We left even earlier than we wanted to, thank god! We walked to the train station (about a mile) and all of the computers weren’t working properly. We couldn’t retrieve our prepaid tickets so we had to buy new ones! And to make the situation even worse Pari was able to pay with her credit card but mine wouldn’t work so I had to go to the ATM. That is another $2 fee. But it’s not $2, first market then goes on to credit the $2 back to my account and then charge me again but converted the $2 to pounds making is close to $4. Jeez. We had plenty of time to catch the express train to London which was a lifesaver. It only took 47 minutes non-stop. It goes pretty fast, not nearly as fast as the Eurostar though. The beginning of the journey was a complete cluster fuck.
We arrived at London Kings Crossings and it only took less than 5 minutes to walk to St. Pancras International. We went through metal detectors and then went to customs I guess it was. They didn’t ask us any questions like when we landed in London. He just looked at you, looked at the passport, and made a loud *stamp*. It was exciting.
The terminal of St. Pancras is crazy. There are so many people, all with mass amounts of luggage. We were able to buy two, two-day museum passes but they only had one, 3-day metro pass. (70 pounds). I think this will come in very very handy. In Edinburgh the attractions added up quite quickly.
The Eurostar goes soo fast. There is no speed limit in France so once you cross the border you can really feel the speed. It travels through a tunnel, crossing the English Channel for about 20 minutes. My ears were popping the whole time.
We got to Paris around 4 local time. There is a metro stop in Gare du Nord so it was really easy to get to. The metro was so busy and hot and smelly…really smelly. And I thought the movie theatre in Cambridge was an intimate experience. You are so close to everyone that you can feel their breathing. The neighborhood that Absolute Paris is in is kinda nasty. It doesn’t really matter though because we hardly spent any time at the hotel.
our first metro ride
The big Republique statue near the metro and the Grissette statue in the little park across from the hotel
Our hotel, view from our window, and the bathroom (obviously)
For dinner we went to Maoz, a vegetarian falafel place. It was really awkward. The man didn’t really speak English and it was a little confusing. Oh well. It was tasty. Then we walked around that area for a little bit. It was smelly. Everything seemed smelly that day.
Tunisian Bakery near Maoz
We tried to find the Eiffel Tower but we couldn’t figure it out and eventually we just gave up and went back to the hotel. Later we walked down the streets in hopes of finding a crepe place. And we did! It was yummy.
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