I made it to London!

I wasn't planning on posting this until I got to Oxford, but I'm experiencing some trouble sleeping, so I'm writing this at 3:30am from the lobby of the hostel. I'll try going back to sleep later.

My flight from Chicago to Paris was one of the best I've ever taken, mostly because I was asleep nearly the entire time. I often pack earplugs and an eye mask, but this time I actually used them, and since there were no seatback movies, once dinner was over I had nothing better to do than sleep. I did have a nice conversation with my seatmate, an architecture graduate student from California who is doing a semester abroad in Paris. She asked me where I go to school, and without thinking, I said OSU. She hesitantly asked, "Oregon State?" and I remembered that I really am only a little person in a big world, and I need to remember to call it Ohio State University whenever I'm not in Ohio.

I made it through passport control in about 2 minutes, which was amazing! Even with the time spent at baggage claim, and a twenty minute trek through the airport to the train station, I went from the plane to the train in about forty-five minutes. (for reference, last time I landed in Detroit, this process took almost two hours, due to the ridiculous lines at passport control and customs)

The RER B from De Gaulle to Gare du Nord

I took the RER B train to Paris, and then spent half an hour in a comedy of errors at the left luggage lockers. First, I had only paper euros and needed coins for the lockers. For some reason, my ten would not work in the change machine, so the woman ahead of me, who had exchanged a twenty, gave me five two-euro pieces for my ten. Only after putting all my luggage into a locker did I realize that I needed to have exact change for 9.5 euro. I found a 1 euro piece in my pocket, but no 50 centime pieces. I returned to the help counter to complain, and the woman expressed surprise that the change machine had not given me any 50 centime pieces, which is when I realized that the woman who changed my money had not really done me a favor. Then, the woman behind the counter offered to change my coin for me, which is when I did one of the stupidest things I did all day, and gave her my one-euro piece to make change. She returned two 50 centime pieces. Do you see the problem? I now had a 50 centime piece, but no one-euro coins, so I still couldn't make 9.50 euro. I returned to the change machine, too embarrassed to ask for help again, and this time the machine took my money. Finally I put my baggage into a locker and left Gare du Nord.

I did some shopping and took pictures of some landmarks, while playing around with the zoom on my camera:

Opera Garnier

Close-up of the decorations on the Opera Garnier

A bust of Beethoven

Fauchon, possibly the best macarons in Paris

Macarons! 

Saint Sulpice Church (I took a break here and ate an apple on a park bench)

Notre Dame seen from afar

Zoom in on Notre Dame

Palais de Justice and Sainte Chapelle

Palais de Justice

Finally, exhausted, and with brand-new blisters, I returned to Gare du Nord to await the departure of my Eurostar to London. I did take some pictures of the inside of the train station: 

Gare du Nord (North train station of Paris)

On the Eurostar at last!

I took the Eurostar to London, trudged around St. Pancras station looking for an exit, went out the wrong exit, went the wrong direction, finally consulted a map, and eventually found my hostel, which was right across the street from the correct exit. I collapsed into bed, and because I went to bed at 8pm, I am now awake at 4am. At 10am, I'll take a cab to Paddington station, then a train to Oxford, then a cab to my new house!

(one final note: I've made the blog wider to accommodate extra-large pictures. Please comment if this makes the blog hard to load or harder to read)