Sabbatical Blog: 9/9 Paris, France to London, UK

9/9 Paris to London via the Chunnel
This morning, we spent our time packing up for our Eurostar train to London. Leaving at 1:43PM and arriving at 3:25PM (we gain an hour from Paris to London). Kylie did pretty well on the train. The downside, is that we didn’t have a seat for her, and in Lile, France we picked up some extra passengers (many more people). Our Train coach was all but full. Maybe 1 seat? I had to ask a guy if I could sit by him, since we put Kylie in her car seat so she could take a nap. It worked out.

We arrived at Waterloo station, I dumped my Euros for British Pounds. We were offered a “cab” ride from a guy in a Mercedes for 2O Pounds ($40), but from our last trip here we learned not to trust the non-black cab taxis. Plus I don’t think all our luggage would fit. These guys aren’t regulated, they are like the Gypsy cabs of Rome. When our turn came up at Taxi stand, we loaded up and headed for our hotel. I didn’t have the full address. Only the Name.. the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel… which is on Picadilly, not Park Lane. Anyhow, I now know the address is 112 Picadilly! Right down the road from the Original Hard Rock Café. And across the street from Green Park. Near Buckingham Palace and St. James Park and Hyde Park.

They upgraded us to an Executive Suite on the Starwood Preferred Guest floor. The room is nice. It’s not extravagant like the W Hotel, just large. The room is on the curved part of the building and his it’s own hallway. To the right is the bathroom, and to the left is the bedroom. Plenty of room for Kylie’s crib and room to run around.

After getting settled we went for a stroll, through the park by Buckingham Palace to pay the Queen a visit, and through St. James Park, so Kylie could see the ducks and Geese. We came back to the Hotel to eat at their streetside restaurant, Citrus. What a waste of money that was. 65 Pounds for Paella and a couple of hand rolled Gnocchi for Traci. It wouldn’t have been so bad if the service wasn’t so terrible too.

We headed back up to the room, let Kylie wind down. And after she went bed, I wandered down the road to go check out the Hard Rock Café. They have a store in a building next door, which used to be Queen Victoria’s Bank. Now they house a handful of Rock memorabilia, such as Jimi Hendrix’ Gibson Flying V (same one from the famed Isle of Wright festival). An acoustic guitar from Pete Townsend, John Lennon’s army jacket and hippy glasses, among other things.

Kylie and I on the Eurostar on our way to London.


At Green park at the WWI/WWII Canadians memorial... for the Canadaians who joined the Brits in fighting.


Buckingham Palace.


One of our favorite scenes in St. James Park... Now we know what we're looking at. It is the Ministry of Defense in the background, along with the Horse Guards building in the near background.


Kylie just having fun walking around.