Monday, May 30
The downside to leaving the windows open is
that it gets light before 4:30 in the morning, with sunrise not long after. Our
window onto the grounds faced due east and soon—way too soon—we had direct sunlight streaming into our faces. Laura
staggered to the window and shut the drapes.
The view from the bedroom windows in our little room at the Friar's Carse.
We would be on the move again this day, so
Laura and I rose, packed and headed downstairs to a not-so-great breakfast
before driving to Carlisle, just across the Scotland/England border.
Arriving in Carlisle, we found the car rental
company and, having gassed it up just up the road, unloaded the car to drop off
the keys. Being a bank holiday, the place was closed with many a confused
renter returning their cars to find no one. We read the signs and dropped our
keys in the slot and walked to the train station. (I’ll let Laura tell the
story of the sketchy signs on the key drop at the rental office.)
Arrived to the train station only to learn
the route we wanted was closed to construction works, so they put us on a bus
and drove us for over two hours to another train station where we boarded a
high speed Virgin Train to London Euston, also a little over two hours in
duration. On the train we ate a snack and watched Pixar’s Ratatouille in
preparation for Paris.
A little side note: we have enjoyed many of
the “silly” town names throughout England and Scotland we’ve come across and
remark on many of them. While on the train, they announced one of our
favorites: Kingussie. But, over the loud speakers, this came out as, “Can you
see (Kingussie) the next stop.”
Walked from Euston to St. Pancras Station and
purchased our tickets for the Eurostar, climbed on board the high speed train
and soon we were off to Paris. Traveling upwards of 300 kpm we arrived at the
entrance to the English Channel tunnel (the “Chunnel”) and after being given
security clearance moved in. The 30+ mile tunnel travels 225 feet below the
bottom of the English Channel. Laura was a little nervous about feeling
claustrophobic, but we were out the other side in no time and with no duress.
An afternoon snack on the Eurostar.
Another train ride of about two and a half
hours and we were at Paris Nord. We grabbed a taxi and went to our AirBnb flat,
discovering it is right across the street from the Louvre on the River Seine
with a view of the Eiffel Tower in the distance and Notre Dam just a half mile
down the river. The apartment is lovely
with just the right dose of funky. Our large, arched windows open out to the
Louvre. It was raining when we arrived and, after unpacking, decided to find
dinner.
I searched some restaurants nearby and we
grabbed our raincoats and umbrella and headed out to walk a few blocks. Got to
the first restaurant on my list but found out they were fully booked, so
retraced our steps to the second restaurant on my list about a block back to
see it was booked, too. So we ended up at a fairly empty (never a good sign)
restaurant solely because it offered fondue.
We ordered a cheese fondue for two and then
mains, and Laura and I think the waiter must have thought we were crazy. The
fondue came and we scarfed down bits of French bread (here, simply called
“bread”) with our mushrooms and melted cheese. Four small baked potatoes were
presented to us, which we never touched. Our mains arrived. Laura had a really
tasty cheese ravioli al forno and I had boeuf bourguignon. We couldn’t eat all
of any of it.
Laura was dizzy and not feeling well and we
went back to the apartment and I put her to bed before settling in with my iPad
for a bit and then turning in myself. We left the folding windows open to make
our room cooler, but there’s so much traffic along the Seine that with cars
honking, tires skidding on the wet cobblestones, and scooter motors revving I
thought we wouldn’t sleep well, but we both did.
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