Last wander

Tired again when I woke up - as I'd only had about 4 hours sleep. But after breakfast, there was time for a quick wander around the environs of the Gare de Lyon, which proved to be more interesting than I expected. I decided to blip this brightly lit bistro right opposite the station, as it expresses something that I won't let anyone take away from me. But I had a number of candidate blips, including one of Rue Crémieux, which we spotted by chance and which I had never heard of until then. Turns out it's an instagram influencers' paradise and this annoys the residents. I had a look at some of the satirical posts that the residents have put up on Instagram. I wouldn't want people doing yoga outside my front door, so they have my sympathy. Anyway, we didn't disturb the peace of the street, but I did ignore the no photography sign at the end of the road and took a picture of the street from a safe distance.It's in the extras.

Back on the trains, via the RER, for numbers 13 and 14 in our epic trip. Lunch was more successful than yesterday - taken in King's Cross whilst waiting for the LNER train. Despite the appearance of the brand new Azuma trains on the Edinburgh to KGX line, we've not managed to travel on one yet. Three out of the four times we've been up and down to London in the last month or so have been on really crappy diesel 125s that make an awful racket and throw you around. We were wistful for the smooth rides of the high speed trains in France and Italy by the time we got home.

Home just before 8pm, pretty tired but happy after our long journeys. It is less stressful travelling by train, even if it takes longer. I don't arrive places feeling wrung out. And you do see more. I'm not sure I would do that much train travelling again during a 12 day trip, but overall I would say it was fun and much more on the positive than the negative side.

The flat was very cold, so we went almost straight to bed, leaving unpacking for another time.