Geo: 51.5127, -0.187662Dejo & Pam arrived at Heathrow to find that we had beaten Jerome's flight in by a couple of hours (he was delayed by a nasty thunderstorm in Calgary). We killed some time with a bit of lunch at Windsor Castle (the Wetherspoon restaurant in Heathrow's terminal 4), and our first cider/beer of the trip. Not to be our last, for certain! We met up with Jerome off his flight, then took the Tube into Paddington, where we bought our 7-day Travelcards (after finding a photo booth). I felt very....permanent.We'd arranged to rent a flat from someone on Air BnB, and we checked into our temporary home at 5 Moscow Road (right around the corner from Bayswater tube stop). Great place! 2 bedrooms, one with 2 twins, one with a double, AND 2 bathrooms ... read more

Geo: 48.887, 2.37584Did you say 8:00 for breakfast? My bad. We sauntered in at 8:30, and joined the rest of the family. Then we headed off towards the Grand Place, where there were more than a few brides getting married at city hall -- what a great locale!A slow meander down to the Mannekin Piis -- there's window shopping to be done, yanno. When we arrived, there were, of course, a bunch o' tourists gathering 'round. But as he's perched about 8 feet off the ground, we could see the little guy (and the boy) just fine. We were perplexed at seeing a group of folks wearing lederhosen and dirndls coming down the alley, but when we saw them performing later in a nearby square, all was made clear.We had a coffee and waffle (oh, yum!!!) ... read more

Geo: 50.956, 1.85013We arrived in Calais with relatively little trouble. Once we were out of Paris, the driving was less treacherous. We found the tourist information office (hooray for the little "i"!), and selected a hotel within walking distance (Hotel Pacific). We bought a phone card at the train station, and tried to dial the 4-digit number, with no luck. Went to find an internet cafe (which we did, with 25 minutes til their closing time), and found a "real" phone number for Air Canada.Back to the pay phone. Got hold of someone (after about 15 minutes of holding, watching those pricey phone card units tick away). Nope, sorry, don't know where your luggage is. We inform them of our next destination, and continue with our day.Headed down the street to see the town hall and ... read more

Geo: 48.8811, 2.35519So, despite having helped to sell some of the very first tickets on the Eurostar when it opened in 1994 and having been to Europe 3 or 34 times since then, I've never been on the train that connects London & Paris.That's gonna change.I just booked my tickets for a one-way from paris to London on July 6. Yay! The departure time is a bit earlier than I'd have liked (11:13 am), but that's when I was able to find the lowest fare ($94 per person, instead of the next-closest $124 per person).We'll need to leave Meaux somewhere around 10:00, I think, to get a 30-40 minute train to Paris Gare de l'Est, then schlep over to Gare du Nord, and we'll be on our way to London.Gotta get this all on a Google ... read more

Geo: 12.0597, -68.8427Curacao with BFF Sara... read more