Today we headed out of the apartment, which we have really enjoyed staying, to walk over to the Brussels Nord train station. We realized that since the Eurail pass was good, we did not need to use the metro system to get to Brussels Midi to catch the Eurostar train to London. This sounds so easy, and since there are so many trains that go from the Nord station to the Midi station, it would not be difficult to pick the time. Ok, sounds good, right? Well when you pick a train that is leaving in 5 minutes, you need to consider the time it takes to get to the platform. The first choice took about 6 minutes and we arrived to see the train pull out.
So we go to option two which gave us about 8 minutes to get to the next platform. We arrived with lots of time, but this time the train before ours was late and so the train we wanted was diverted to another platform so we missed that one too. Ok, option 3, about 5 minutes later was obtainable and that one we managed to get. Too many options can cause too much stress!
Then we had to go through secuity for Eurorail. Not a problem once we figured out where we had to go to do so. Once through security, we then had to clear British Customs. We actually had a cheerful chat with the security officier who wanted to know how we knew each other. When we told him we were married, then he actually was funny in a nice way. He waned to know why I retired so early, then he commented on the fact that I had picked someone so much younger than me to marry. I told him that was the plan, to marry young and retire early so he could continue to work and support me. He found that funny.
At any rate, the ride on the train from Brussels to London was not eventful. We did have to remember to turn the clocks back one hour.
When we arrived in London we had already planned how to get to our hotel. We had to get off the train, catch the metro to Paddington Station. Then locate the above ground train to Hayes/Harrington. We did great since we found an information center with the information we needed. We had researched and learned that there is a weekly tourist card which gives us unlimited metro/train usage for 5 zones for 47 pounds per week. The is less than 7 pounds per day each and is even a better deal than the oster card. In addition, since we purchased the pass at the train station, we are eligible for the 2 for one tickets are several London attractions, so by the end of the week we likely will save the cost of the ticket.
We arrived at the hotel and it is a small family run place that is more a lodge than a hotel. We had a great chat with the receptionist who is also the wife and it sounds like a great place to stay. The room is much smaller than the apartment we had but we are paying ½ the price too. Speaking of price, here is how it works and why we decided not to stay in downtown London to avoid the metro trips. Our cost here averages 45 pounds per night and the cost of the metro for us is about 14 pounds per day. This means our total cost is about 59 pounds per day. Staying anywhere in London core cost us more than 100 pounds per day, most around 120 pounds. The metro from the Haynes/Harrington station to Paddington Station is about 20 minutes and even with the walk form the hotel to the train station we are about 30 minutes time.
Once settled into the apartment we decided to walk around the ‘villiage’ of Haynes. This is a residential area and it has the quiet feeling you get for that. However, with about 15 minutes walk you are in the center of the commercial area of the village which has a really quaint and pleasant feeling. This is definitely a place where people live and is not a ‘tourist’ center which I suspect we will find downtown.
We finished our walk about by heading to the local pub for a drink and dinner. The one thing we both will miss from the apartment is cooking our own meals, but this pub has a good quality looking menu including Indian food, so we will have to see how things go this week.
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