April 12th, 2014

Not a terribly early start today; up at 7:30, had breakfast at hostel bagel & creme cheese with jam and a tea. Then we grabbed our stuff, checked out, and went out to meet the bus in order to catch our flight. The stop was right outside the hostel so we took bus 149 to London Bridge station where we could catch a train to Gatwick Airport.

When we arrived at London Bridge station the ticket office for the trains wasn’t open so we tried the underground station, he told us they should be open but I think he took pity on us and printed us tickets anyways. To get to the platform we had to go through a special gate (because our tickets were printed from the underground and not the train station) but we caught the train with plenty of time to spare. We arrived at the airport and took a shuttle to the North terminal where EasyJet (our airline) flew out of. Since we didn’t have luggage to check and we had already printed our boarding passes so we walked straight to security (such a better process than Ryanair). Once past security we went shopping a little bit, bought some tins of tea, and I wanted to find a Big Ben figurine (which I was unable to find. I found every other icon for London except Big Ben!) and we went for lunch at the Santa Fe café in the airport, hearty American style food!

Our flight from London to Paris was uneventful as well but I definitely like EasyJet better than Ryanair. Comfier seats, more leg room, they don’t talk at you the whole time, and overall, much pleasanter staff. Franny and I played cards the entire way but it wasn’t a very long flight, under an hour.

We arrived in Paris safe and sound, and took the directions given to us in the hostel description, taking the Metro and walking. Our hostel really isn't located in a very nice part of the city… definitely wouldn't want to walk around there alone at 1 am, that’s for sure! Our hostel was not the best either. We had to put a down payment on our key cards, we had to rent sheets, the staff wasn’t very helpful and the place wasn’t very nice looking, but it was SUPER cheap and really close to the Eiffel Tower (like a 15 minute walk). Paris was also where we were meeting Franny’s parents. They had arrived at 8 am that morning so after checking into the hostel we dropped our stuff and walked to their hotel, Jardin Eiffel, passing the Eiffel Tower on the way. It was absolutely beautiful! Everything I imagined it to be!

When we arrived at her parents hotel room, they had wine, grapes, cheese and crackers waiting for us. Franny showered and we both changed into dresses to go out to dinner. A family friend of theirs suggested a restaurant called Reed and it turns out it was right across the road from their hotel. Supper was fantastic! There were only 4 items under each section of the menu, and it was all on the expensive side, but the food was amazing! As an appetizer I had a tomato pastry and as a main course I had Beouf Bourguignon. Unfortunately there is no website for the restaurant but it was ranked #86 out of ALL of the restaurants in Paris and the address is 11 Bis Rue Amelie, 7th Arrondissement, Paris, France. Telephone: 01.45.55.88.40. The very cool part about Reed (aside from the food that is to die for) is that it is run by one woman, and one woman only. She cooks, cleans, serves, everything! Not only that, but she’s from Quebec as well! Supper was absolutely incredible and Franny’s parents insisted on paying for me, boy am I spoiled!

After supper Franny and I walked back to our hostel for the night, stopping quickly at the Eiffel Tower to take some photos.