker buses. Black cabs. Red phone booths. Royal Mail boxes. Hundred year old pubs on every corner. Look Left. Look Right. It feels like I'm home. Until I go to pay for something. Was it always this expensive? I hate London! A one way trip on the Underground within the cheapest zone cost us $20! And the kids were free! A decent coffee will run you at least $7 and fish and chips $25 a head. How can so many people still afford to visit this place? At least the museums are free.

I've been to London at least five times now, and each time I've stayed in a different part of the old city. This time we booked into a tiny room in the London Youth Hostel at $200 a night. About three miles from the river, the hostel is just south of the fabulous, and free, Regent's Park. A little north of there is Camden Town, home of Bob Cratchet and, today, a bustling market well off the main tourist trail. We spent our first morning walking through the park and the markets, gazing wide eyed at the beauty and diversity on the fringes of this world class city. After some serious retail therapy, we stopped for lunch at the street vendors for a mix of Jamaican, Ethiopian and Indian (first time since Jaipur) fare. Delicious.

Later that afternoon we took the Tube down to the river. I remember walking up the stairs from Westminster station on my first trip here 16 years ago and looking straight up at Big Ben. The thrill of that moment was surpassed only by the look on my girls' eyes on their first sight of the world's most famous clock. What a joy to see something special through the eyes of a child. After that we took an orientation cruise on the Thames from Parliament up to Greenwich and back to the Tower of London. As it was Sunday, we stopped at the first pub with a "Sunday Roast" sign on the sidewalk. I deferred my Father's Day Supper until London and it was worth the wait. Well done beef, crackling, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, peas, gravy and a pint. How good is that? Even at $26 a head!

The next day we headed for the Canadian High Commission which is decidedly less fabulous than the old location on Trafalgar Square. We needed to get some documents signed by a Canadian Notary. It was so nice to be in a room full of Canadians waiting to get assistance from Canadian foreign service officers. We met a couple from BC who'd just had their passports stolen. In fact, it was Steve Yzerman's uncle! We received outstanding service at the Commission and were on or way in far less time than we thought it would take.

After the High Commission, we headed over to Buckingham Palace. This is a special place that first entered my subconscious when Diana and Charles stepped out onto the balcony in 1981 on their il fated wedding day. We were all glued to the TV back then. Mr. Kelly, a staunch Irish Republican from St. John's, and his family were visiting us at the time. I remember being curious as to why anyone would not be enamoured by the Royal Family and all things British. He refused to watch the ceremony on TV. I get it now. I wonder did he put a hex on them that day? My favorite place on the grounds is the Canada Gate just across the street from the palace at the edge of Green Park. The Gate, which mimics the ornate gates around the palace itself, is testament to the fact that this is the residence of the Queen of Canada as well as the United Kingdom. More specifically, however, I adore the small gate next to the Canada Gate dedicated to Newfoundland - a separate Dominion until 1949. I added a few more snaps to the many I've already taken of this curious and little known London landmark.

After the palace we strolled down the Mall to Trafalgar Square. Nelson's column never fails to send tingles up my arms, especially when I look upon the four massive iron lions that stand guard around it. Had Hitler successfully invaded Britain during the Second World War, he'd planned to relocate the column to Berlin!

From Trafalgar Square made or way up Charing Cross Road where we stopped for a pint and a beef pie. The words of that great Spirit of the West song kept running through my head as we polished the bar with the sleeves of our coats and watched the world go by. After more walking and a great curry dinner, we headed to Covent Garden to take in "War Horse." The girls complained before hand that we were taking them to a "puppet show" and not a "real musical" in London. They weren't complaining afterwards. I was reminded of Churchill's famous response to Vichy France's Marshall Petan's prediction that Germany would "wring England's neck." In an ageless speech to Canada's House of Commons, Churchill retorted "Some chicken! Some neck!" Minutes later Karch pulled the cigar from the British PM's mouth in the Speaker's Office and took the most famous picture of the scowling statesman of all time. Damn I love history! Oh yeah, War Horse was awesome.

The next day, our last in London, we checked our bags in at St. Pancras Station and walked over to the British Museum. The museum was free. Storing our bags at the train station for three hours cost $60. We had to visit the museum to close the loop on our earlier visit to the Parthenon in Athens. In the early 1800s, Lord Elgin's agents, in a deal with the ruling Ottomans, removed many of the surviving statues from the Parthenon and sold them to the British Museum under a cloud of controversy. The fabulous Parthenon Museum in Athens, which was constructed at great cost to counter England's argument that Greece could not house the priceless relics properly, is well up to the task. I'm not sure how long it will be until they make their way back home to Greece. In the meantime, they still have a treasure trove of Inuit artifacts, Easter Island Statues, Egyptian Mummies and the Rosetta Stone to keep the tourists pouring in. Although I nick named it the "Museum of Stolen Stuff from the Reaches of the British Empire," it is fabulously well done and well worth the visit. I did NOT make the suggested £4 donation.

After a quick visit to platform 9 3/4 in Kings Cross Station, we borded the EuroStar and travelled under the English Channel this time back to France. We have been in Paris for one day now and have already seen a great many of this City's famous sites. We'll see more in the five days we have left, but we are also planning to savour the last few weeks of our "year off" with some serious down time. Right about now, an hour or two reading our books from a sunny perch on a sidewalk cafe is just as enticing as the Mona Lisa or Eiffel Tower. Perhaps more so.

Farewell to Jolly Old England. I still have all time in the world for you. Just not the money, honey.