Europe trip - Days 1-3

A little late but this is a basic recounting of my very first ever trip out of the US.  I may have driven into and out of Canada when I was very young (the part of Canada that is right across a bridge from Detroit MI).

Day 1, March 24

Travel to the UK.  We first flew to LAX and from there direct to Heathrow.  The flight was overnight -- so we didn't arrive in London until the next day.

Day 2, March 25

We arrived in London around noon and I got my first stamp on my passport!

We took the train from the airport to Kings Cross/St Pancras station.

(Image from here.)

For my narrative of the first several days, I'm going to have to steal pictures from other places because I, sadly, deleted all the pictures I took. (it was a tragic reformatting issue -- I will try at some point to see if the pictures can be recovered but I'm not hopeful).

We walked around the station and contacted our daughter, who was on the train to meet us.  Bought coffee at Starbucks. and then ventured out to find our hotel.  Hotel Meridiana, located at 43-44 Argyle Square, Kings Cross, London.

We checked into the hotel (we were on the third floor and there was no elevator  -- and in the US it would be two levels up -- not so in Europe, we were three levels up).  We also had to share a bathroom which was fine, for one night.  Our OD showed up about 30 minutes after us.  After exchanging gifts -- Christmas gifts -- we decided to walk around London.  We had fish and chips at a small restaurant and then walked to the Thames and across the Waterloo Bridge and from there to the London Bridge. We had a beer at a pub/restaurant on the river and then took the train back to Kings Cross and walked from there back to the hotel.  

Day 3 - March 26

The next morning we got up early to catch the train from London to Paris.  Unfortunately, we didn't get up early enough and missed the train. We were able to get on the next train but had to sit on the jump seats.  Here we are heading out of the train station in Paris (Gare du Nord).

 

If you look closely in the picture, Paul is the person on the far left .. I stopped to take the picture and had to catch up. 

We checked into our hotel, the Hotel Savoy on 9 rue de jarry. It was close to the Gare du Nord and also close to the Chateau d'Eau "metro" stop.  At this hotel, we were on the fifth floor, and again no lift.  Fortunately, there was someone to carry our bags up.  

After checking in, we went up the street to a small cafe-ish place and had our very first French croissants and coffee.  They were yummy!

I'm having trouble remembering what we did the first day in Paris.  I know we walked around a bunch.

I believe we started with walking down the Canal Saint Martin.  It was rainy and cold but very picturesque.

(image from here)

We then went to the Louvre.  It was amazing.  We had bought tickets ahead of time and were able to go right in.  We first looked at a bunch of statues and then eventually made our way to the impressionist paintings.  We stopped in at the cafe and had a sandwich and then finished with the Egyptian section.  It was pretty amazing all the artifacts they had.  We walked out through the basement where there was a medieval section -- apparently the Louvre was originally a medieval fortress? who knew? (had I done my homework, I would have known), but anyway, it was really cool.

In our walking around we went by a couple of bridges that cross the Seine covered with locks, either Pont de L'Archeveche or Pont Neuf.  Very cool.