Susan and I hosted a party at our place and invited all the people we knew in London. Most people showed up and it was a success!
Highlights:
Last night we were invited by Erika, Emma Lee and Sasha to go to Fabric nightclub in London (which was rated as one of the top 10 clubs in the world last year). Susan and I bailed on the predrink with them but we managed to find our energy to pre drink at our place and on the way to the club. We met up with the ladies, found the club and after 20 minutes in line and £16 later we had gotten in and checked out coats.
Susan and I lost the girls because they hit up the bar(s) before us, this place had so many rooms and stairs that we just couldn't find them at first. Susan and I wandered and danced and wandered some more (not to mention used a unisex washroom- interesting). We finally found the room the girls were in, met up and danced to 2 DJs spinning (I think it was drum n bass/hip hop style). After a while the girls decided to leave and go to a bar but Susan and I decided to stay to get the full experience of this place. We hit up another room with hard core drum n bass - we literally could not move it was so packed that we jumped around to the music (I am surprised I don't have bruises today!)
Leaving the place we got a Bratwurst (street meat) for the road home. We took our first bus to Peckham (which some guys at the bus stop laughed and said, "you should never go to Peckham"). At Peckham we found the second bus we needed and waited at the bus stop. There was a creepy Irish guy standing there and I will try to detail the conversation for the next 10 minutes:
Irish man - "Girls, wanna come back to my place?"
Susan - "No thanks, we're good"
Irish man - "Get you some drinks, I'll pay"
Susan - "No thanks, we're good"
Monica - "We've had enough drinks for the night"
Irish man to Susan - "£70"
Susan - "No thanks, I'm alright"
Irish man - "You're not from here are you?"
Susan - "No
Irish man - "Where are ya from?"
Susan - "Canada"
Irish man - "Oh Canada. Where in Canada?"
Susan - "Toronto"
Irish man - "Where is your friend from?"
Susan - "Vancouver"
Irish man - "Ah, Vancouver as well?"
Susan - "We're just passing through"
Irish man - "You girls should be careful around here"
Susan - "Yeah"
Irish man - "It's not ... good, safe you know?"
Susan - "Yeah thanks"
Irish man - "You girls should watch out for each other, you know?"
Susan & Monica - "Yeah thanks"
Yes, we should watch out for each other because of creepy men like you who try to pay for girls to come back to your place! (that's why were were warned about Peckham)
Back at the house Susan and I wanted to Skype people (that's kinda our thing after a night out with our friends Cider and Rum&Coke). We Skype called people (only Myles answered and probably wondered what we were carrying on about to him) and karaoke'd Chris with such songs as 'Bohemian Rhapsody', 'Under Pressure', 'Defying Gravity' (Wicked version) and some others. It was quite entertaining.
P.S. It's 6pm and I've been in bed practically all day.
Today we did tons of souvenir shopping (kinda addicted), checked out Notre Dame (beautiful church) - saw a scary Hunchback, tried to see the Catacombs but they were closed, checked out the Museum D'Orsay (for free!), saw the Sacre Coeur (beautiful Bascillica), was followed by a guy and had flashes of the movie "Taken" in my mind, ate at a French cafe and bought French wine to take home (to be consumed after a stressful teaching day). Unfortunately it started raining in the evening so we decided not to check out the Eiffel Tower at night (it lights up pretty!) Our train is tomorrow so we have to leave Paris in the morning.
Au revoir stinky Paris!
This morning Ashley and I woke up and had a buffet breakfast at our hostel (baguettes, cereal, tea, coffee, juice). We got ready and headed out to meet up with our Free Sandeman's Tour group in Saint Michel (best tour to check out when you travel). We walked for ages, saw tons of sights (forgot half the information) met some Canadians and had some McDonald's.
After the tour we went on a trek to see the Eiffel Tower. Just before the Eiffel Tower we had some crepes at a small place called Crepe's King (the guy knew perfect English) so it must have been a touristy place. We took pictures of ourselves and the tower and got bombarded by guys selling hundreds of Eiffel Tower key chains. We checked out some tourist shops and ended our night getting into The Louvre (for free!) to see Ms. Mona Lisa. I was very impressed with the interior of the building.
