London to the English Channel

Day 13 - May 23

Had a little free time this morning, so I decided to find a laundromat. Just couldn't bear to have sink-washed and still-wet clothes stuffed into my suitcase again, with the hopes that they'd dry out before I needed to put them on again. I found a wash-o-rama, and it was staffed by a helpful young brit. I passed the time with a fellow traveler from Australia. It was a nice unstressful morning, watching my clothes go round & round, and knowing that I'd be Gain-fresh for the rest of the trip.

For a last stop in London, we visited The National Gallery. Loads of famous priceless works of art here, but I'm way art ignorant, so I didn't really know what I was looking at. This would have been another one of those stops where I needed my own personal tour guide to lead me in my obtusity. Robyn tried her best to educate me, but my blank stares probably weren't encouraging. I thought I was reasonably educated and intelligent, but stops like this help me to realize just how little I really know. It's no wonder I always get the art questions on Jeopardy wrong.

Leaving London, we headed to Hampton Court, former home of Henry VIII, along the River Thames. Lots of topiary, hedges, formality, noisy pea gravel. Don't really care much for the stuffiness and starkness of this garden. I know for sure that I'm not putting pea gravel in my garden - noisy & hard to walk on. I don't really care for all the perfectly clipped hedges either. Kinda boring to me.

Back on the bus for the drive to the coast at Portsmouth to board an overnight ferry to France. Said goodbye to Scottish bus driver Derek, and crammed into the port to wait on the ferry. Had to wait awhile, but finally boarded and found our tiny cabin for 4. It was really tiny! It was kind of a short night's sleep of about 6 hours. Some of us slept in our clothes to save time and space. I tried to sleep, but it was a challenge. We had a cool alarm though as the ship piped classical music into our room at 5am. The sleep wasn't that great but the wake up call was. I must have woke up on the wrong side of my top bunk though, because I was out of whack, loosing a contact, and generally feeling pretty rough. I'm sure I looked it too. Old ladies need their beauty sleep, you know! Enjoyed the sunrise though. That sight never fails to inspire. I should see it more often. Too bad I like sleep so much.