After arriving at our hotel a lot later than expected, we were all sleeping instantly. However, an early morning departure meant none of us got any proper sleep. Today we made our way from London to Stuttgart, via Paris.  This section of the journey brought us to country number 36 as a family.

Day 2 – Bangor to Istanbul.

Today we travelled from London to Stuttgart via Paris. Today’s journey time was far shorter than yesterday only being 12 hours. However, it was still tough enough considering the lack of sleep we had from the night before.

Walk- Hotel to St. Pancaras

Another day, another early morning start. Our train to Paris departed at 7:01am, but with Eurostar you have to go through passport control and security. This meant we left our hotel at 5:45am just to cover any delays due to it being the summer holidays. The walk took us no more than 5 minutes.

Passport control and security had a long enough queue. Although, I’m not one to queue, I absolutely hate it, so I pointed out Megan’s arm and we were taken right to the front, result!

We did have to hang around a bit on the other side, but beats the hell out of waiting in line.

Train – St. Pancaras to Paris

I don’t really know what I was expecting about the Eurostar trip and I’m not sure I got what I was expecting.

We had a 4 seater table for this journey, who we shared with another fella. He went to sleep instantly, so Nicola couldn’t move for the next few hours. I had to travel backwards which is a pet hate of mine, but beats sitting beside someone.

The train raced through the English countryside and before we knew it we hit the tunnel to France. There were screens which told you facts about the tunnel, only thing which was missing was a tracker.

There was a bar/cafe on the train, I did buy a beer which really wasn’t needed, but I’m on holiday so who cares, right?

Before we knew it we were at Gare Du Nord in Paris. The trip was decent enough, although I’m not sure I would use it over flying.

Subway – Paris to Notre Dame

We had nothing planned today for Paris, a last minute decision took us too the Notre Dame. As we were leaving from a different station we couldn’t avail of left luggage, which meant humping around our bags. Not helpful as I’ve a sore back and Nicola has a torn Achilles.

We took some time walking around Notre Dame, and a flower market beside it. No one was in the mood, we had all hit the wall so decided the best course of action was to go to the Gare L’Est and find somewhere to sit, have a drink and something to eat.

Gare L’Est

We spent the next few hours doing a mini bar crawl up and down the street in front of the Gare L’Est. When I say bar crawl it was more drinking mini bottles of beer, pints of coke for sugar boost and eating.

Megan managed to get herself a partner for her dinner, although he apparently bailed on her as the pizza was disgusting.(Think he was fed up listening to Nicola and Megan fighting, I later seen him in the bar up the road having a pint.)

After we had spent more Euros than we planned we headed back to the station for our train to Stuttgart.

Train – Paris to Stuttgart

Gare L’Est has limited seating in the station, it was a scramble for any free seats when they appeared. It reminded me off the taxi scene in ‘Trains, Planes and Automobiles’, so be prepared to run.

Our train was called and Megan was delighted to find out she was sitting on the top deck of the train.

Our table partner for this stage of the journey was a Mother, and her 7 month baby. They were an absolute pleasure to talk too, told us their story and where they had travelled as the mum and dad are surfers. Amazing hearing peoples stories, all part of travelling ain’t it? I had a few beers to pass the time,  Megan played on her phone – standard and Nicola slept.

We arrived into Stuttgart slightly late, although we had nothing planned so it wasn’t a worry. We got off the train and made the short walk to our hotel for the night.

Stuttgart

People say they count a Country if they have slept in it. I slept in Stuttgart and couldn’t even count it as a place visited.

We literally walked to the hotel from the train station. Then went to a nearby beer garden and had something to eat, recommended to us by the bar man and then went to bed. The food was great, the beer was great and the atmosphere was great.

A great day of travelling, with hopefully more of the same tomorrow, just a bit less tiredness.

Good night and thanks for reading ‘Day 2 – Bangor to Istanbul.’

The Lewis Family.

Total modes of transport used –

Bus – 2
Train -4
Taxi -1
Subway – 5