London Calling

This morning I rolled over and shut my alarm off. 6:55am. Time to shower and pack my backpack. Our neighbors in the next villa had a washer machine and let me use it the two days before. My clothes haven’t smelt this clean since Russia.

I took a hot shower, packed all my things into two bags,then made myself breakfast & coffee.

I was trying to enjoy my morning and space it out as much as I possibly could because I knew I only had until 9:30am to enjoy Provence. Gabby (the woman who owned the property) called a cab for my friend Ashleigh and I (Ashleigh is my friend from back home and is traveling to from France to London with me).

We both cleaned the loft and we a feasts to go. All we were waiting on was our cab. 9:45am rolls around… No can.
Our neighbor Vladimir looked at his watch and without warning went to Gabby and asked on our behalf if the can was coming. Vladimir and his family are from the north of France and have been such great neighbors & friends to me and my family. It was very sweet to have them look out for my friend and I as well.
Gabby was shocked that the cab wasn’t here and immediately offered us a car ride there. It was 9:50am and our train was to leave at 10:14am.

Cutting it close…

We arrived to the station at 10:08am, Ash and I ran up the escalator and found our train. Good thing the Avignon TGV is a seriously small train station. The train rolled in just as we were walking up. It’s amazing how close I’ve cut it when traveling by planes and trains on this trip, but by Gods grace I haven’t missed any of my means of transportation. We got onto the train at 10:13am. Phew!!

The train ride to Paris was very nice. The actual car was spacious and quiet. It was about 2 hours and 30 minutes to Paris. When we arrived into Paris it was very tempting to not stay in the magnificent city. Just driving through streets and seeing the diversity and beauty of Paris gave me nostalgia from my trip three years ago.

I missed Paris while driving through Paris. I honestly can say I didn’t like that feeling very much.

When we got to the Paris Nord train station Ash and I exchanged euros into pounds (which I can tell you now and I’ve never been to London… I’ll be traveling on the cheap in that city…). We had to go through passport control and security as if we were flying in a plane. It’s a weird experience to be preparing and traveling underwater to another country. Vladimir told me we will see the ocean and fish while taking the tube into London. He of course was teasing but unfortunately I’ll admit to falling for his joke.

Arriving in London on the Eurostar was actually a pretty big culture shock.

Everyone speaks English which I’m not used to. London is also very big with a lot of people, most being pretty standoffish. Ashleigh and I did make it to our host’s flat in one piece. Her name is Claire and she is just the sweetest. She welcomed us with coffee, cookies and a clean apartment that we were given full permission to call home.
After chatting about traveling, London, our love for music and Sixto Rodriguez Ash and I headed out for dinner.

With full bellies we went for a walk on the queens walk and took pictures of the tower bridge exhibition. The walk was very nice. A cool evening but not too windy or cold.

It was a perfect ending to a long day.