Day 8: Paris to London

Had a quick morning trip back to the Notre Dame, because I never got a chance to get inside the main hall last time. Another completely worthwhile experience. Playing temple tourist can be painful after a couple, but they have all delivered in this town. Over 850 years old this year and some a mean feat. The gothic stuff is so cool, I can't wait for Barcelona.

Then I said my goodbyes and failed to successfully get a cab, bus or train for a stupidly long time and only made customs/check in at the train station within minutes of the Eurostar leaving... Doh! But all good. How exciting, my first border crossing not in the air!! Haha :D

From London's St Pancras (yep Pancras) station, I opted again for walking (I really gotta get a life and just use transport) to my next hood in Camden (15-20min walk not much). Although a bit tricky cos somehow my baggage expanded quite a bit in Paris.... Hmmm... 

Anyway I couldn't check in for about an hour so found a cafe, struggled to speak English, and had some lunch (felafel salad and a chai if you must), then rocked up on the doorstep of my next home stay to receive..... No answer. Damn. Love these ol' travel dramas. So I ended doing the usual thing... Lugging bags around town, looking for free wifi (fail), or cash out (fail) then cash exchange and a pay phone (almost fail), to no answer. Then just knocked a few more times over the next hour until the door was finally answered! A host with a hangover and still asleep at 1pm was the cause of my drama. Damn. 

Anyone, once inside and set up, I ventured out to see Londom town. My accommodation is very very near to the underground which made transport super easy this week. First off to Leicester square and St. Martins in the fields - this is the church where my great grandmother was confirmed (and half the royals so it seems) as well as a place she used to visit frequently in her youth before shipping off to Aus. Pretty nice to see such a place, possibly the only family base to my trip, and what a gorgeous little church it is. (Not actually small.... Just not a cathedral.) Really tasteful and simple yet well kept and lots of natural light. I caught a classical music recital when there which added to the ambience. Nice to picture Nana there in her heyday. 

Then I took the drastic, and perhaps regrettable decision, to jump on a...... Tourist bus. Actually to be honest it wasn't that bad... And a good way to see the sights and get a little history... (It's tomorrow's leg of this story that is less enjoyable). But sitting in peak hour traffic was super fun...

In a nutshell to start with London didn't rock my socks. Very busy and not all that pretty (sorry London lovers). It was a cool place to be, but I think after Paris it was hard to love. In saying that, I played tourist the whole time, and probably didn't see what it is like to live there, but I just don't know if its quite for me!