Day 10: Paris to London, England

We got up pretty early, so that we could catch our bus to go to Calais, the French point for our hover craft to Dover, England.

We stopped for an hour plus to buy things and get rid of our francs. I bought things to eat on the trip, as lunch was not provided. The majority of the kids did not think that far ahead.

We got through customs and saw the hovercraft approaching. It was an awesome sight. We saw it get off the channel and continue onto the beach, as if there was no change at all. Then it sat down. I talked with an English employee about it. It was a 35 minute trip across the channel. The fastest speed was up to 70 miles per hour. It was going to shut down in October because of the lack of profitability and the age of the vessel. The one we were on, the "Princess Margaret" was over 30 years old. The seas were pretty choppy, but we did well.

Hover craft Princess Margaret

We arrived at customs and managed to pass through. An English bus driver who struck me as a stereotype Brit met us. He had some funny one-liners and was quite jovial with us.

It was a little difficult going from speaking and hearing a foreign language for ten days into speaking English all the time. I had the tendency to keep saying "Bonjour" or "Grazia" to the people.

The bus driver took us through Dover with commentary. The kids were hungry and so we stopped at the first suitable stop. It had Burger King and the students were delighted to eat there. I ate my sandwich (chicken with tarter sauce, sort of), potato chips, and a Lion bar on the bus.

We finished the bus trip and arrived at London with some commentary from the bus driver. We arrived at the Hillgate Hotel in the Notting Hill district. As usual, the students and chaperones went out shopping and exploring the area. We met at 7:00 p.m. at the hotel to go to our restaurant at Piccadilly Circus.

It was a very nice restaurant with good food. We left the restaurant pretty late and took the subway to the hotel.

The kids were pretty tired, especially after being up late in Paris and gaining an hour of time because of the time change. I bet that tomorrow will be a late one, as it is our last night in Europe. Bedtime: 12:24 a.m.