From Plymouth to London to Paris

Today was a travel day. We woke to a foggy Plymouth morning, our last day in the British Isles. Our Taxi driver just got back from San Francisco and Los Angeles - we told him he should go to Canada – he said he has plans to do so. Our trip up to London initially was slow to start but as we got closet to London there were fewer stops.

We were pleasantly surprised that London Paddington National Rail station to the London Underground and up to St Pancras International Rail station was not as cluttered as we had expected.  With the 2012 London Olympics in full swing, we were worried the place might have been a zoo.  We even got a free ride on the tube courtesy of a Londoner about to travel to Ottawa, Montreal & Niagara Falls.  

                                                                                                       (last look at British Isles)

The only ripple in our travel day was the departure of the Eurostar train to Paris. There was a ‘trespasser’ on the high speed track – eventually arrested - that delayed our departure by over an hour. Once on the train we were further delayed on route – we arrived in Paris 1hr 20 min later than scheduled.

 (First look at France)

After arriving in Paris we reserved all our journeys within Europe using our Eurorail Pass to travel as required.

Got to our hotel via taxi, what a scary experience.  More than once there were three vehicles in only two lanes. Thank God our driver had nerves of steel and was skilled at his profession.  Checked into the New Candide (a clean but tiny room!), had a quick bite of Chinese & were able to Skype the girls.  Our lifeline to home.

Tomorrow should be an exciting day.

More to follow …