Heading to London

I arrived at the station in Paris and went through the customs and immigration process. The immigration guy I faced wasn't overly difficult, but did press the matter a bit when I couldn't give him an exact time of departure (because I hadn't booked a ticket yet, since I had only decided the night before to go to London), or a place where I would be staying (because I had only decided the night before to go to London, and I don't generally have a lot of need to find a place before getting there), or a job that I was going back to. I was actually a bit worried that he would turn me down for a moment or two. But he passed me through. It is good to be a Canadian.

The crossing was uneventful. And boring, really. I didn't expect the whole Chunnel passage to be momentous, but I didn't expect it to be as much of a non-event as it turned out to be. We were just suddenly in the Chunnel. And then we were suddenly out again. And the countryside we passed through was not very attractive. But that was when it could be seen. A lot of the way there were big berms of earth that had been heaved up, presumably for some sort of safety reasons. The berms prevented any sight of the passing countryside, however. So it was all a bit boring. And it certainly didn't do much to make it feel like there was particular value in having bought the ticket. I could have flown for less, I would imagine. But I had passed under the English Channel and that is something I will always be able to say now.

In London, I quickly found a place to stay, a private room for about the same as I had paid for a dorm in Frankfurt and only a little more than my dorm (that ended up being a private room) in Paris. I think I could have found cheaper, but I hate running around doing that kind of thing, particularly if I have found something I can live with, if not exactly be happy about. The guy in the rooming house is nice though, so it's fine.

Then I headed off to get information about London and be able to find my way around. That done, I headed out for a look around. Again, I found that London, like Paris, is easy to walk around. Most of what I wanted to see and do would be within walking distance. And if I didn't want to walk any more, it would be cheap to take a train back to my rooming house.

I think I have to do my first looks around places more often in the night. Again like Paris, I found that London is really quite attractive at night.