Wings: Monday/Tuesday Paris to London!

The morning of our flight to London we went out searching for a couple of last souvenirs, and to see just a little more of the city before we left. From our hotel window we could see the tops of a beautiful church and so we decided to head that direction to find it. We figured that there would be souvenir shops around there. After weaving our way through the streets a bit, and asking directions from a lady in a pastry shop we found our way up a very long and steep flight of stairs to the back of the church. As we came around the front there was an amazing view of Paris. We were looking at the opposite side from where the Eiffel Tower and the famous landmarks were, but it was great all the same!

The name of the church was Sacre Couer which means "Sacred Heart". We were right and there was a lot of vendors and people selling trinkets. We were especially impressed by one man who was disabled and in a wheelchair and rather than begging for money he had found a skill. He was making cute little key chain animals with a wire frame for the body shape and pipe cleaners to cover the frame and make it cute. He was asking a fair price of 2euros and we decided that would be a great gift for Riley! Anyway, we went into the church and it was beautiful inside! All of these old churches are just amazing with their stained glass windows, high ceilings and massive arches. SO cool!

We wandered, shopped and headed back to get our luggage and head to the airport. Not knowing how long it would take to get to the airport, and because we knew that after 4 the metro would be packed we headed over early. We ended up waiting in the airport for about 7 hours before our flight finally left! It was long, but given the location of our hotel and not wanting to haul our luggage around town we felt it was the best option. At least we weren't in a hurry to catch our flight!

On our walk from the curch to the hotel to get our bags we passed some fun stores! ~~Too Bad~~ Good thing our space was limited! Really cool stuff!

The view in the airport terminal..passing time taking pictures :)

They had funky lights! All one piece, can't figure out how you change the bulbs in these!

We did have these very stylish and rather comfortable chairs to sit in while we waited!

The flight was short, only about 50 min and we were in London! The border check was a joke and it was late. After finally getting through, finding our bags , and exchanging our 110euros for only 68 pounds we headed out to find our hostel. We took a train to get to a closer location, and then were told our best bet from there was a taxi. We were starving, but there wasn't anything open as it was about 12:30. We were dropped at our Hostel and as I looked in the large window in the front I took a deep breath and knowing this was our only option for tonight went in with a smile. There was a large common area with pool tables, couches and tables. There were about 10-15 twenty-ish people drinking, playing pool and "enjoying each other's company" on the couches. We checked in at the front desk, they were friendly and warm, but we felt a little like fish out of water. We got in our room which was about 10ft square with two sets of beds stacked 3 high. There was barely enough room for our suitcases and us on the floor. We agreed that we were not feeling like this was a great place to stay and immediately decided to look online to see if we could find another option. By now I was so hungry my stomach was hurting, we were both exhausted and decided to get some sleep and decide what to do in the morning.
Ashley fell right to sleep, I laid awake, prayed and worried while I listened to the party outside the door. FInally sleep came and morning just after it, it seemed. We decided to brave the free breakfast. We found a smattering of loves of bread in the kitchen in their bags, a toaster, a rack of semi-cleaned dishes, milk and cereal. There were empty butter containers, as well as 3 empty jars of jam. It was free. Plain toast for Ashley and cereal for me was enough to get us through the morning. We decided to head out and maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe we could just stay there for a few days. As we left the hostel and headed in the direction we thought we could find busses it was clear that we weren't in the best part of town. There was a park, with high fences and barbed wire around it. We were trying to figure out if it was to keep the kids in, or to keep others out. Eventually we found our way out of that area and to the bus station where we were able to get a bus card (the Oyster card) and we found the bus to get to the area of where we wanted to go. Somehow we ended up at a main train/bus station which is a main hub in the area, and there was a booth for local hotels. We decided to ask advice on our hotel situation and to make a long story a little shorter we were able to transfer to a hotel right in the heart of all of where we wanted to be and close to the main station. As we walked to our new hotel and passed nice cars, homes and businesses with cute planter boxes outside and a big beautiful park across the street from our hotel with no barbed wire or graffiti to be found we felt sooooo much better about our situation! What a blessing to have found a better place to stay!

We still had time to explore so we headed back to the train station to see what we could find and see the sights. We bought a hop on and off bus tour pass and rode the whole route and saw from the buss all the sights. It was a LONG route! It took us about 2 hours to ride the whole thing, but it was great! A short walk back to our hotel and it was time for bed! The only downside of our hotel here is that we don't have wifi. No blog updates and not much time to check emails or facebook. Straight to bed for us!