I was so tired by 9PM last night I had to get to sleep. And sleep I did … until about 1AM. Then it was four hours of wakefulness. This wasn’t unexpected, but still annoying! Looking at the bright side, though, I didn’t have restless legs so I could just lie in bed. A dark side? Well, a Traviata ear worm was driving me batty. I think I need to listen to some music today in order to remove that thing. Of course it will just be replaced by something else. I very rarely don’t have an ear worm.

I did get back to sleep eventually, and then woke at 8:30AM. The other traveler here was still asleep, but he’d said to set an alarm for 9:00 so we’ll see if that gets him to stir. I could tell he was awake a lot in the night as well (we never talk — I suspect he feels the same way I do: don’t add anything that might cause sleep to become even more difficult. I’ll have to ask him about that!)

After Dan woke it was shower and pack time. By the time we were ready to head out it was nearing the time we had to check out (11:00 AM), so we did that, left our luggage at the hotel, and went out in search of a spot to eat and get coffee.

As we walked out I spotted a plaque on our hotel wall.

A short walk later we found a nice place, Dolce London, and enjoyed a leisurely meal that should cover us for both breakfast and lunch. (We do try to keep to a two meal plus an afternoon snack plan on these trips.)

Then we walked on one of our random walks. This place caught my eye.

Then, surprise, surprise, we happened upon King’s Cross Central and a lot of new things. We hadn’t heard about this before. Maybe we should have? Dunno. But an old spot that has been completely altered. It was fun to wander through.

And then just a lot more wandering, eventually going over Black Friar’s Bridge (we walked past The Mad Hatter Inn — the place we stayed last time we were here — but I didn’t bother with a photo).

For our afternoon snack, which was mostly about sitting down a bit, we ended up at Black Sheep Coffee (or whatever the chain is called). No coffee for me, though.

At that point we had to decide how to get back to the hotel. We opted to walk a bit further so we could head over the Millennial Bridge. We took a few alley detours as we went, shot a couple of signs for the info they gave, and made a bank visit so we could pay cash for dinner. Then to the hotel we went.

We opted to eat right at the hotel. It was just easy and that’s what we were ready for.

When Dan pulled the cash out (we wanted to get some change which is why we wanted to pay with cash) we were informed that they didn’t take cash. Heh. Shoulda thunk it. This seems to be more and more common.

Getting our luggage we walked to Euston Station for our train adventure. Because we have the sleeper car we could relax in the lounge and listen to far too many people coughing. Oh dear … we’ll see what happens next, I guess. (Dan and I did get a Covid booster before our trip.)

So here we sit. And here we blog. I will post this before I fill you in on what’s next since we haven’t a clue what kind of WiFi we will get on the train. I know sometimes it works. I also know sometimes it doesn’t.

And no, Dan isn’t unhappy. I just caught him looking serious. I think it’s his, “Don’t mess with me,” look. Maybe?

Anyway, stay tuned … just maybe I can post the rest of the story from the train. I can dream.

Well … DUH … we will be on a sleeper train. Hah!