5/30 - Crossing the Channel
Regretting the hotel decision a little. First, they were doing some construction this morning. Quite irritating when I was trying to sleep late. Second, it’s too far west. Cab from Victoria was around L16. Over to Waterloo was L15 (less traffic). Next time, check out Thistle Trafalgar or Picadilly, or anything on the central/south side of zone 1.
Nice train ride – I always enjoy the Eurostar. A little longer underground than I remembered from last time. Got to the station a little earlier than necessary. Could probably have caught the earlier train, but it stopped somewhere along the way and wouldn’t have made it to Paris any earlier. French guy right across from me has the exact same model of laptop; weird - it's brand new. Older American couple next to me. Not too bad. No crying babies/children!
Finished the first pulp fiction book I brought with. Interesting little sci-fi/alternate history combination by Arthur C. Clarke and some other guy. Will definitely want to read the sequel. I think the other book is a Crichton novel. Didn’t watch any video on the train – I had the sunny side and it would have washed out the screen anyway. Guess I’ll work through a bundle on all the flights home.
Switching to the RER at Gare du Nord was no problem. Except for the ATM/Kiosk machines that are supposed to take credit cards, let you get all the way through the process of picking and choosing, then don't recognize the card. :( So I waited in line instead. Not a big deal. The turnstile machines are great fun when you've got a giant suitcase. :) Direct train to CDG. There's a shuttle bus to the hotel, but I had no idea where to catch it and I couldn't figure out how to get my (American) phone to call a French number. Hopefully there aren't tons of charges waiting for me. Decided on a cab, which was just as well. I'm going to try to keep tabs on all the misc expenses like that to see whether I end up saving any money with this whole Houston-London-Paris-Moscow-St Petersburg-Paris-Houston thing. I'm sure I will, but not a ton. Still worth it to sit up front (at least one direction, hopefully two) and get a taste of London. I do wish I'd gotten some time in Paris, but the Eurostar arrived (on schedule) at just before 8pm (I booked the 4:12 train in case I got bumped from the Continental flights on Sunday). No way to store luggage at the rail station, so I really didn't get any true Paris time. :( Debating whether to go down to the bar here at the hotel before calling it a night. I'd like a quick drink, but don't want to get a headache from the cigarette smoke. Hmmm.
Nice train ride – I always enjoy the Eurostar. A little longer underground than I remembered from last time. Got to the station a little earlier than necessary. Could probably have caught the earlier train, but it stopped somewhere along the way and wouldn’t have made it to Paris any earlier. French guy right across from me has the exact same model of laptop; weird - it's brand new. Older American couple next to me. Not too bad. No crying babies/children!
Finished the first pulp fiction book I brought with. Interesting little sci-fi/alternate history combination by Arthur C. Clarke and some other guy. Will definitely want to read the sequel. I think the other book is a Crichton novel. Didn’t watch any video on the train – I had the sunny side and it would have washed out the screen anyway. Guess I’ll work through a bundle on all the flights home.
Switching to the RER at Gare du Nord was no problem. Except for the ATM/Kiosk machines that are supposed to take credit cards, let you get all the way through the process of picking and choosing, then don't recognize the card. :( So I waited in line instead. Not a big deal. The turnstile machines are great fun when you've got a giant suitcase. :) Direct train to CDG. There's a shuttle bus to the hotel, but I had no idea where to catch it and I couldn't figure out how to get my (American) phone to call a French number. Hopefully there aren't tons of charges waiting for me. Decided on a cab, which was just as well. I'm going to try to keep tabs on all the misc expenses like that to see whether I end up saving any money with this whole Houston-London-Paris-Moscow-St Petersburg-Paris-Houston thing. I'm sure I will, but not a ton. Still worth it to sit up front (at least one direction, hopefully two) and get a taste of London. I do wish I'd gotten some time in Paris, but the Eurostar arrived (on schedule) at just before 8pm (I booked the 4:12 train in case I got bumped from the Continental flights on Sunday). No way to store luggage at the rail station, so I really didn't get any true Paris time. :( Debating whether to go down to the bar here at the hotel before calling it a night. I'd like a quick drink, but don't want to get a headache from the cigarette smoke. Hmmm.
posted by pantherman at 12:47 PM
1 Comments:
Enjoyed all entries thus far. Sorry the hotel wasn't 'perfect.' Didn't sound from entry 3 like you'd walked so far in London that your feet were killing you. That's a good thing. Write on! lw
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