Day 4: Paris Here We Come!

We woke up early today to squeeze in some last minute sights in London before we had to catch our train to Paris. We wanted pictures of the front of Buckingham Palace and the guards so we went there first. With our packs strapped to our backs we hiked up the street. The weather was a little overcast so our pictures are kind of blah. Also they didn't have the guards with the tall furry hats and red coats. Just ordinary guards. We hung out there longer than we probably should have but oh well. We were really good at wasting time in London.

Okay so then we got on the tube to Waterloo Station to drop our bags off so we didn't have to carry them everywhere. Jason didn't really want to do this thinking it would waste more time but we made him anyway. Then back on the tube up to the British Museum. Even though we had just started my feet were already killing me. I totally brought the wrong shoes (really not the wrong shoes just not so good on the cobblestones).

We picked a couple of rooms in the Museum to check out: Egyptian and Greek Rooms. We saw the Rosetta Stone which was pretty cool. I remember learning about it in middle school or something and then I was looking at it. Awesome! Then Mel and I looked at other stuff while filmed a little. Mel and I liked to pretend we were shooting a tour guide video and since we were in London we had to have British accents. Mel was really good at it but mine wavered in and out. There was a piece of the Sphinx's beard, Statue of Ramses II, etc. I'm not that big of a museum person so any chance I got to sit down I took it. We only a spent a short time there before we needed to catch our train. We caught the train at Waterloo Station at 1:40 to Paris.

We were sitting somewhat next to each other on the train. On the train there are sections of four seats around a small table on each side of the train. Sitting next to me was an Englishman and in front of me was a Frenchman (a quite handsome one at that). After a bit of time and some broken ice Jason and I got to talking to the two men. They were lawyers and colleagues. Englishman's name was John and the Frenchman's name was Alexander. We talked a lot about our countries and politics and such. Jason loved it. Then they gave us some tips on good things to see in Paris. It was really fun talking to them. Then we arrived in Paris!!

We pulled into Gare du Nord which is in the northern district of Paris. After we got our bearings and a map we set out in search of the internet to find a hotel. We wrote down several possibilities and then went back to the station. We bought a 3-day metro pass and caught the #4 train to mid-Paris. We got off at Chatelet Station and walked for a while until we found the right street. The first hotel we found had no vacancies and as we were going to head to the next hotel on the list we saw another hotel sign just down the street. But again, no. But third time's a charm and we found one that was a nice hotel with an extremely small elevator. The bathroom was really nice only the light didn't work. So we paid for the night at Hotel Lescot.

to be continued....