Paddington Station

Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the main line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

This was our first stop after arriving at Heathrow Airport, in London. It was the evening rush hour and the people were scurrying about like rats fleeing a sinking ship! At first, it seemed rather funny and peculiar, but as we got closer to the way to the Underground it quickly turned into a real nightmare. People pushing, shoving, yelling, so extremely rude and inconsiderate! We had our luggage and were making our way down an extremely long escalator PACKED with people all trying to run down it. I squeezed myself as far to the right as possible and people were literally SHOVING me down the stairs. I nearly fell all the way down.

Once down in the station, the frenetic, frenzied pace intensified even more as the Londoners were cramming themselves as fast as possible into the opening doors of the subway. We knew we needed the Bakerloo line to Greenwich, but we couldn't tell which direction went the way we needed to go. I was shouting out for help, but it was like we were invisible. NO ONE WOULD HELP US!

We turned to a map of the Underground and out of no where, this well dressed, very polite, calm man, likely in his early 60s asked us where we needed to go. He placed his finger on the map and showed us which train to take and where to get off. What a HUGE blessing! As we boarded the next train, I looked back at the man who just stood there watching to make sure we were ok. It was like he had no where to go.

If you ask me, I do believe he was a real, bonafide angel sent to help us along our journey!

Thankfully, once we got out of London, all the rest of the people we met on our trip were very kind, courteous, polite, and helpful!