Day 12 Paris to London

Set our alarms for 6:30am and headed off to Gare de Nord station in what we thought was plenty of time for the Eurostar.  It was all quite confusing and the station was incredible large....but eventually we found the right place.  Had to go through French immigration, then English immigration & then have our bags xrayed....but we made it with time to spare.  

As the train headed north the ground was covered in snow, but the sky nice and blue.

Train is very comfortable and doesn't feel like we are travelling at 300km per hour.  We both have sore throats this morning....too much champagne?  And have missed our morning pastries.  I don't think there is much cuisine to look forward to in London, but will have to have a pub meal and Indian sometime.

The trip to London went surprisingly quickly. I managed to buy Oyster cards on the train, so we are all set to use the underground with these.  

Arriving at the very busy St Pancras station the walk to our hotel was further than it looked on the map. It was even a mission finding an exit out of the station. We eventually found our way in grey drizzly bleak conditions. Initial impression of London is dirtier and the people seem gloomier (& bigger) than in Paris.  With the help of my phone we found the Thistle Euston Hotel. It doesn't look much from the outside but very nice inside...relatively newly renovated and a very flash, if tiny, bathroom.  Our room was ready so we got to check in early which was really good.

Feeling a bit weary we didn't feel like visiting galleries or museums today, so I decided we should visit Putney so I could revisit my youth.  This was something I was really looking forward to, and it meant for a relatively relaxing day. Didn't take too long to reacquaint myself with the underground map, though there are a few new stations from 25 years ago.  

The first train we got on we were joined by a pigeon, which is not something I remember happening often.  Once we changed to the district line it all became familiar to me. We got off at Putney Bridge and Campbell was forced to endure some photos that meant very little to him.

He did seem relatively interested though,and enjoyed being away from tourists and among the locals.  It is so much more relaxing not having to worry about the language now, though Cam isn't that keen on the English accents.

We walked over the Putney rail bridge and down into Deodar Road & our old flat.

Expected it to have changed more than it had...really not that different from photos all those years ago.

We then headed to Putney High St feeling peckish.  We wandered down to the riverbank where I remembered a pub, but it was too quiet on a weekday lunchtime so we headed back to Putney Pies which we had seen on the way.  

By this stage we were really hungry so looked forward to a hot pie.  We considered ordering hot-pot just like Coronation St, but Cam decided to have a steak & ale pie with gravy & mash, while I had a chilli pie.

They were really good and very satisfying....felt warm and full after cleaning up our plates.  

Next we wandered the High St....some things had changed but many had not.  The snappy snaps photo shop rang a bell - I expect we printed a lot of photos there after our travels in the past. We went into a book store and got a Lonely Planet guide to London (so much cheaper here than at home) & we went into a Boots Chemist and got a selection of throat lozenges, including Fishermans friend.

Found an ATM to withdraw some cash & then headed over the main Putney Bridge back to the station.  

The sky was much bluer now.

We felt it was too early to go back to our hotel and we still had pie to walk off, so we caught the underground to Piccadilly cIrcus

to give Campbell a taste of central London. This area was certainly buzzing & littered with souvenir shops....many of which I actually liked.

 Took some photos and wandered the streets coming upon Chinatown

and the theatre district.

We intend to go back to Chinatown another night when we are hungry to have the crispy duck pancakes that I remember fondly.

We found the theatre where "the Book of Mormons" is playing and purchased tickets for the show for Monday night.  We got the cheapest seats available but they were still very expensive, but this is the one show we were both agreeable to seeing together.  It is a highly rated musical that is written by the makers of South Park, which has some appeal for Cam.  I am hoping to go to another show on my own one night, but it will be good to experience a show together.

Found a ridiculously large store selling all things M&M - who would thing a whole multi storey building could be dedicated to a candy!

We were now ready to go back to the hotel so caught the underground back

and stopped off at the local Sainsbury's supermarket where we bought some chicken wraps for dinner and drinks to have in our room, along with some Jaffa cakes. 

I'm really pleased to finally be back in London to relive some memories, but I've been surprised how much I prefer Paris.