After a long day in Paris, we slept well and I was in the shower by 0600. We departed Hotel Valadon at 0655 without breakfast or getting to see Othello again :( We were on the metro by 0700. By this time, he pretty much have the subway system figured out. And other than lugging our bags around, it was very easy to navigate. By 0720, we had arrived at our subway destination, Gare du Nord station. This was probably the craziest, busiest and most chaotic trains station that we encountered on our trip...think Grand Central Station, Paris style. After some frustrating navigation, we found the automated ticket machine that we needed to print our pre-booked tickets. We had to rush through the Passport check and security and made it to the train by 0755 for a 0807 departure...yikes, a little close for comfort in my opinion.
The Chunnel experience was really nice. The seats are comfortable and the train is really smooth. I was worried about getting motion sickness, but this definitely wasn't a problem! The first 45 minutes of the ride, we saw mostly French countryside. Then, we were in the tunnel under the English Channel for about 20 minutes and briefly saw the English countryside before getting to London. Brett watched a movie on his iPod while I tried to teach myself some more Italian with some flashcards I had downloaded onto my iPod. It really was nice just to sit for a while and not feel rushed for the first time in several days!
We arrived in London at 0927. It is in a different time zone, so we gained an hour, which was nice. The first thing we did was eat since we didn't get breakfast in Paris. We found a great coffee shop called Costa. Brett ordered a Coke and a sandwich because he wanted "something with meat" for breakfast. I had the BEST vanilla latte EVER and a breakfast loaf. After breakfast, we found our way to the Tube (British for the subway) and purchased some 3 day travel passes.
London's subway system FAR surpassed the one in Paris. There are lot more lines and the stations are very clean and smell decent. We finally got to see and hear the famous warning "Mind the Gap." The loud speaker would come on and a recording would sound, "Please mind the gap between the platform and the train." It made me laugh every time (just imagine it in a British accent). And, of course I had to take a picture of the sign. We easily found our way to our hotel and we were just going to drop off our bags before heading out for some sightseeing. However, when we arrived, we were told that we had been upgraded to an Executive Suite and would have access to the Executive Lounge!!!
We stayed at the Hilton London Tower Bridge thanks to Brett's pilot friend Chris York who has more Hilton rewards points than anyone could every spend in a lifetime...and I am NOT exaggerating. Since we were upgraded to the Executive Suite, our room was ready around 1130. While we waited in the Executive Lounge, we got free beverages and snacks. After checking in to our FABULOUS room, we headed out for some London sightseeing.
We took the Tube to Trafalgar Square and visited the National Museum. Unfortunately, we did not get to take any pictures inside, but it was filled with mostly painting and sculptures. We ate lunch at a place called the Texas Embassy. Yes, Tex-Mex in the middle of England...and it was actually pretty good! We then took the Tube to Picadilly Circus where I took a gait examination at the Nike Running lab. I was DESPERATE for new shoes, but the sales women basically laughed at me when I told her what size my foot is...11 in US if you don't already know :)
By the time we made our way to the British Museum, we were EXHAUSTED again...we sat down at every bench possible to rest our "barking dogs." I distinctly remember asking Brett, "Do you think they would mind if we just laid down here and took a nap?" I was serious!!!
Sometime around 5 or 6 p.m., we made it back to the hotel and rested until around 7:00 when we headed to the Executive Lounge where we had complimentary cocktails and h'our dourves. We then walked around the surrounding area and were searching for a good British pub where we could eat some fish 'n chips and maybe try a pint of beer, but they were all SO crowded...we couldn't find a table. So, we had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant which was really good and headed to the hotel to watch TV (in English, yay) and turned in for a good night's rest.
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