28-Mar-2023
Day 38. Cold in Lille this morning. A chilly walk to the station.
A last sneak peak through a window of the Opera House
Lille's other station
And the less traditional Lille Europe. As the Man in Seat 61 points out, this could well be the continent's draughtiest station...
There's a bit more kerfuffle with the Eurostar than you get with other trains. You have to do two lots of border control (out of the Schengen area and into Britain); and you have to have your baggage Xrayed. So you're advised to turn up 45-60 minutes ahead of time. And the train comes from Brussels. So you can't board at your leisure, as it were.
But hey, it was there, which -- given our worries of recent days -- it might not have been, and it was punctual. It was full, true, but everyone has reserved seats, so that's not a problem, especially as the Eurostar gives you a decent amount of space. And the journey takes just 1.5 hours.
France through the window
The Eurotunnel Terminal on the British side
So that was our 15th train (if you don't count the side trip to Trnava).
And it was our last train -- or at least our last major, distance-devouring train. Which is kind of sad...
Also slightly dampening was the fact that the weather in London today was that dreaded combination: cold, windy, AND rainy.
Cheering us up massively, on the other hand, was a lovely, last-minute-organized brunch with a friend we've not seen for a long time. It was really good to catch up with her, and also very pleasant to have some of the good old classic English breakfast fare. Even before we ordered, the chef at Bell and Viv, having heard that we'd just arrived from overseas, speculated that someone would be bound to want Eggs Benedict, and made lots of hollandaise sauce. I did indeed want Eggs Benedict, and appreciated the generous topping.
Yummy heaps of hollandaise
Nigel's big brekkie
We're staying at the Hyde Park Executive Apartments, which are in the area where we always seem to end up staying when we pass through London, but which, unlike our previous digs, give us basic self-catering possibilities.
We're right up at the top of the house. This would have been the maids' floor, I guess, back in the day.
Porticos!
The row opposite
The rather grand stairway linking the lower floors
The pigeons like our window ledge
We donned our waterproofs for a walk round Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park:
And then we shopped for tea. Welsh goat's cheese and Stilton were the star turns, but the raspberries were pretty good too...
Ah yes, it's nice to be back.