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Published: April 8th 2006
Started the day out at the Basel train station in Basel on the French side. Walked to the Swiss side to get a refund of my ticket for the previous night (sleeper car to Paris that was cancelled do to striking), then went back to the French side and hopped on the train to Paris, which takes about four hours from Basel.
By this time I was so tired that I sprawled out in first class and slept... shoes off, very dishevelved, and smelling a bit. During this, I woke up periodically to new passengers hopping on the morning train... most in suits and older. I don't know what they thought, but the guy behind me didn't seem to approve of my sleeping like that as he would make deliberate grunts and a few times slammed the little tray on the back of the seat shut. Kind of a passive aggression, and I was too tired to really care so I kept on snoozing (and, I kind of relished to contrast between me and the other passengers 😊.
At any rate, once I woke up I got my toiletry bag and went to the lavatory... shaved, used the handsoap
Duckie and Paddington
City of London Tower Bridgeto wash my armpits (heh, I had to do something), combed my hair, and changed shirts. I looked, and felt a lot better and more ready to conquer the day having freshened up, so to speak.
From Paris, I rushed from Gare de l'Est to Gare du Nord (short walk between the two). I then caught the next Eurostar train to London. It was a fast trip with speeds up to 186 mph (300 kmh), and up to 80 mph through the Channel Tunnel (aka "Euro Tunnel" and "Chunnel"). The Channel Tunnel itself is 31 miles long. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel
After arriving in London at about 2 PM, I took the underground from Waterloo to Old Street and went to a Holiday Inn Express. I again used some of my hotel points (stayed at the HIExpress for financial reasons as the cheapest *hostel* in London was £38, which is about $65 before taxes... not really in my budget).
Didn't stay too long before heading out into the city. First stop was the London Bridge... one of my goals for my EuroTrip was to walk across it. I did that... but was a little surprised at how normal of a
bridge it is. I would have thought that London would have wanted to embelish it a bit, given the hisrtorical significance of that spot (the Romans built, I think, the first bridge, wooden by the way, across the river Thames in that spot... and there have been other bridges there since).
Then I wandered around the town a bit, saw The Monument (to remember The Great Fire of London in 1666 and the rebuilding effort). Then I saw the outside of the Tower of London and walked across the City of London Tower Bridge, which is much more interesting and of a tourist attraction than the London Bridge. Took some interesting photos and then walked back to the London Bridge Underground station and went back to the hotel.
Shortly after that I went to find an Internet cafe... and did near the Angel Underground station... only £2 an hour! And great facilities and drinks (I had a de-caf mocha). Stayed there for about two hours and then headed back to the hotel.
Also, the London Underground (subway) was a lot of fun with all of its escalators and huge mazes to get to the right train. I
would just keep following signs deeper into the ground and around more and more turns. Without the signs it might be a trick to find my way out of some of the areas.
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Celeste
non-member comment
WOW
Wow Henry you've been very busy!! I finally was able to get on and check out all the days that I've missed, and they have been very eventful! I wish I had gotten your call earlier in the week, but I did hear it ring. I'm looking forward to when you get back!! I know that Gus is pumped about you coming to Bahrain!