We Take Ourselves With Us

We got up at 3:30 am, yes AM, to catch our 5:40 am Eurostar to Paris.  The streets of London were dark and empty, as was St. Pancras when we arrived.  The only other folks there were clearly on the same train, but they had obviously gotten there even earlier and staged a zombie-like takeover of the Starbucks (the only place open in the station).  Truly, they were sleeping, heads down, blankets on, on tables in an empty, modern-y, glass-y train station in one of the world's busiest cities.  It was like a scene from Contagion.  So, of course, my children mocked them. This tree is lovely ... and huge ... and it also gives a sense of how empty this vast train station was. Traveling by Eurostar was awesome!  I wish plane travel worked this easily and was this civilized.  We had our massive Starbucks cups and bag-o-breakfast and (wait for it) took them through security !  Seriously, they even had cup holders so that the drinks wouldn'...

I mentioned we decided to stay in a flat in London.  It was a great decision!  We were able to set up base in a real neighborhood, which let us pretend we were living in London for a week: going to the shops, having favorite stops, watching the neighbors in the morning while making breakfast, sitting at our little dining table watching tv, even doing some laundry.  The location in Kensington was amazing, and it was about a quarter less than we would have spent in a hotel.  We loved it :)  Here's my kitchen window view. On our last day in London, we left our flat for Hogwarts, grabbing provisions for the short train ride to Watford Junction. Seriously, can you imagine that the train station for Harry Potter Studios in an American city would look like this?  Or that you'd be directed to a public bus shelter to wait for the "cash only" bus from this glamorous depot to the studio that held every single Harry Potter movie prop ever?...