Adventures in Europe, Day 22: Greenwich - London - Paris
Om nom nom pancakes! While Sólrún worked this morning, I hopped on the bus to Surrey Quays shopping center and bought us some baking soda for pancake-making. The pancakes turned out slightly eggy, as I had no measuring cups and had to guesstimate my cups and teaspoons, but otherwise quite delicious, and we enjoyed a very square late breakfast around lunchtime. The early afternoon was consumed entirely by packing and furthering my apartment hunt in Berlin, and by about 3:30 it was time for me to leave, luggage in hand and on back, and go to meet Alda at King's Cross. I ended up being a bit early and she a bit late, so I had some more time to read. (I haven't read as much or as regularly for pleasure for years as I have this past month - it's great!)
The photoshoot went really well. We got some shots on the platforms at King's Cross - sadly not 9 3/4, but you can't have everything - and several more outside the building. At about 6 o'clock, I felt it was time for me to go check in for my Eurostar. Check-in went quite smoothly, or so I thought, and I had plenty of time to spare...or so I thought, so I went and grabbed myself a sandwich at Caffé Nero and sat down to have a bite. Of course, things couldn't go perfectly smoothly - turns out the guy at check-in had put me on the 6:30 train instead of the 7:00 train that I had originally been booked on, and not told me. Of course, I couldn't board the 7:00 train without a seat booked on it, and I certainly couldn't board the 6:30 train which was already halfway to Dover, so I had to go to a service desk along with about 5 other people who had the same problem and get my ticket changed. Fortunately an extremely competent Frenchwoman made some phone calls and got everything sorted out in about five minutes, and from then on, everything went smoothly.
Sigurjón met me at the station, and we headed back to his apartment. He lives in a small but cozy one-room pad in the outskirts of the 18th Arrondissement, about twice the size of Sólrún's broom closet-sized room. Space is very cleverly used in the apartment - the shower, for instance, is located in the kitchen. We spent a couple of hours catching up and laying plans for the week. Since he practices his clarinet at home, we agreed that I would go downtown in the late morning/early afternoon, leaving him the space he needs to work, and then we would meet up in the evenings to cook dinner, go to museums, and whatnot. Seems like a good system to me...but now, time for some sleep!
The photoshoot went really well. We got some shots on the platforms at King's Cross - sadly not 9 3/4, but you can't have everything - and several more outside the building. At about 6 o'clock, I felt it was time for me to go check in for my Eurostar. Check-in went quite smoothly, or so I thought, and I had plenty of time to spare...or so I thought, so I went and grabbed myself a sandwich at Caffé Nero and sat down to have a bite. Of course, things couldn't go perfectly smoothly - turns out the guy at check-in had put me on the 6:30 train instead of the 7:00 train that I had originally been booked on, and not told me. Of course, I couldn't board the 7:00 train without a seat booked on it, and I certainly couldn't board the 6:30 train which was already halfway to Dover, so I had to go to a service desk along with about 5 other people who had the same problem and get my ticket changed. Fortunately an extremely competent Frenchwoman made some phone calls and got everything sorted out in about five minutes, and from then on, everything went smoothly.
Sigurjón met me at the station, and we headed back to his apartment. He lives in a small but cozy one-room pad in the outskirts of the 18th Arrondissement, about twice the size of Sólrún's broom closet-sized room. Space is very cleverly used in the apartment - the shower, for instance, is located in the kitchen. We spent a couple of hours catching up and laying plans for the week. Since he practices his clarinet at home, we agreed that I would go downtown in the late morning/early afternoon, leaving him the space he needs to work, and then we would meet up in the evenings to cook dinner, go to museums, and whatnot. Seems like a good system to me...but now, time for some sleep!