Our Eurostar train was due to leave Paris Nord at 10:15 so we had booked a cab the day before (as requested by the front desk) for 8:30, so as we are checking out we are told that when they went to book the taxi yesterday, the taxi company wanted a 5 euro booking fee so they didn't book it and now there is 3 of them on the phone trying to get us a taxi.
After waiting about half an hour I was talking to the girl on the desk and said that we were going to Paris Nordic and she said " oh that's only one station from here, you can take the subway from the station next door and it will only be 5 minutes"
So off we trot to the station, work out how to get our tickets, how to use them to get through the turnstile only to find there has been huge delays on our line. Fortunately I spoke to a woman who spoke good English and was heading the same way as us to tell us what the public announcements were, eventually we got on a train and got to the next station but had no idea how to get to our train. After exiting the wrong way and poor Jude getting stuck at a turnstile I recognised the station and a short walk later we were inside.
Now we just had to work out what train, looking along 19 platforms, a security guard put me straight, Eurostar upstairs. We had to fill out travel cards and got through customs, which we did not expect. Just as we tacked on to the end of the boarding queue they announced the train was boarding, whew!
The train was similar to the very fast train we were on in Germany and the trip went well, Jude was even able to buy some discount venue tickets from an inboard kiosk.
I got us around to Kings Cross station without one wrong turn, pulled the travel cards out of the bag and headed for the Pickadilly line, several escalators and tunnels later we were on the platform, only had to wait a few minutes for a train then 11 stops to Earls Court, all still going according to plan.
When we got out of the station I turned left instead of right but a quick u-turn and we were at the Mansions, now just to find which door to let us in, eventually figured it out and our room was ready so we were able to go straight up 6th floor the last level being stairs. The apartment is fantastic! 2 bedrooms, kitchen with a washer/dryer and a sitting room with couches and a dinning table. So good. The girls have gone off to check out the local supermarkets (Tesco or Sainsbury's). As I've been writing this I watched the latest episode of Top Gear and now I'm watching the Magnificent Seven, bliss.
Word from the girl on the desk is that pick pockets are rife on the underground.
Girls got home with lots of bags of groceries, had dinner in the unit and drank the dodgey ruby beer that Karen bought, actually it wasn't too bad. |
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