Cheers Mate!

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!