Tomorrow will be an even busier day: Saint Michel shopping, Catacombs, picnic under the Eiffel Tower and some other sights. I am coming around to liking Paris. The city centre is nice but I can't say the same about the locals.
Since Ashley is visiting me in London I decided to take a couple of days off work so we could have a long weekend in Paris (it's easy to get to and one of the closer popular cities). We got a cheap Eurostar train and one of the best hostels to stay in, St. Christopher's Inn.
Last night I packed my bags and set my alarms. I knew that we had to catch the train at 7:27am from central London. I also knew that we should give ourselves about a good hour to get there (no rush, no stress). I set my alarms for around 6 o'clock in the morning, waited to talk to Chris after he arrived safely in Toronto (2am my time) and tried to fall asleep. Did you notice my mistake here?
I woke up to my alarms and laid in bed for 10 more minutes. I checked my phone again and clued into the time...IT WAS 6:10am!!! We were supposed to leave the house at this time! I jumped out of bed, started swearing yelling, threw some clothes on and woke Ashley up (she finally woke up after the 3rd time I called her name).
There was no time for hair and make up, filling up my water bottle or brushing my teeth. I threw my bags on me and ran out the door. Jogging to the bus stop I wasn't sure what we should do. Should we wait for the bus and take the train and tube to the station or should I call a cab? Decisions! This lady at the bus stop gave us a mini cab card (why would I ever carry one, I never think of paying for a cab in London unless it's too late for the bus, tube, etc). I called the mini cab company and as I was talking to a lady a bus was approaching. I decided the cab would get us at the station. We were at the station in 5 minutes and WE had to wait for the cab. Finally the guy shows up, we jump in and say we are in a hurry. I am not sure if he understood because he was driving pretty gingerly and talking about the election voting and stuff I really didn't want to hear about but nodded and laughed with him. Ashley asked about 4 times how much longer to the station. When we told him what time we needed to catch our train he finally became more of a hero and pressed that damn gas pedal more than an inch.
Cabs in London don't seem to want to take cards so I had to pay over the phone...isn't that risky telling your card number, expiry date and securitynumber on the phone in front of a stranger (the cabby?) I don't think he could remember all that though. Let's hope.
We made it to the station, I left Ashley in the dust and ran to the entrance. Inside I skimmed the train schedule board which read, "PARIS - closing." What the heck? We still had time, they can't close the gates on us!!! As we were running aimlessly a SNCF train staff noticed us and knew we were there for the Paris train. She calmed us down and told us to get our baggage scanned while she checked our tickets. Not only did I have a backpack, a large purse, a camera bag and a money belt to add to the conveyor belt but we had to take our scarves and jackets off. What a pain. I didn't even bother to put my jacket and scarf back on, I left Ashley once again and bolted to the boarding gate we needed.
You know those Walmart moveator things? We had to stand on one of those to get to our train. Well, there was a guy in front of us with a cart full of luggage. He tried to move it for us but apparently the carts don't move well on the moveators. We squeezed by him and started running up the moveator and a staff member was calling to us to stop running, our train was still there. Once on the platform we started running again to find our coach (at the end of the platform of course) and the lady yelled at us again to stop running. Sorry lady but I can't miss a Eurostar train for the 2nd time.
We made it into our train with about 5 minutes to spare. What a nightmare. I can't believe we made the train. After Chris and my adventure trying to book a train in Paris to London during the volcanic ash cloud I was sure Eurostar was against me again.
Needless to say we arrived in Paris hungry and tired. Our hostel wouldn't let us check in until 2pm (buggers!) so we walked around the neighborhood (we went into a church, some shops, the 'boardwalk' and ate at a pizzeria - we couldn't find french food unless we wanted crepes for dinner and not to mention this city smells like pee and I think people peeing where they feel like it would explain it).
We are doing a Paris walking tour tomorrow which will take us to all the major sights in this city and then in the evening and Saturday we will do more detailed sightseeing of the places we want to see more of.
Whew!
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