“Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square..

 ...It’s a long, long way to Tipperary Paris, but my heart’s right there”

Yes, today was my day to depart London, hard to believe it’s already been a week since I left Christchurch. It was a restless night on the couch, not because I was sleeping on a couch, but because my entire days travel rested on the shoulders on a pocket sized computer that lay carelessly on the coffee table. I had set my iPod to wake me up at 5.00am, but my brain didn’t seem to trust it enough and was waking up every hour and checking the time. 5.00 came round and I leapt out off the couch and started hurling my clothes and laptop into their appropriate bags. Shower, teeth, get dressed, write a quick thank-you note on the back of a Christchurch postcard, slap it on the fridge and I’m out the door. 

It doesn’t take long before I arrive at Victoria station; I quickly return my Oyster card and start my power walk down the road to where the coaches depart.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting for a coach station, but this was quite gross. I hurry through the terminal, following the arrows to the check-in desk, and arrive in a quiet open room full of people. It looked like they had spent the night here. It was silent and stuffy, with only a poorly tuned radio playing from the entrance to a grungy ethnic takeaway restaurant. The homeless people groaned and had a horrible stench; you could hear the other travellers snoring away as they lay on their bed of blankets/clothes covering a hard tiled floor. Nothing was open yet; it felt as though I had walked into a post-apocalyptic community that had gathered within the coach station. Okay so maybe a little extreme, but it was enough to make me look at a map to see how far I’d have to walk to catch the Eurostar train to Paris instead. When the desk opened at 8, the place came alive, and people were coming and going, and a steady busy murmur had filled the air.

 I saw the bus pull up that would take me to Paris. It was a double Decker. The child within me itched for those front seats that allowed you to look out the windscreen as if you were driving.

I stood up 15 minutes early just so I could be at the head of the line, 4 people were ahead of me, and as we walked out to the bus and climbed the staircase, they stood there trying to decide where to sit. “Back or Front?” they asked each other, I cleared my throat to remind them I was there and they quickly headed to the back while I leapt into the front seats. Success!! And to top it off, no one sat beside me! So I had two chairs to sprawl out on, extra leg room, and a complete unobstructed view out the front and sides of the bus. As the tight streets turned into roads, roads into motorways, I was soon outside the city and crossing underneath the English Channel.

Boarding the train on the Bus. 

It wasn’t very exciting, just driving into a container, 25 minutes later you’re driving out. The rest of the journey wasn't very exciting, nice to see the country side, but I couldn't keep my eyes open and had a quick nap. I arrived in Paris just before 4pm at the Eurolines station. Paris' metro is almost identical to London's Tube so it was very easy to switch trains and get to where I needed to. The hardest part was getting off the Tube and trying to find the right street to Nick's apartment. (Nick is my cousin who lives in Paris in an area called Montmartre, and it is set on a big hill north of Paris. It. is known as being home to many artists and generally being a very arty area; it is also where the famous Sacre Coeur resides which looks right out over Paris, at the top of the hill) 

Had a nice relaxing evening trying to catch each other up on the past.....probably 10 years since we last saw each other! That evening Nick took me on a quick tour of the hillside area...

Nick and Panoramic view

View from the church

The Sacre Coeur, check out the crowd, it's very popular. 

First sighting!

First impression of Paris, pretty incredible, I love the narrow cobblestone streets, and the endless cafe's stretching onto the sidewalk. Could quite happily stay here I think!! But still so much more to see! 

Notting Hill..

Very quick blog post as today was a pretty quiet day..


Alex and Alessandro headed off to work and I stayed in my sleeping bag watching a movie on the couch. I decided to head to Portebello Road Market which was in Notting Hill.

The market had everything, bits and bobs, bells and whistles, odds and ends. While every so often there was whiffs of freshly made crepes with nutella.

Colourful buildings above the markets

Paddington Bear

Antique phones

Fresh produce

Fresh bread and baking (I bought a big loaf of focaccia and ate the lot walking up the market) 

All different kinds of olives and feta....soo good. 

Had lunch in Kensington Garden (Notice the front swan loves the lime light, the rest are camera shy and are trying to drown themselves..)

Back at the apartment in the afternoon. View from the living room.

I treated myself with a big toffee cheesecake for dessert. 

After a glass of wine with Alex, I set my alarm for 5am and hoped like heck it would actually go off!!

Keep Your Eye On The Ball..

Keep Your Eye On The Ball..

(This is Thursday's blog post.. I'll post them in order)

Today I was switching accommodation from the hostel, to my first Couch Surf. For you that don’t know what that is, Couch Surf is social website that allows you to connect with people offering their couch or spare room from all over the world. It’s a great way to meet local people and get the insiders scoop on the town/city/country you are in.  

I savoured my final free breakfast then stored my main bag in the locked cupboard before heading off to Starbucks with my laptop. I spent about 2 hours catching up on e-mails and finishing blog posts; and in that time I only managed two bites of my chocolate chip cookie! Don’t worry; I wrapped it up to be enjoyed at a later time. Quickly dropping my laptop off at the hostel, I then jumped on the tube and headed for Greenwich.

Greenwich Market

Time ball at the Royal Observatory

Royal Observatory

Standing exactly at 0 degrees Longitude

Martitme Museum

Great view from the overground train. 

I took the train back over to where I would be meeting Michael and began walking back and forth along a busy London street, occasionally leaning up against a Starbuck’s wall to tap into their free Wi-Fi so I could find where I was going. I eventually ended up walking through a tiny door off the bustling sidewalk into a quiet cobblestone street with old English street lamps. I found my way to the right building and checked in with reception. Suddenly I felt terribly out of place in such a professional setting; warm glowing lamps sitting atop perfectly polished wooden side tables; royal red carpets and immaculately dressed professional men and women. Then there was me, in my baggy cotton pants, walking shoes, puffy down jacket, windswept hair, and a scruffy shadow from not shaving for a week!. Michael and Rupert came down to reception and collected me and showed me around the temple.

For those of you who don’t know who I’m talking about, Michael is my second cousin; his father is my granddads brother, and Rupert is Michael’s son. Michael and Rupert both work in the Temple as barristers (the Temple is  the main law district in London and where most of the chambers are)

Middle Temple Lane

We wondered round the various areas of the temple while Michael pointed out various points of interest and their history, fascinating stuff, it's hard to wrap your head around how old some of these buildings were. 

Michael and I had a couple of beers over a hearty and delicious meal at the 'Cittie of York' pub..

A classic Victorian English Bar

Inside

Enjoying an English bitter

Michael and I 

I had a stout pudding (I think it was called) which is a very English meal. Slow cooked beef, with a mushroomy/oniony sauce encased by suet pastry with mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. Yum!

Many thanks again Michael for such a fantastic meal! I'm so glad I was able to try a traditional English meal in a traditional English bar. 

It was about 8pm, and I quickly headed back to the hostel and took the tube up to Kilburn high road to my couchsurfing place. It didn't take long to find with the directions given, but I got to meet Alex; who works in Social Care Management and his flatmate Alessandro; who had been in London for a month and was working for a travel company. They were both extremely welcoming and friendly, giving me a key to the apartment to come and go (such trust it was amazing!!) and giving me maps and advice for places I was visiting. (Alessandro helped me decide on some travel plans round Venice as that is where he was from) They headed off to bed upstairs, and I made mine on the couch and fell asleep very quickly (with the help of those beers from earlier!)