Today I farewell Paris...for now...and travel to London to pick up my Trafalgar tour of Europe. I managed to get Bus 39 from Paris to Gare du Nord Station...only took 15 minutes and cost 1 Euro 90. I arrived at the station with more than enough time to check in, but as I am new to this, wanted to be safe than sorry! Normally for boarding Coaches 1-5 board through Gate B and everyone else through Gate A, I was Coach 3 so was waiting in Gate B. I was waiting for boarding time, reading my book, when all passengers were asked to move down to Gate B. Apparently someone had come through with a "suspect package" which I heard a Eurostar employee tell another passenger it was a 'shell', which the owner of it believed to have been emptied, but it meant that the bomb squad was called and a section of the station isolated!!! This also meant that check in stopped and the train had to be delayed about 35 minutes! When we finally arrived in London I managed to find an information desk who were very helpful in helping me find my hotel...probably should have googled how to get there before now! There were some metro closures so after some working out I managed to get myself to the hotel...without getting a taxi!
Tonight was also 'THE GEORGE MICHAEL CONCERT'!!!! Again, metro closures caused travelling to the venue more complicated, but the hotel concierge was very helpful and suggested I get the C1 bus. While on the bus I met two German ladies who were also going to the concert and not sure where to get off, but another passenger was able to give us directions. They were also picking up their tickets at the venue so we walked up together. The concert venue seating was more 'temporary' than what we have at home...I do prefer our concert venues better. I was seated (according to the two ladies behind me) next to the VIP seating. Well it was wasted on me because I have no idea who any of them were! Apparently one was a chef (not sure who) and some British comedian! But who cares...I was there to see one man only...and I was not disappointed! The crowd went wild when he came out! He sang some of his songs, a mix of songs from as far back as the 80's (but no 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go'...which was disappointing, LOL!) and he also sang some covers of songs that he likes for many different reasons.
The concert was called Symphonica because he had a symphony orchestra behind him which were amazing. I was sitting next to an Italian girl/woman who has followed his concerts over the years throughout Italy, many parts of Europe and the UK. She spent most of the time taking video which she then puts on You Tube, her videos are called 'a precious corner'....a dedicated fan. I had an awesome night singing along and dancing...when George says get out of your seat...you get up and dance. The man has not lost his moves or charisma...he has definately still got it!!! If he does make it back to Australia eventually...I'll be there!
Surprisingly I managed to find my way back to the hotel after the concert, which I thought was pretty good considering I didn't have any idea which direction to go in. And I just happened to find the two German ladies on the bus again, so we compared notes on how fabulous we thought George was. It was a great night!
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