goodbye london, bonjour paris

last morning in london.

it was a little gloomy, but that's okay.  kind of matched my mood, because i really do love london and i was feeling sad to leave.  i'd really enjoyed our time there and really hope that we get to go back again someday.  although there's so much more out there for us to explore that if we do return, it will probably be a long time from now.

anyway, we had a few hours before we had to be at the train station, which gave me time to visit the nail salon just down the street from our hotel.

afterwards, i couldn't help but smile for a cheesy selfie in front of the pinoy supermarket.

i met up with the hub in front of our hotel for the last time and waited for our uber to arrive.

he dropped us off right in front of the train station, and we went inside to check in and get our passports stamped.

all aboard!

and then we left london.

the hub headed over to the dining car to find us something to eat, and came back with a cup of mushroom risotto and madeleines for me and a sandwich and spirits for himself.

the train ride took about three hours, and then we were in paris.

i was super amused at the five guys inside the station.  just so random.

and then we headed outside to wait for another uber to take us to our hotel.

while the hub took care of the check-in process i wandered into the dining room and checked out the honesty bar.  they also leave snacks out during the day and serve breakfast here in the mornings.

up in our room, we were welcomed with a note from the hotel manager and a lovely assortment of macarons.

the room was really tiny, and the hub had already requested an upgrade that wouldn't be available for us until the next day.  no biggie.

we didn't stay very long in there and headed out right away to explore our neighborhood and see some sights.  just up the street was this cute little carousel:

and here, too, we were in awe of how pretty and perfect everything was...just like a movie set.  well, if you ignore the graffiti (of which there was plenty).

one of many chanel stores.  this one was pretty gigantic, though.

i sent this to the old lady and said "hey, isn't this the fountain that she tossed her phone into at the end of 'devil wears prada'??"

and then we were on the champs elysees and i remembered going inside this store last time with the girls.

it was around 8:00 in the evening, and it was still light and there were lots of people out and about.

look!  another five guys across the street!

and in one door, i found another friend:

just down the street from that, we decided to stop for a drink and a treat.

i think i drank more champagne on this trip than i ever have in my whole life.

after a peek at the tray, the hub and i made our selections.  raspberry tart for him, lemon for me.

and after the last drop of champagne was drunk and the last bite of tart was in our bellies, we headed back out.  it was late, so there wasn't a line of people waiting to get into this store:

but there were lots of people waiting to take pictures here.

and for some reason i don't have any photographic evidence of dinner, but i know we caught an uber back to the hotel after this.  maybe we skipped dinner.  huh.

in any case, it was a lovely first afternoon/evening in paris.