After enjoying a summer in Dublin, we traveled to London to meet up with Grant’s family. We prefer to travel around Europe by train since there is so much to see that would ordinarily be missed by flying between destinations. On this trip, we took a train to Paris from Switzerland and then took a Eurostar train through the Chunnel to London.

We got to Paris and had a few hours to spare until our next train. This was mine and Grant’s 2nd time in Paris and unfortunately, both times were only to pass through. It is so beautiful that we are truly guilty of not giving this city its fair share of time and exploration. Oh well, this will have to be saved for a later date.

Because we were traveling light, we decided to walk between the two stations Gare de Lyon and Gare du Nord. Grant thought it would only be a one hour walk. Boy were we wrong! It took us nearly two hours to get there. Granted, we dilly-dallied getting out of the station, and it took us a little while to figure out which exit to leave from and what our route should be. But this did cost us as we got to Gare du Nord too late for the allotted time required to go through check-in for the train to London. And so, had to pay an 80 Euro fee to change the ticket to the next train out. Time-wise, this was not so bad as it was just an hour later, but wallet-wise, this sucked. So, if you are taking the Eurostar to London from Paris, get there at least an hour early. By the way, this was the 2nd transition between the two stations that cost us at least 70 Euros (for different reasons). Hopefully, the third time’s a charm.

We did get some awesome photos though:

We got to London and checked in to our hotel. The Astors Belgravia near Victoria Station is a charming boutique hotel in a relatively convenient location. Our room was tiny, it would make a Tokyo hotel architect proud, so we did end up upgrading our room after a couple of days.

The next morning, we were out of bed bright and early. First stop on our tour was Westminster Abbey, chosen by Grant’s dad. Westminster Abbey was founded as a church in the 7th Century. It became the coronation church in 1066 with the crowning of William the Conqueror. The church received cathedral status between 1540 and 1556 but since 1560, the church is no longer an abbey or a cathedral. Today, it stands in beautiful Gothic style and is host to many royal and nationally important events. It is also the burial place of many kings and queens as well as other famous historic figures from writers and musicians to politicians and scientists – such as Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Geoffrey Chaucer. The inside was stunning and unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take photos so I took a picture of the pamphlet.

Next, we chanced the rain after dipping in to a Boots to purchase umbrellas and stopped by Big Ben and the Parliament building. As of a couple of weeks before, they stopped the ringing of Big Ben for renovations but at least it was still keeping accurate time.

We crossed the river Thames in search of lunch:

And then crossed back to check out Trafalgar Square and St. James’ Park.

All in all, it was a great introduction to London, complete with “typical rainy day”.

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