This morning I said goodbye to my favourite roommate ever and headed to the Gare du Nord to catch my 11.45am Eurostar train to London. I was slightly concerned that something may go wrong with the ticket (because I had bought it off a friend of a friend for only 35 euros) but everything went very smoothly. And so did the train trip! It didn't even feel like we were moving, so I figured we couldn't have been going that fast. But when I looked out the window trees were passing my window super quickly. It looked like we were going about as fast as planes go when they are about to take off. Luckily the train never lifted off the ground though.
St Pancras Station.
"Mind the gap"
Awesome.
At 1pm (turn your clocks back an hour) I arrived in London at St Pancras station, went and met the friend of the friend of my friend to pass the return tickets on, and then got on the underground and headed North to the home of Chris and Piet where I'm staying for two nights.
Chris and Piet (pronouned 'Pete').
Cooking up a storm.
Chris is from New Zealand and went to school with Cherie's Aunt and Mum, and Piet is her husband from Holland. They are awesome people! (I know you're reading this Chris...better not tell the truth...) We had a great chat all about Cherie over a cup of tea, then went for a walk up through Hampstead Heath parks (I didn't bring my camera but they were beautiful - lots of grass that you can actually walk on unlike in Paris - and with an amazing view over the entire city at the top). I thought it was funny that my idea of London (lots of trees, brick houses with hedges, and big red buses) was in line with the real thing. Conclusion: Coronation St is an incredibly accurate portrayal of English society. After our walk we went to this brilliant pub called The Holly Bush - a real English pub, warm and wooden inside, kind of like an Irish pub but not - where we chatted about theatre in London over several beers.
The Holly Bush - http://www.hollybushpub.com/
We then came back to their house which is a great modern-on-the-inside place in Archway (Piet tells me to just say Islington - "it's a bit posher") and ate a fantastic meal cooked by Piet whilst chatting away and drinking lots of red wine. I was feeling quite tipsy after only two beers (I had hardly eaten all day and only got 4 hours sleep the night before - but I'm also quite a lightweight) so by the end of the night I was pretty plonkered! It was a great start to my stay in London. Really great people. (Honest Chris!)
No comments:
Post a Comment