Brussels to London

Brussels to London

I have a bit of a dodgy internet connection tonight so I'm going to publish as I go, just in case it all falls over...

So I moved out of my very comfortable hotel (with a great Internet connection) and I literally walked  about 50 meters into the boarding lounge for the Eurostar. It was just as well that I had chosen this method of getting to England, because apparently England caught the end of that cyclone or big storm that hit the West Indies and they cancelled flights and my taxi driver in London told me they wold also cancel the boats on the English Channel.... not that there was much chance of me going that way anyway!

So the train trip was great. It left Brussels at about 10.55 and took around about 2 hours to get here to London. I have lost another hour now, so I am now 7 hours behind Perth and 9 hours behind Melbourne.

They provided a mini breakfast on the train- pity I couldn't eat most of it, but it was a nice thought...

Arrived safely in London-St Pancras station  and survived getting my luggage on my last train journey..

Here's St Pancras Station and my train when I arrived  in London

Had an interesting taxi ride - from St Pancras to Kensington cost me 35 quid. Couldn't believe it, but sadly a woman was killed in Knightsbridge when a tree fell on her and many of the roads around about were closed... If I had of known that I would've taken the tube, because my little unit is about 2 mins walk from Earls Court...


Have to say I was a little concerned about my unit after reading some very unfavourable write-ups on Trip Advisor. And that was compounded a little when I arrived here and nobody would open the door. It was freezing cold and I'm standing there with my cases thinking what do I do next, when fortunately the Polish cleaning lady with not a word of English let me in, so at least I was inside... Anyway she did some sign language to say she would ring someone, so after about10 mins the manager came along... She is a young girl from Hungary who at least had far better English than my Polish friend. Anyway, we got sorted an my apartment is just fine... Here's some pics..

It is very conveniently situated.. about 2 mins walk from Earls Court Station  where the trains are very frequent... One slight problem is that my window looks right out over that line and I can hear the trains rattling by every few minutes...!! if that's my only problem I think it will be OK. After all my Grandfather was a stationmaster and there are railways in my blood.

My apartment is quite warm and I'm sitting here in shirt sleeves as I write this. As I said before had a few Internet issues but hope they settle down. Had quite a few goes before it kicked in tonight - maybe its because everyone in the building is using it...  At One stage I was thinking.. " What will happen if there's no blog for tomorrow..???"

Anyway, once I got organised, I thought what will I do next, so I decided to go and try out the Tube and sort out my Oyster Card. I pick up my London  Pass tomorrow but needed a ticket for today. So thanks to John Thorne and Tia I got my Oyster Card up and running and have put 20 pounds on it.

So... where should I go... what is iconic London... has to be Big Ben... so I caught the direct train to Westminster

And here's what I saw...

Big Ben and Houses of  Parliament

Westminster Abbey

London Eye

On the way home I grabbed some shopping including a nice can of Fosters (doesn't taste the same as at home!), a bottle of Sav Blanc called Mandeville (bought it for my nieces, Nikki and Aimee who went to Mandeville Hall in Melbourne...!) and some vegies and chicken. Couldn't believe nearly all the chicken pieces and chooks said they were marinated in brown sugar!!! Why is this so...????

The only other thing was for me to do my washing. But I need some help from anyone out there who has a front loader...

Here's my machine

I don't know what I was doing wrong, but it just kept washing and washing.... It was going for 2 and a half hours. In the end I had to physically hold buttons and try and tell it to stop... Any advice from the readers gratefully accepted....

I only did my shirts, undies and socks in the first wash, but I wasn't game to put my jeans in in case it took that long again. There's a Laundromat across the road, so I might be tempted to whip over there...


So... can't believe I'm in London... everywhere you look there's something special or notable...

Have to work out the best use of the next 6 days when I have that Londond Pass which gets me into most things for free.... If this internet holds out a bit longer I might be able to do some research.

Weather was coolish today with showers... tomorrow promised to be ok but showers on Friday, so might have to try for something indoors on Friday...

As always, happy to be advised by those who know...

One last thing... I nearly kissed the ground when I went to the shops near the station and they had a "real" sandwich! Real brown bread and egg filling.... Yessssss...... My stomach is impressed already!