Saturday . London to Paris

 I was staying in the Barbican area of london, about half way between where the norfolk train came in, liverpool st and where the Eurostar left, St Pancras. I woke early, had some breakfast at a funny place next door to the hotel. I did not want any bread. There was nothing on the menu without bread. There was an egg and hash brown muffin. I asked for an egg and hash brown without the muffin. Not possible, I was told. I was hungry and ended up eating the muffin.

I walked to St Pancras, found somewhere to sit, waited and did a crossword. There are comments online about how crowded and unpleasant it is getting through the security at the eurostar station. None of those complainers have been through Dubai recently. It was OK. I sat next to a chatty englishman so the 2 1/2 hours passed quickly.

The metro to the station near where i had booked  was very crowded but I managed. But then things did not go to plan. The host was not there and didnot answer his phone.  I left a message and waited, and waited. After an hour I rang the AirBnb people. They tried to contact me, then the said they could not reach my phone. I was determined to stay calm and not let it all get to me.   I got a bed for the night  and then started looking for another place. Very surprisingly I found a place, not quite as nice as what I had booked. The owner responded quickly and hopefully she will be there at 2pm this afternoon. I am not getting excited till I have the key.  But yesterday evening I had lots going on at the same time. AirBnb said that they had returned the money of the first booking to a bank account whose last 4 numbers I didnot recognise, so i had to contact them, then paying for the new place, my card would not go through, so i tried an other  but forgot i had a $1000 limit on transactions, then when i sorted that out , the bank got in touch with me. Did you make this payment? I didnot know how much of the kerfuffle the new landlord could see and whether it would put her off. So hopefully all will be well soon. 

It is Sunday morning now. I had a good sleep, surprisingly. My little single room is in  the roof.  So I have to be careful where I stand or I hit my head on the slopey bit. It was lovely to open the curtains and hear church bells. I enjoyed my first coffee and croissant of Paris in a bakery with a few tables. 

Now I am catching up on photos and other things till I have to leave here at 12.