London to Paris – August 11th 2017
We left Tooting and made our way to the train station to check/drop our bags off with the luggage hold. We had a few hours to kill before our train to Paris and had one more sight we wanted to see. Borough Market!
We happened upon it the day before but didn’t have time to check it out. From all the smells of delicious savory foods, it was a must do before leaving London.
Borough Market was massive. It was awesome. It was an overload of the senses and it was crowded!!!!! Like really crowded. Like hold on to your children for dear life crowded. So many people on the move and all over the place we did our best here to not be separated: we did well btw 🙂
We enjoyed some street tacos. Massive shrimp Tacos made right in front of us. Lucas opted out but the 4 of us each had.
We hopped back on the tube and made it back to the train station to get ready for our ride to Paris through the Chunnel. With all the security checks and passport control etc we actually made perfect timing even though we thought we had a couple hours to spare.
The train ride was great, a little more quiet type of traveler on this train but the trip was nice nonetheless. The actual time in the Chunnel was so short and I think Mark blinked and missed it, haha
Arriving to Paris was a new experience. We had just gotten use to the Tube in London and now we needed to learn a new system with the Metro. I was surprised the undergrounds were so different. From the ticket machines, to the narrow hallways and extra steps in Paris. The Paris Metro was packed with young people having a great Friday night. This was different from the serious London Tube.
Got our stop, off the metro, lugged all bags up too many stairs to count and we popped up on the streets of Paris. I loved it the second my eyes hit the street. Beautiful Parisian architecture and cafes littered the streets. We navigated our way through cute neighborhood streets for about 15 minutes before we saw our first sighting of army guys. 4 armed men in army uniforms and HUGE guns were patrolling the streets.
Now, me being me, I became flustered, tried not to make eye contact and stayed calm as to not get the kids all upset. Lucas was already on edge about arriving in the dark at 10pm!! I figured we had dodged a bullet (PUN PUN) when the army guys crossed the street and walked between all five of us as we waited at the light to cross. I’m talking a gun was 2 inches from my child’s head. Holy Canoli. I’m not sure if they were checking us out or what, but they went on their way after. And we found our flat 2 mins later also.
Our Paris flat was spacious and had a view of the Eiffel Tower from a couple windows and our host left us snacks and treats. Best welcome ever after a long travel day. Only thing was we were on the 6th floor and the elevator barely fit 2 people (Avery actually hit the emergency button on the way up by accident, whoops hehe). This was going to be the start of “Lets get in Shape as we have no other choice than to walk up all those stairs”.
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