Back home now

After an uneventful flight home, we landed in Johannesburg at 7am on Friday 31st.

I have now combined all the tracks from the GPS and looked back on how far we travelled.

The total distance covered by car was 5525 km (3453 miles) which was driven in 23 days.   That makes an average of 240 km per day.  The total time spent driving was 186 hours (8 hours per day), which makes our average speed just 30 km per hour.

The map below shows the routes we travelled (the bright coloured lines).

Day 35 - Our Last Day (and packing for our flight tonight)

After a great breakfast, we catch a bus to Heathrow Terminal 5 to find a chemist for some cold and flu medicine... (yes... Paul is sick again...) and to cash in our lotto winnings before we leave.  We try to get our VAT refund before the afternoon rush, but are told we can't get it this early in the day (11 am)..  we need to come back after 2 pm...  Damn!   I really fail to see what difference a couple of hours make...

Bus transport is free around Heathrow, so it costs nothing to travel in the free zone.

Just watching the planes from our hotel window...

Our chauffeur transfer is within the hour now, and our flight is at 6 pm...

...so goodbye from London!!!

Day 34 - EuroStar to London

After the best nights' sleep of the holiday, we take a leisurely breakfast at the Jardin de Cluny Hotel and then get our things together and await our taxi pickup for our short trip up to Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar back to London.  We take a last look out of our hotel rooftop window...

The French side of the Eurostar seems very disorganised in comparison to the British side.. (just like the traffic in Paris.. LOL!)

We settle down and await the departure and then enjoy an uneventful trip to St Pancras Station.

Then it's on to the Piccadilly Line for a trip to Heathrow and then onto the Hotel Hoppa Bus for the short trip to the Arora Hotel.

We check in, retrieve our stored luggage and get ready for dinner at the hotel restaurant.

We are so tired we go to bed straight after dinner.

Day 33 - 28th October - Paris

Well, so much for the weather being sunny and warm again today!  We have had the most freezing day, snuggled up warmly in our scarves, hats and jerseys, we have walked around Paris, and done the bus thing again. 

We stopped off near the Paris Opera House, to have a nice hot chocolate, @ R60 each for a little coffee cup... not even a mug!  Food is very expensive here in Paris.  We each had a Häagen-Dazs ice cream cone after dinner last, while we were walking around the Latin Quarter... Paul worked out that they were R140 for 2 ice creams!

Just arrived back at the hotel, to our upgraded Junior Suite (just for tonight).  We are freezing cold, with runny noses, and are just going to thaw out before venturing out again for supper. 

Tomorrow we are making our way back to London for our last night. Flights leave Thursday night for home !

Only thing we still have to do is some last minute gift shopping in the morning. 

So good night, Bon Nuit from beautiful, spectacular Paris.

Xxx

Day 32 - 27th October - Paris

Bonjour. Mon Amis. We wake up in Paris on a beautiful sunny day. After a lovely breakfast in the underground cellars of the hotel, we start walking and exploring the streets.   

We are staying in the Latin Quarter, which is on the left bank of the River Seine.  The area is where the Sorbonne is located (University of Paris). 

We walk towards the LuxembourgPalace Gardens, so beautiful.   

Then we try to find the bus stop for the hop-on, hop-off bus, and landed up walking about 10 blocks, passing a huge cathedral where there was obviously a funeral for a very famous person, because the streets were filled with people and news reporters, paparazzi, and newsroom vehicles. 

We enjoyed being driven around the city seeing the sights, for the rest if the day, getting back to our hotel around 4pm.

Tonight we are going to have dinner in one of the many little restaurants for which the Latin Quarter is known. 

Last time we were here, Paul ordered frogs legs! Hopefully this time the frog hopped away!

So Bon soirée et Bon Nuit, ma famille!

Xxx

Day 31 - EuroStar to Paris

After a night with an extra hours sleep (the daylight saving ended, so the clock shifted back by an hour) we get up at 5 am and get ourselves ready for check-out and breakfast at 6 am. 

After breakfast, We catch the Hoppa Bus to Heathrow Terminal 1 and make our way to the Underground on the Piccadilly Line.

The trip takes about an hour and we arrive at Kings Cross for just after 8 am.  Our Eurostar train to Paris is only at 09h22, but we have to go through security checks and passport control and we needed to be in good time.
The station is very busy and we find a couple of seats in the waiting area and get a couple of coffees while we wait.

Boarding is called at 9h00 for Platform 5 and we make our way up to the train and find our seats.

The train leaves St.Pancras International spot on time.  The train is full and there is a eclectic mix of people all traveling to Paris.  

There is a guy sitting opposite us that has such a weird haircut!

  
We soon find out the reason for the silly cut! LOL!!!

After a little under two and a half hours, we arrive at Gare du Nord in Paris.  Then a short trip on the RER gets us to the Notre Dame station where we come out on the Boulevard Saint Michel.
A short walk and we arrive at our hotel, the Jardin de Cluny on Rue de Sommerard.  A small hotel yet very nice!

Tomorrow we will explore some more of Paris!

Day 30 - Preston to London

So this morning is a very early start (still dark at 07h30), as we have to be in North London by 11am. We have a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then are on our way along with the fast moving traffics towards London, listening to the hits of the 60's on the radio.

We eventually get into North London on time and go to meet my cousin.  She is warm and hospitable and we have a few hours of catching up and good laughs with her. 

We then leave and drive to Heathrow, where we book into our hotel. Absolutely beautiful!  Stunning room.  Oh, I wish we could have had a hotel like this every night.

Paul has taken the car back to Europcar and we are ready with our luggage stored away in the hotel luggage room... and now only have one bag each for Paris.

Dinner will be in the hotel restaurant tonight.

Tonight the daylight saving ends and the clocks move back by 1 hour. 

So the last part of our journey begins with a 5am wake-up call tomorrow the morning.

Sleep tight and goodnight from England.

Xxx