I’ve been back in France for about a month now, and things have piled up around here, so I’ll simply backtrack from the most recent happenings…
Now, is it just me, or is there something really weird about a train that goes underwater only to pop out in a different country? Apparently, the whole train-under-the-water trip takes up around 20 minutes of the 2-hour-or-so ride from Paris to London, so after several minutes of excruciating ear-popping, we emerged into the London sunlight (yes, sunlight! In London!), the land where everyone speaks English with proper, beautiful accents! (I’ve been surrounded by French speakers for too long.)
I know London is an expensive city, but it hadn’t really sunk in just how expensive London was until…
SCENE 1: WESTMINSTER ABBEY
Kala: Two tickets, please.
Ticket Counter Man: That’ll be 18£ each, please.
Kala: You mean for both?
Ticket Counter Man: No, I meant for each…
Wallet: *sheds several tears*
SCENE 2: TOWER OF LONDON
Kala: Two tickets, please.
Ticket Counter Woman: That will be 21,45£…
Kala: …for each, right?
Ticket Counter Woman: Yes…
Wallet: *blood trickling from nose*
SCENE 3: LONDON UNDERGROUND
Julien: Hi, we’d like two single tickets, please.
Man Behind the Booth: Oh, you’d rather get a day pass ticket.
Julien: Oh. Okay. How much?
Man Behind the Booth: That’ll be 14,60£.
Kala: Seriously? We’ll just take the single tickets instead, please.
Man Behind the Booth: You sure?
Kala: Sure (I’m thinking, it can’t be that expensive, right? Answer: Wrong.)
Man Behind the Booth: That’ll be 9£, please.
Kala and Julien: *coming to the realisation that a single ticket costs 4,50£*
Wallet: *crawls out of bag, runs to a bridge and jumps into the Thames river*
Currently listening to:
Of Montreal
Skeletal Lamping