It was time to say goodbye to France and head north. Our Nice train departed at 7 AM towards Marseilles. This gave us extra time for our 12:10 train to London. Our Uber was bang on time and I was astonished how how hot it was just walking to the station for 7 AM. We were heading out in the nic of time. Arriving at Marseilles was a little earlier than what the station personal could handle. As we were leaving the EU, we had to do typical security and visa clearance. They would not process us until about 1 hour before the departure. We had learned that KT wound up in a pickle trying to get to London herself. They suggest arriving a few hours ahead to compensate for lineups. She actually did not show up in time and missed her train to London as a result. They were very kind to her and did not charge her the full price for a different train. We wanted to avoid that situation hence arriving so early. Perhaps our station, Marseilles was not as busy as her Paris station. Either way we relaxed waiting for the queue and jumped in before if formed too big.
Piled into a secure area our train was a little later but no big deal. We were soon on our 7 hour train to London. Lots of time to relax and blog. Normally I head off to the car that serves food and coffee a few times for a snack. It's actually kind of fun walking through up to 8 cars. Walking back with drinks is kinda hard though as sometimes you don't get a lid. I almost wiped out a few times. For this journey an young man came by carrying an entire kitchen on his back. It was hist first day on the job and I wanted to support him. He had everything. Hot Water/Coffee/Tea/Croisants/Snacks/Powerbanks all strapped to a custom backback front and back. It looked really heavy and awkward to pulls things out and make them. Dealing with change and a debit machine was equally difficult. All while balancing on a fast moving train. Man I hope he got paid well or tipped well.
Going under the English Channel was kinda cool. The security fences in the area were pretty significant. The tunnels was quite long and although its gentle and fast, I can't stop and think about the water above. Popping out on the other side we began to see the landscape change into the beautiful UK. The London train station was massive and very very well organized. Our Airbnb was about 50 minutes away by Uber https://goo.gl/maps/GCx7RgeA9BFUAwA9A Our Uber driver was super nice and an hour of talking was great to get a feel for the place. Our host Tony was amazing https://www.airbnb.ca/rooms/4299866 His is very much a gadget guy. The door was automatic and it's lock was coordinated with a phone app. I even went through the hoops to allow opening it from my phone. He's tied the door camera with a dog barking sound too. Once inside the place is jammed with LED strip lighting and Amazon echo's. It was wild. Out room was cool but a little over lit with lights. It took a while to find the right plugs to disengage the lighting and Echo noise but eventually we were able to settle in for a rest after a long travel day.
It was nice to not need to shop all that much as now we were switching to Keto. Good fats, oils, cheese, meats was all that was needed. We soon discovered the awesome London bus system. Our first bus was mostly empty offering us a ride in the upper deck. It's pretty cool up there. The trees are almost hitting the bus as you drive down the road. I could drive around the city the entire day. Getting our reserved seats to Edinburgh was a priority as I could not find a way to do it online. The train station counter was not all that full and a helpful clerk made the tickets super simple. I was surprised there was no charge as well. That was a nice surprise. The stations scheduling panel is gigantic. It's so well organised and easy to figure out. The station also has a very reasonably prices convenience store with way more stuff than you would expect. With our tickets in hand we relaxed in the sun eating some healthy yummies and planned our day.
We only had 2 days to explore so we immediately booked a Walk On/Off bus type tour. The tour bus got us from the Train station to within walking distance of the London Bridge. From there we walked quite a bit to get a feel for the structure. After re boarding the bus we traveled to the stop nearest the Queen's house. One of the tour guides (Kiwi Ian) was openly stating he is walking off the bus to return home and passing by Buckingham Palace. I thought I saw a blind cane in his hand and immediately though we should join him to both assist and talk. It turned out it was actually a tour guide flag or marker. He also indicated it's common for tour guides when departing the bus to encourage walkers so they can talk, show and possibly sell other tours. As we had Ian all to ourselves, he gave us a great personalized tour of St James's Park park and dropped us off at Buckingham Palace. We just had to take a photo of him and ensure we got his Trip Adviser credentials for a review.
I was kinda pooped and we saw a park with nice chairs to sit upon. We used the space to relax and eat a few snacks. It was not too long before a collection person came buy expecting payment for the rental chairs we were in. 1.80 Pounds per chair per hour. Jesus. Beside this park is the Duck Island Cottage. An interesting story behind that place. http://www.londongardenstrust.org/features/dicframe.htm
We had just enough time for 1 more day of touring. Michelle went to a LGBQ thing. I went to the Science Museum. The Museums in London are amazing and free. https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/ What a city
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