England Day 10 - Back to London!
We woke up somewhat early the next day to pack up and prepare for our last jump; our train back in to London. The rooks crowing outside our window was our first alarm; the cigarette smoke a much more unpleasant second. We tried the “American pancakes” this time at breakfast, which were rather strange…more like fried dough than pancakes as we know them, and I’m sure all kinds of unhealthy. Found out five minutes before 10 that checkout was 10am on weekdays, not the 11am we thought it was! Oops. Still, we managed to get downstairs somewhat on time, and the receptionist was lovely and let us hold our bags in their conference room while we wasted time until our train at 3pm.
We found more shopping meccas in Bath this go, coming back with a pair of earrings for Alana by the same designer as my necklace, some euro-size pillow shams (best deal ever! These are so hard to find in the states, and cost $30+ when you DO find them. Here they were on sale for 11 and 9 GBP), and I finally splurged and got that purple skirt I’d been eyeing in the Monsoon in Edinburgh. I have nothing to go with it, but sigh, so pretty! We tried to hang out as much as possible in those few shops which were air-conditioned, as the temperature was again skyrocketing. Lunchtime arrived and our only requirement was that the establishment be air-conditioned. All Bar One fit the bill nicely.
I think that this was one of my nicest meals on the entire trip; certainly the most cost-effective. I had the sirloin steak sandwich on a baguette with caramelized onions (6GBP!), and it was beyond delicious. The atmosphere was nice (we didn’t realize until later that this was a chain), and the non-smoking rule a huge plus. To draw out the experience as long as possible before we re-entered the heat, we ordered a slice of lemon cake for dessert, which actually turned out to be much denser than we’d anticipated.
A little more wandering and we came back to our hotel just in time for the pre-booked cab, who took us to Bath Spa Station. Found out that there was no lift, so we each grabbed onto our suitcase, grit our teeth, and started dragging it up a long flight of stairs. Apparently the thump-thump-thump sound of 20kg of luggage hitting each step is not an unknown sensation at the train station, as two train employees came to our rescue and helped us carry them up the rest of the stairs (the one fellow managed to carry mine in one hand and my sister’s in the other…I have no idea how! Had I not seen it with my own eyes I wouldn’t have thought it was humanly possible). We were early for our train, but when one came into the station bound for London Paddington the same train employees told us that we should get on, so we did. When it pulled away from the station half an hour earlier than what was on our tickets, I knew something was not quite right. Yes, we got onto the wrong train ~_~. Thankfully it was going to the same place, and we managed to get seats for the entire journey.
My pooh luggage caused quite a stir with some guys (I joked that it was disgustingly cute, which it is ;)), but those same guys got up so that we’d have somewhere to stow our said heavy luggage. Thank you, whoever you are!!
Since we were on the wrong train our reserved seats of course didn’t exist, but one fellow (who worked for the BBC) got up so that we could sit together. Thanks to him as well!
The rest of the trip passed in relative quiet. The scenery was less interesting than it had been out to Edinburgh (either that or we’re immune to it now), so we mostly just sat and whiled away the hour and a half. This train was run by First Great Western, and the train was definitely older and not as plush as GNER. It was perfectly serviceable, just showing its age a bit.
At Paddington we waited a bit to get off to let the crowds thin, then grit our teeth, grabbed our luggage, and power-walked out of the station. Never do things seem as far away as they do when you’re lugging something behind you! We were very grateful when the Metropole came into view.
Check-in was a cinch; we were put into room 779 this time, which seems more spacious than our room on the 9th floor did. And truth be told, next to the Carfax it seemed absolutely palatial! I think that boutique hotels work for a lot of people, but we are very needing of our comforts. We like things like standardized bathroom facilities, and air conditioning, and hotel shops for things we’ve forgotten, etc. We lay out underneath the air conditioning and just soaked it in. I took a shower and felt a million times better after it, just very rejuvenated after our rather long day. We ordered a pizza at the downstairs Fiamma restaurant and had a leisurely evening checking email and the weather for the next few days.
Unfortunately there was a mixup with the balloon flight over Leeds tour; though we had definitely told them we’d be rescheduling, they had actually cancelled the tour altogether and refunded our money. And now they’re booked out at least two weeks, which belies what we were told last week when we asked about getting a new day. Sigh! I’m very disappointed that we won’t be able to do it.