Quickie in London

note: texts in bold are clickable

Get your mind out of the gutter! That's not what I meant :P.

I have mentioned here   that we went to London to watch Miss Saigon. Miss Saigon had been gone for a while but now they're back but they're only shown in London and I really want to see that show.

I have always wanted to try taking the Eurostar (or any European train) to see the countryside and just to experience it. It doesn't matter where it would take me, I just want to try it (i love trains). The hubby, on the other hand, had always wanted to try the French trains (they make good and fast trains) and he wants to experience taking a train into the English Channel Tunnel, so there you go, a perfect excuse.

the eurostar

The hubby booked the Standard Premier. it's between Economy and Business Class. I'm OK with just Standard (Economy) because it will just be a short ride anyway, but the hubby wants the comfy seat and better  food and better service.

not the eurostar but the inside of one of paris' metro trains

So on our 3rd day in Paris we took the Metro to Gare Du Nord  and took the 11:43 AM Eurostar train from Paris Nord to London St-Pancras.

Gare Du Nord International Train Station

The hubby was reading about it and based on what he have read so far, the Eurostar runs 186 miles per hour, but slows down to 100 miles per hour when going through the English Channel Tunnel. It's almost 300 miles from Paris to London which is almost the same distance from Philadelphia to Boston (or almost the same distance from Manila to Ilocos Norte). Which means, if you drive, it would take you at least 5 hours but in the case of Eurostar, it only took 2 hours and 15 minutes! Isn't that impressive?!

a video while inside the eurostar

When we got to the Gare Du Nord station, the first thing we did is look for our train, then we checked-in and went through immigration. Yes, it's pretty much like at the airport. When we got inside the train the first thing I noticed is racks of magazine, I did grab a couple to take to my seat.

inside the eurostar & ignoring my nook because the sceneries outside is better

The hubby chose the seat. Like on planes, you can also choose your seats on Eurostar. The hubby chose the 2 seats facing each other so there won't be anyone else sitting right next to us.

i got the cheese platter and a small bottle of rosé and the hubby had
some sort of couscous and small bottle of red wine...

It was a very enjoyable trip coming to London and back in Paris. I want to do this European train thing again, maybe  somewhere farther, and maybe book a bunk bed, mmm, dream, dream...

Anyway, back to the London trip story. This was our second time in London, the first one was back in December 2010. We stayed there for 3 days prior our 16 days first European tour. It was raining in London when we got there but our hotel is just walking distance from the train station (Picadilly)  so it wasn't that bad. We stayed at the theatre district, very close to where Miss Saigon is showing (Prince Edward Theatre, about 3-5 minutes walk). When we got to our hotel, it was almost 2 PM already and we got lucky and got upgraded. They gave us their most deluxe room. Too bad we're only staying for a night so we only got to enjoy the room for 2 days and 1 night but we're still thankful.

After we checked in we hopped on a tube to go to the London Tower. We weren't able to see it the first time we were there plus I really want to have a picture of me at the London Tower bridge.

The rain was still on and off but we were indoors anyway so it really didn't bother us a lot. We went to different rooms/buildings inside the Tower of London but the highlight for me is the "Crown Jewels". If you are in a hurry and you're in Tower of London. I suggest you at least see the Crown Jewels, it's very mesmerizing specially if you're a girly girl like me. Be warned though that the line could get very long but it moves fast.

getting in line for the "Crown Jewels" at the Tower of London

i laughed at these signs on street crossings...but
it's very helpful though... i remember  how I almost always
got run over at Macau because I was looking
at the wrong side when crossing, lol

We also went to see the Big Ben again because I don't remember having my photo taken next to it (or infront of it) during our first trip in London. It was still raining though, so the pictures I have aren't worth sharing.

The Miss Saigon starts at 7:30 PM so we made sure we get back to our hotel in time to change and to find the place. It was  pouring when we got out of our hotel and we got lost but thanks to the Waze app we found the Prince Edward Theatre but we got there a mere 5 minutes before it starts.

The show is fantastic! I cried a few times while watching it. It was a sad story but it was very good and I am so proud of the Filipino actors on stage (ie: The Engineer, Kim, Gigi). If they show this in New York, I will watch this again.

the casts

my travel gnome and the playbill

The next day we checked-out early because I wanted to go to Harrods to find the luggage that is only sold in the UK. Unfortunately, I didn't find the luggage but we did have enough time to go to King's Cross so I could line up for my Platform 9 3/4 photo. Yes, Harry Potter fans, it's true, they have it at King's Cross. Being the Harry Potter fan that I am, of course I won't skip that opportunity.

It's nice that they actually embraced this Harry Potter scene in London and made a tourist (and harry potter fans) spot out of it. I would love to see 221B Baker Street  (fictional detective Sherlock Holmes address) next when we get the chance to visit London again .

i'm late for my hogwarts train!
(they make you choose the scarf  for the photo...
i chose gryffindor's, the hubby has slytherin's)

After the photo opp, we went to see the Harry Potter store right next to it. It was nothing spectacular. If you've been to "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" in Orlando, Florida, you wouldn't appreciate this store. So after that very quick tour of the very tiny Harry Potter store (appropriately named, platform 9 3/4), we back tracked our steps to the St. Pancras station (it's under the same roof) to catch our 13:31 PM London to Paris train. We got back in Paris around 17:00 PM. Please note that London time is 1 hour behind Paris time.

We hope to visit London again soon and watch the Wimbledon (crosses fingers, toes, eyes!).