January 5th

On the morning of the 5th we took our time getting around, knowing we would be packing up and leaving. The front desk of our hotel was very accommodating when we asked if we could leave our luggage there and come back for it later in the day. We packed up our things, got dressed up and checked out to make our way to our reservation at the Ritz for tea. This was something I had looked forward to for a long time and it did not disappoint! Upon arrival we were directed to the cloakroom (I accidentally went down into the ladies room, which was opulent and extravagant and beautiful) to drop off our things. We then were seated facing a beautiful fountain on a two-person settee. We were greeted very quickly and asked if we wanted regular tea or anything else. Our tea arrived quickly along with tea sandwiches and small pastries or desserts. We were told our scones would arrive soon. The table was beautifully set with jam and clotted cream, tea cups and saucers, an afternoon tea menu and of course the silver teapot. We enjoyed visiting and trying the various snacks in front of us, snuck a few pictures that we'll share later, and listened to the pianist play various songs, some of which we recognized. The staff were very kind and offered seconds of anything we wished, and replenished our tea and hot water. It was a delightful experience. After some time (several others who were seated at the same time were starting to leave) we asked for our check and I asked if I could keep the afternoon tea menu as a souvenir. We made a quick stop at the reservation desk where they keep gift items and I got a small book on afternoon tea that includes recipes of things we had. I enjoyed it all so much!

Next we were on our way to see St. Paul's Cathedral, but made a wrong exit and came out at South Kensington instead. Across the street from the tube station there was a beautiful flower shop with flowers displayed along the street. We went across and took pictures of the flowers and then went inside to pick some out. Eric got me a small bouquet to carry around with me. They were beautiful roses, in our wedding colors. After that we went back down the tube and headed off to St. Paul's Cathedral. By this point I was feeling very spoiled. :)

We arrived at St. Paul's with no trouble. It was snowing lightly again when we made our way in. It was not a great day to be dressed up. The inside was gorgeous, however we weren't allowed to take photos. We were able to climb the 257 steps to the galleries which circled the center of the dome. It was beautiful from above. From there we climbed another 119 stairs to reach the Stone gallery, which offered beautiful views of the city. It was very windy from the top, but we managed to snap a few photos before we made the decent. This of course would be the only day I had heels on from our tea reservation. It was great nonetheless.

On our way back to the tube we stopped to have a snack at a little cafe. We split a panini sandwich and a coke and then headed back to the tube. From here we travelled back to our hotel, where our luggage was being stowed. We had set aside clothing to change into before we departed for France. We changed quickly and then made our way to St. Pancras station to catch the Eurostar to Paris. The station was very big and a bit confusing but we made it with a little time to spare. The Eurostar train was very nice and comfortable. Unfortunately we couldn't see anything out our windows because it was so dark. The little bit we could see revealed snow and the occassional light. We didn't really end up having dinner. We snacked on crackers, beef jerky, pringles and water.

We arrived in Paris around 9:45pm local time. The station, usually portrayed beautifully in pictures, was eerie and creepy. It was very dark and there were very few people around. Those who were there were clustered around glowing heaters they had set out near arrival. We made our way to a ticket (billet) machine to get the tickets we would need into town to our hotel. The machines would not read our credit cards and we did not have euros at this point. After some time of trying different machines and different cards we found an exchange counter to exchange money into euros. I'm glad they were there because many of the ticket counters were empty. This allowed us to buy tickets from the machine with euro coins and venture into our leg of the station. After one leg we had to switch lines. When we found where we were supposed to be and tried to go through our tickets were invalid. Apparently they only worked for one use. We made our way back up several flights of stairs and down others and found a lady at a ticket booth who helped us. We made the necessary purchase and got on the correct train. We were very cold, tired and ready to be at our hotel by this point. When we submerged from our last metro station we were happy to see our hotel right across the street. Just a quick note about the metro. If it had not been for seeing the metro in day-light today I would not have gotten back on after our first experience. The stations were very poorly lit, dirty, with both litter and mud and water and the scent of urine around. There was a great deal of graffitti on everything. Not just on the outside of the vehicles either. At one point we saw a police officer taking a muzzled police dog somewhere. It all made me a little uneasy. One neat thing that I saw when we were changing lines was a priest kneeling with a homeless man, giving him food and talking with him.

We checked in and the front desk clerk was very helpful and spoke English well. He asked for our passports to make copies, which I found odd since that has never happened to us before. He asked us to sit down while he did so. He returned them and then gave us a map of the city. He circled an area and told us not to go there after 6:00pm. He said go anywhere else 24 hours a day, but not there. I'm not crazy about being out when it becomes dark anyway, so that was fine with me. After that we made our way up to our room in the photo-booth sized lift.

Our room is very small but the bed is comfortable and the bathroom is generously sized compared to the rest of the room. We have a window that opens into a center courtyard. Mostly you see the outer walls of other hotels. There is an odor of mildew though. When taking photos of the room (we'll later report everything on TripAdvisor for other travellers), I discovered some mildew around the window. It looks as if someone left the window open and it rained inside or something. Our shower pressure is great and we had plenty of hot water this morning, which was a great way to start off the day. We also have a mini-frig that we did not have at our last hotel, which is a welcome addition. We also have free wi-fi, which is great!

Well I think that is a good run-down of yesterday. We'll post about today later. Love you all!

P.S. This is my best french phrase: Je ne parle pas francais. Parlez vous Anglais? (I don't speak french. Do you speak English?). That and I use please and thank you in french as generously as I can!