Eurostar

The morning of our London departure: We visited Kew Gardens over near Richmond (affluent area) and walked around some beautiful garden grounds. We took lots of plant pictures, and finally found some freshly made ice cream.

Then we met my German pen-friend Katharina for a short while to explore the Science Museum together. She just flew in from Spain to volunteer at her cousin's elementary school in London for a couple weeks.  It had been two years since I'd seen her last so it was very nice to say hello!

Our Eurostar train left at 4:22pm so by then it was just past three. We ran back to grab our backpacks at the crappy hotel, and then raced for one last ride on the Tube to St Pancras station, side by side King's Cross.

When we boarded our coach (after customs, passport stamping, and bag screening) we were immediately followed by....no fewer than thirty loud, French, thirteen-year-old boys. They immediately started blasting the Thrift Shop song on someone's phone, and made a game of throwing a package of sweets back and forth across the aisles. (It was a four hour ride.)

As I'm writing this: They've figured out we are English speakers, and now we are helping them with their British-English homework, since it's a school field trip.

Anyway, after we arrived in Gare du Norde I realized quite suddenly that I did not remember much French at all. Thinking back, I've been saying "Je parle un peu Français." for, oh, six years now. I'm really, really sorry for unintentionally deceiving you, Tessa.

After about 40 minutes of trying to figure out what ATM is in French (for we had no Euros) and where an info booth was, we made it on the correct Metro lines with a small handwritten map in hand!! By then we were both already exhausted. Packs=heavy no matter how well you pack.

Finally we got off on the nearest station and had to ask a fruit stand guy to tell us where Didot street is, and we got yet another handwritten map. THEN once we got to the street, some lady walks past us and says "oh, backpackers, right?" (No, we are just carrying around a few tons of crap on our back at 9 o'clock at night.) She has a complete American accent to my delight, and she's from California. ("Oh, I don't speak French but I live here. Where are you going? Great, I live in that building!")

We buzzed in and knocked on Micheline's door, dearly hoping our directions and contact was all right. Well, once we said who we were: "You're the two backpack girls! Mon Dieu, I completely forgot about you! Leave your stuff here and go get some food. Come back in an hour and your room will be made!" She lives above an Indian food restaurant, so we went there ("Oh you don't have money yet? Don't go get cash at night! Go down there and order and say my name, and I'll be down to pay for you in a  few minutes.") so we ordered Indian food in French.

We are staying with a friend of a friend, Micheline, who is an 85 year old woman who lived in the States for a decade in the past, so her English is fair. Her hearing on the other hand, is not so fair. She also has un petit chien, Maxsu.

Now, this place is costing us $32 each, a night, so our budgeting is for four days in Paris. But we would absolutely love to stay longer, we just haven't figured out how yet....something will come up, it always does.

Our room:

London Hostels

I'm writing this on the bus heading to Stonehenge now. It's been an...exciting...two days.

The hostel we booked last minute (Tessa keeps reminding me that technically I alone booked this one.) well, it's pretty crappy. After a haggaring 24+ hours of travel, we stumbled in an hour after the earliest checkin time, and they didn't have our rooms ready yet. Other off putting things about W14 Kensington Hotel:

-Showers/toilet rooms are really moldy.

-My bed is wet for some reason. Was even before I got there, but this morning when I realized it hadn't dried, whatever it is, I got weirded out a lot. Still working on that problem.

-The room lockers are about half the size as our backpacks.

-There is no communal kitchen, but more of a hallway with a stove with 14 different buttons.

-The staff are very unfriendly and it's all business to them, not the happiness of their customers.

We sort of figured out this used to be a hotel and they are turning it back into one in a few months, so while that's not really an excuse, it explains why it doesn't seem very hostel-like. 

After some emergency searching, and to no really avail, we decided to stick it out the next three days. After all, the next one has to be better, and this is already paid for.

Yesterday evening we found a nearby Tesco (grocery store) and shopped for ingredients  And using the hallway-kitchen on the first floor (not ground floor) managed to make some pasta and garlic broccoli sauté. You could smell it throughout the hostel, which was an improvement to the place, believe me. While we were preparing our meal, an older Italian man was making his own pasta and we exchanged hellos. He was staying there for three months because he had work nearby, I think. His accent was extremely strong.

This morning my Stonehenge tour company called, and I emailed them back, asking what the call was about. They told me that my tomorrow-tour got cancelled and to let them know if we wanted to reschedule for the day after (when we leave for Paris) or a refund. 

So I'm on the verge of frustrated-freaking-out mode because seriously, seeing Stonehenge was the single reason I wanted to go to London this trip. Tessa realized it was only noon, and they had afternoon tours too, so we quickly called them back using the hostel phone (50p a minute) and they were able to fit us in for today! (In a two-minute conversation!)

And after a long confusing avoiding-construction-on-foot route, we made it to the station in time, out of breath and excited, because we are going to Stonehenge!

Probably the most disgusting thing I've seen in a foreign grocery store. Um. Ew. It's a SHAKE.

Walk-up to the hostel of crap:

While we were on the coach to Stonehenge, cars kept passing us and I had a mini heart attack every time I saw no one in the drivers seat! Oh wait, it's on the other side! Yeah I never got used to it.

Yellow!