On the 18th of December, we woke early (7am) jumped on a finicular, then a metro, then another metro, then a TGV to Paris heavily laden with bags and presents. After a 2 hour journey to Paris we arrived at Paris Gare de Lyon at 11am ish. The next connection was the 3pm Eurostar from Gare de Nord to London St Pancras, easy we though, we'll just jump on of the RER connection train between the stations. Easy peasy, just jump on the right train.....
Not so easy. Instead of being a straightforward glance at the departures board we quickly realised that this was no ordinary train. Oh no.
No destintions were on the board but names like ZYGL, ZYPE, XLOP, ZIPE, FLOK, FLAP, ZONX and so on..... We then had to cross refernce these names with another board to estabish the destinations of these strange underground creatures, which itself cross refenced with another board that clarified wether it was a short fast or a long slow train, then a quick return to the original board to see if they were in fact running.... PHEW.
Added to the fact the there were no toilets around and we were each carrying 30kg made us into slighly stressed bunnies.
But the fun wasn't over yet, after scaling the broken escalators we had to find the correct SET of platforms and once on those platforms make sure you were not only on the right side BUT also at the right end of the platform as they quite often had two trains on them!
Somehow we managed to get on the right train and 20 minutes later arrived at Gare de Nord slightly worse for wear, thirsty, hungry, a bit smelly and bursting for the toilet.
Kates only comment at this moment was a growled 'Next time we're taking a taxi.'
We then went for the most expensive toilet trip (€1.50! - I made sure I filled my pockets up with tissues for the journey, filled up the water bottles, quick face wash, good look in the mirror etc... I was getting my moneys worth!)
Gare de Nord is a lovely station and after a coffee the whole experience seemed slighly less traumatic and we took a few pictures of the station and Paris out the window, checked in and setteled down for a sandwich and waited for out Eurostar.
Gare du Nord, Paris
Shortly before the worst cup of coffee, but Kt's happy at her first view of Paris!
J practising his Welsh Rucksack Yoga, this postion is know as the Extended Chicken Saluting the Sun.
Not actually our train but it was remarkably similar to the one we did get on.... funny that.
St Pancreas (clearly St Pancras was just a spelling mistake when they built the sation? hehe)
The journey to London was great, it seemed to go realy fast too and we were soon alighting at London St Pancras and on our way to the final connection to Wellingborough. Back on British turf for the first time in 3 1/2 months didnt start toooo well (apart from the free toilets) when we discovered that out journey from Lyon-London was actually significantly cheaper than a 40 minute journey to Wellingborough. So we did what any good traveller would do and decided to wait for 2 hours when the tickes got cheaper and THEN continue our journey. Tickets bought, platform found (thankfully easier than Paris!) we settled in for 2 hours of people watching! Great!
14 hours after setting off that morning we pulled into Wellingborough station and we met by Paul (Kts dad) and Sue (J's mum), hugs later we were on the way to Blisworth for the unenviable task of unpacking (including the 10 bottles of wine, 3 sausages and cheeses we just couldnt leave behind...)
A loooong day but fantastic to be back home and with family, after a delcious mummy McGregor meal and a few glasses of wine it was clearly all worth it all! On a serious note, next time we're taking a taxi.
LONDON AND XMAS DAY
A few days before xmas we travelled with Sue down to London to stay with Jane and Tony (J's aunt and uncle) and of course their three fantastic children. We had a lovely stay and consumed a fair amount of wine over the three days. One of best moments of our stay was Tony microwaving the chestnuts without piercing them (not a pretty sight!). We walked and hired recumbant bikes in Dulwich park (great fun, photos below) went to the Tate modern and explored London, stopping at the Abosulte Ice bar for a quick vodka in fluffy jackets! It was time to head back to Blisworth far too soon and on the 23rd we hopped ont yet another train from Euston to MK to spend xmas at the McG's.
The microwave got Tonied
Spider outside the Tate modern
Absolut Ice Bar
Check out my fur
cool mama
cool dooode
CHRISTMAS DAY
Christmas day was lovely, the usual large amounts of chocolate were consumed before breakfast and presents we exchanged. Kate's largely consisted of thermals, slippers and other items of cloting designed for arctic adventures (including a pair of yetti socks) in an attempt to stop her freezing this winter (much appreciated!). J's included a high number of books and a chicken (from http://www.farmfriends.org.uk/), thermals and shoes! Happy bunnies all round!
Mummy McG cooked a lovely xmas dinner and after a quick trudge round the circuit we collapsed with full tummies, pens poised to make a list of items to order first thing boxing day to make the most of the sales!
Boxing day started with the usual manic ordering of sale clothes that would most likely be returned (the poor Next delivery man joked he'd seen more of us than his wife in the week after xmas...). We then went for a walk with a few family friends ending up in The George at Tiffield for some lovely dinner (http://www.information-britain.co.uk/showPlace.cfm?Place_ID=67542).
The next few days passed all too quickly and we were then heading to Wales for New Year in the Railway Inn in Abergynolwyn (another fantastic pub we know well who do great food too http://www.allpubs.co.uk/pub/44843). We spent a few days walking and enjoying the pub before heading back to Blisworth. A flying visit but great to spend some time back in Wales.
We travelled back to France on 7th Jan with even more bags than we left with, the only difference was this time we did take a taxi!
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