On Friday, September 26th we woke up very early. We had an 8:30 a.m. Eurostar train to catch. Why wake up so early? We were already mostly packed, so it wouldn't take an extraordinarily long time to get going. I'm sure Jim would have loved to sleep later, but I always worry about being late. We had to walk to the overground train station at Blackfriars, then wait for the train. I didn't know how long that would be. We ended up getting to the St. Pancras (Eurostar) station at about 7:30. It was too early to check in, so we went to eat breakfast. When we went back to go through security we caught up with Sarah & Dave. After security came Immigration, then we had to wait to board the train. Finally it was time. We were in Coach 18, the very last car on the train. I thought maybe we had to walk to Paris, it seemed so far. Okay, that is a slight exaggeration. Then we were off! It's only a 2:15 minute train ride from London - Paris. There is an hour time difference between them, so we were scheduled to arrive in Paris at 11:47. We had plans to meet up with some people for lunch before driving to Normandy. Sarah and Dave decided to take the train to Normandy and meet us there. Everything was going fine. As we got into the Paris suburbs the train started slowing down. Slower, then slower...the next thing I knew we were stopped. What the heck was going on? Well, apparently there was a bomb scare at Gare du Nord, the station we were going to. We ended up sitting there for about 30 minutes, until it got resolved. Then we were on our way again. While we were sitting there I texted Darcy to let her know we were running late. I wasn't sure if waiting for us would cut into her afternoon plans. She said they would wait, and she and Pam caught up with me at the car rental office. After the car paperwork was completed we had had to leave the station and walk around the corner to a parking garage where the car was waiting for us. The garage was dark and the car was dirty. It was hard to determine if there was any damage. We did the best we could, stashed everyone's luggage, then went back up to the train station area. Sarah and Dave took off to find their bus to take them to Gare St. Lazare, and Jim, Darcy, Pam and I went in search of somewhere nearby to eat.
I met Darcy through the Rick Steves travel forum. She lives in Idaho, but came to Sacramento a few years ago. When she was in town Eileen and I had a VERY long lunch with her. She is very sweet and was very supportive when I was going through a difficult time. Darcy met Pam through the travel meetings they have in Idaho. It was nice seeing them both. We were having such a nice time talking with them that it was hard to tear ourselves away. My plan had been to leave Paris at 2:30 to make our 3 hour drive to Bayeux. We ended up driving away at 3:00. Who knew that it would take us an hour just to get out of Paris, because of the traffic. I guess Friday traffic is bad everywhere. It took us 4 hours to get to our hotel in Bayeux. Check-in had to be before 7:00 p.m., so Sarah and Dave got our key for us. Phew! I was worried about that! We are staying at La Tour Louise Guesthouse. It's 200 years old. Our room was fine and we have an incredible view from our bathroom! Check it out below. We took our bags to our rooms and then we set off to find a place to get some dinner. That took awhile, and meals are never fast in France. We got back to our room after 10:00 and crashed!
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