DAY 11

July 24, 2022 (Heading to LONDON)

In order to catch the EUROSTAR train to London this morning by 10:13 a.m., we had to get up early to eat breakfast and be in the lobby, ready with our luggage by 8:00 a.m. So I packed the night before, and headed to the lobby by 6:30 in my usual ‘my nerves on me’ fashion and waited for the breakfast area to open at 7:00 a.m. Again today, there were no scrambled eggs and I resolved to just be happy with toast with cheese and sliced ham & turkey with sausage and a crepe with jam. The coffee was great and I had to try the mocha as well. Ok enough about food (I am sure I gained 10 pounds), ONTO LONDON!

Heading To The Train Station...

The bus arrived at 8:30 and for some reason, this bus driver did not even look our way to help load the bags onto the bus – as every bus driver did before now. But we are known for synergy and we got the job done. We only had a short 3 minute ride to the back of the train station where, again the driver did not assist with luggage but seemed to be waiting for a tip – here’s a tip – help with luggage and you might get some money. So we walked with our luggage into the train station where we took an elevator up one floor to the immigration checkpoint. I cant’ say the Brits were so happy as we passed through immigration, but we managed to all make it through after having to explain several times that this was a school group visiting and leaving to go back to the Bahamas through New York this Thursday. However, we got through quickly and were in the waiting area ready to board Coach 13.

The Eurostar left at 10:13 and we bid Paris adieu and rode for two hours through a tunnel under the English Channel for the next two hours. The ride was very smooth – you would hardly tell you were on a track. The UNO card game was going on in front of me and I tackled the ‘snack bag’ for a while. Then it was off to dreamland for a moment – when I noticed we were about to pull in to England.

To The Hotel!

Once we got our luggage and got off of the Eurostar, we walked through a sea of people inside of the station. We literally had to stay together in a line to work our way through the station flooded with people in every direction to the outside where the bus was waiting. Not long, we were at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in High Street Kensington. Arriving close to 1pm meant we would have to wait for about an hour for our rooms to be ready since checkout was 12pm and check-in was 3pm. Here also there were a sea of people waiting to check in. We were told there were 6 large groups checking in at the same time. Of course what was supposed to be an hour took 3 hours. Some waited in the lobby while others went next door to Marks and Spencer to change money into Sterling. Some rooms became ready at 3:30 and the rest by 4:30. We met back in the lobby to use our TUBE tickets to go to dinner which was 8 stops away.

Catching the TUBE to Dinner...

Thankfully, the Tube station is a few steps from the hotel, so we got our passes out and descended underground. The Tube is quite easy to follow as there are maps on the wall and each stop is clearly labelled. It took us 8 stops to reach our destination. And along the way to the restaurant, we passed the great St. Paul’s Cathedral. We also got a glimpse of the double decker bus.

Dinner At Cafe Rouge...

We settled into two long rows of tables and chairs for a French meal in England. The starter was bread with mushrooms and a cream sauce which was delicious. The main course was sausages with a buttery mashed potato. Dessert was ice cream.

After Dinner Adventure...

After dinner I met up with Mr. David Thompson and his wife Sarah. David taught at Queen’s College from 2015-2017 as a Religious Education teacher and now resides in London. We went to see some of the sights in the area which included a statue of John Wesley, the place where John Wesley had his conversion experience on Aldersgate Street, and another very old church named St. Bartholomew. There was also a statue to memorialize those who died in the navy which had a lot of names engraved on it. When I looked closer, I found the name of HIGGS – relatives maybe? At the end, we said goodbyes until next time and I took the Tube back to High Street Kensington stop – easy as pie.