Europe on 5-10 Nervous Breakdowns a Day (40)
DAYS 48, 49 – WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, JUNE 12, 13, 1974 – ON OUR WAY BACK TO AUSTRALIA!
Wednesday morning, we were up at 7:00. We finished packing and caught the bus to the train station. Notice how casual I am about that—carrying bags, using public transport, etc. We were old experienced travelers. When we got to the station, we found an express to London leaving at 9:18. We were at Euston Station about 10:50 and in our rooms at Harley House Hotel by 11:30. Just as we were getting the hang of traveling, it was time to leave. I told Jo this and suggested we could extend our visit another week or two. She didn’t think it was funny.
In the evening, we would be attending midweek services at Wembley (and picking up the luggage we left there), but there were still a few things I wanted to see in London before we left. Jo and the older girls wanted to shop, so it would be just Angie and me.
One place I wanted to visit was Finsbury Square, the location of the old Scotch Baptist Church on Windmill Street. It didn’t look far on the map, so Angie and I started walking. It took over an hour to reach the square. On the way we passed through London’s meat market and a bombed-out site still not rebuilt.
Finsbury Square was almost totally destroyed in the war so most of the buildings are new. Not only that, they renamed most of the streets, so there is no longer a Windmill Street.
While I was asking about Windmill Street, A man said that we were in “Wesley country.” A block from the square is John Wesley’s home and chapel.
Across from that is the original “non-conformist” cemetery in London (i.e. a cemetery for people not members of the Church of England) where many of the Wesleys are buried. Other notables are buried there, including John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress) and Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe).
Angie and I found the closest underground station and returned to Russell Square, arriving back at our rooms about 2:00.
After lunch, Jo headed out to get her hair done while Angie and I made one last walking trip—to the nearby British Museum (Debbie and Cindy stayed in their room to rest). I was so tired that I only lasted an hour and a half in the museum. I enjoyed the Roman exhibit and sketches by Michelangelo, but I didn’t have the stamina to locate bits and pieces relating to Biblical archeology.
We were back in the hotel by 4:30. Jo had redone her hair after returning from the hairdresser. The only hairdressers were a 70-year-old man and woman and she wasn’t happy with how they had fixed her hair.
I got out some food for tea, including the familiar block of cheese. Jo told me that while she and Cindy and Debbie were shopping that morning, the girls had made up a song:
Cheese in the morning,
Cheese in the evening,
Cheese at suppertime.
(Anybody remember “Sugartime” by the McGuire Sisters?) I had Debbie go to the shop to get yogurt.
At 6:00ish we caught the train to Wembley. When we reached the church building Judy Barker was there. I spoke to the adult class on “No Little Things.” Afterward, two members helped us get the stuff we had stored at the building to the Wembley Park station. We were back in our hotel about 9:30. Jo did a lot of shifting in the cases, getting everything ready to go. We got to bed about midnight.
Thursday morning, we were up at 6:30. Ate breakfast at 7:30—first good breakfast we had in a week. A little after 8:00, I called a taxi. The driver managed to pack all of us and our luggage into his vehicle. I told him to take us to the Pan Am Terminal in Victoria. We were let out at the door of the terminal and our bags were taken to the counter where we checked in. We took the next Pan Am bus to the airport.
We were scheduled to leave London at 11:10 a.m. on Pan Am flight 002 to Hong Kong. We were at the airport two hours early. Not taking any chances this time!
The plane was scheduled to stop at major cities across Europe and Asia: Frankfurt, Istanbul, Beirut, etc. Our watches would be losing time all the way. We were supposed to arrive in Hong Kong 8:00 p.m. Friday (their time). In Hong Kong, we would change planes for our last leg, arriving in Sydney Saturday morning. As best I could figure, the trip would take 34–35 hours, not counting the time from the Sydney airport to our house! Made me tired to think about it.
We finally started. Each time we stopped at a city we were on the ground forty-five minutes to an hour. It seemed like we were on the ground more than we were in the air. Between each stop, they evidently felt they had to feed us. A summary of the first part of our flight:
From London to Frankfurt, Germany: They served us pastries and tea.
From Frankfurt to Istanbul, Turkey: On the way we had lunch.
In Istanbul we got off the plane. This was the first time we were body-searched, but after that, it happened every time we got off the plane.
From Istanbul to Beirut, Lebanon: We had pastries and tea. Again we got off the plane. Saw a few in Arab dress.
From Beirut to Tehran, Iran: Had supper/tea—very, very late. Our family didn’t get off the plane. Too tired. Not many on the plane so we all found places to lie down.
Sometime between Istanbul and Tehran, it changed from Thursday to Friday.
