Advertisement
Joesph Counting the Money
I hired Joseph to pick up so cool chopsticks in Knottingham the next time he is out there as the market was closed. Trev & I were both intrigued by the ones he had.Lovely breakfast with Gordon, Donna and Joseph before we said our goodbyes. Hopped the train from Kingston Upon Thames to Vauxhall and transferred to Kings Cross. HUGE train station in a gorgeous old brick building.
Went to the Royal Mail Post Office across the street and after much consternation got 2 packages off to the US. First off didn't have Pounds Sterling and tried to pay for a postage box with Euros...no go. Left Trev with the loot and went down the street to find an Exchange Bureau and convert 4 Euros. Paid for the box and then realized it needed to be taped shut!! Back to the exchange for another 2 Euro exchange. Up to the counter with our packages and your man processes them quickly. Put my credit card in and it refused it. Sorry we don't like that card you have to get cash 😞 Off to find an ATM---- Found one and it promptly tried to eat my card. In a bit of a panic, because I didn't want to leave the machine to go inside in case my card popped out and someone stole my card, I stood there willing it to come out of
The Shannon's
Gordon, Joseph & Donna - love them!! the machine. IT WORKED!! (I'll have to try this mind game again 😊) Moved to the next machine as I saw it was actually dispensing cash. Got my money, paid the postman and we went back to the station to catch the underground to Covent Gardens.
Delightful place. Lots of shops but NO GARDENS! Our server at lunch said she had never been asked if there was actually a garden. We shared chicken pot pie, sweet potato & chorizo soup with a baguette. Getting ready for the Parisian Baguette feast. Walked many streets and then stopped for coffee and pastry before heading back to the St Panras Station to board our Eurostar Train to Paris.
Oh those extra P's came in handy when we had to pee!! 30p per person don'tcha know to go to the loo at the train station. London was great and we'll look forward to the next time we visit.
St Pancras Station had a lovely surprise in store for us. There were 2 pianos with signs painted on them that they were for use by the traveling public. We had a young man sit down at one and begin to play a
Barclay's Bank
Painted Barclay's bank at King's Cross lively selection of tunes. Some classical, some show tunes and some latest hits. People kept clapping and he kept playing. Thoroughly enjoyable way to pass the time!!
Checking in and the required France Police passport check point. Very clean and gorgeous waiting lounge with LOTS of people and luggage! We are off on our high speed train to Paris. 18 cars long and each car has about 50 seats, 2 on either side of an aisle. Unbelievably smooth and quiet. When we go through the Chunnel we are 195 metres below sea level at the deepest point. The Chunnel is 50.45 km long and takes 20 minutes to go through. I did think about it a few times as we were traveling as that is a long way down and far away from help should something break down!! France is quite flat with very gentle rolling hills at this point and all seems to be farmland. The trip takes just under 2.5 hours and we arrived at the famed Gare du Nord Station. Our apartment is about 1.5 km from the station so we lucked out there.
Decided on a taxi to the apartment and went outside to
King's Cross Train Station
Absolutely amazing building find one. A fellow directed us to one and when I asked how much he said 40 Euros. I laughed and told him maybe 20 Euros. He was most offended and I said come on….it is a short drive. We settled on 30 Euros…still too much but we just wanted to get there. Now the fun begins!!! Code to door is no where to be found and we mistakenly left all of the paperwork that I printed out in the trunk of the car in Ireland 😞 Started to walk up the street and then realized that I did write the code down in my Green Trip Book so back to the door only to try several times and NOTHING! We start up the street to ask about an internet cafe as I don't have the phone number for the rental company (note to self, make sure ALL pertinent information is in the Trip Book next time). Left Trev with the luggage at the door of the apartment building just in case someone should open the door (because like a duffus I let the door close behind someone) and I followed the directions to an internet cafe only to find
LONG Escalator
You are down 15 floors at this station it closed. So, out with the cell phone and called Totally Chocolate to have Nicole bring up the company online and get me the phone numbers. Talked with them and they asked if I was using the right code, I was but they gave me the old one to try just in case. Back to Trev up 4 flights of stairs, down a very narrow street and tried the code…IT WORKED!! Hold up, we don't have the actual unit number so phone NJ again. There isn't a unit number it is the first one on the left on the first floor!! Trev managed to get the door open with much wiggling of key & door. I was so glad to get inside and see that it was exactly as the pictures showed online. ALL IS GOOD
Went for a short wander (couple of hours) stopped and had dinner(beside chain smoking Parisians 😞), then walked to the corner store to pick up some breakfast supplies and found our way back to the apartment. Code worked, key worked and now we are tucked in for the night. The rest of the town is just getting started though.
2 full days
of exploring Paris await.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.25s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 15; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0549s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Amber
non-member comment
I Love it!!! it's so wee too!!