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Woke up at 5:30 AM and said my goodbyes to Alex (until next month), to throw myself into the night and into the third rail transport of the trip, the Metro 7.

Quick change for line 5 which is then the fourth of the journey and I arrive in Gare du Nord.

Taking the Eurostar is no ordinary train hoping. It’s a full border crossing, as if you’d get on a plane that flies in a tunnel under the sea. Passport scanning (twice), bagage control, the whole. But to be fair, it’s pretty smooth and fast, and we all finally climb aboard the fifth train of the tour. Already I feel my mood turning for the better, once out of that motorbreath city.

Hello United Kingdom!

As I step foot on foreign soil again, I finally feel glad to be on the move. And on the move I am, as I have no time to spare in London. As I’ve already spent a week-end there in 2022, I am going straight to Liverpool today.

As I reach my seat in the sixth train, I am glad to discover that my « window » seat is precisely placed between the two windows… No English countryside for me, so I sleep what I missed this morning.

Wow, Liverpool. Like, wow! I am an eager reader of Grahal’s Hughes’ Odyssey Expedition blog, and one thing that often came back in his rantings was about architecture. Precisely, how modern architecture is terribly bad. Not being myself much of an architecture connoisseur (or never cared too much), I wasn’t really moved by his hate of modern buildings. But now that I’ve seen Liverpool, the city he grew up in… yeah ok, I understand. It’s insane, just insane! Magnificent, huge, ancient buildings everywhere. Better and better every street, until you reach the climax with the docks. My god I still don’t know what this huge cathedral-like building is, but what a piece, and what a neighbourhood.

I check-in at the hostel, plan some stuff for the next couple weeks, and go back to watch the sunset on the docks. It’s beautiful, but early. Not even 5:30… I eat super early,thinking to go to the Cavern Club, where The Beatles played, but it was a bit on the expensive side, so I opted to come back and have an early night.

But now, I’m back in full shape, ready to go forward!