Saturday--Oh what a rush and bother getting ready to leave and then getting to the train station. Because we were worried about getting transport (which turned out to be totally unfounded) we arrived at Gare du Nord at least two hour before the train left. Breakfast of croissants in one of the bistros at the station took an hour and then we went to the "official" waiting area and read.
The trip was fast (with speeds of up to 300 kph) and smooth. If you are planning a trip to Paris we heartily recommend travelling via Eurostar which takes you from central London to central Paris in just over two hours and a half. We are told that if you book well in advance, via the internet, you can get significant savings. We travel second class which is fine. It doesn't offer the champagne breakfast, but bring your own baguette and a drink and save lots of money. The seats are roomy and frankly we can't imagine why anyone would want to spend the extra amount (although there is a special "seniors" rate in first class). Also, if you are planning the trip, try to get the direct, non-stop, trains. Not a lot of difference, but they avoid the stopping, starting, people getting on and off and luggage banging you get on the milk run (which, in fact, only takes about half-an-hour longer).
We were fortunate in that the rain held off. Thunderstorms were predicted in both Paris and London yesterday, but the weather stayed reasonable until about 2.30 (at least in London) by which time we were safely ensconced in our hotel.
Sunday--Today we are catching up on our laundry (ah the excitement, the joy of travel) and getting psychologically prepared for the long flight to Singapore. This afternoon we will probably go to Harrods just to see how "the other half" shops. Bruce loves the food hall and it is almost impossible to drag him away. He seems to always have his camera at the ready and seems hell-bent on building the world's largest photo collection of Harrod's foodstuffs even though he has it all in a cookbook at home that Virginia bought him some years ago.
As we are staying just around the corner from Paddington station, I have included above a picture of that station's most famous mascot; Paddington Bear!
A strange coincidence this morning. We always say that when we are away from Australia, we never hear anything about it on the news and certainly never about Tasmania. But the headlines around the world (BBC, CNN, etc) are all about the two miners trapped in the Beaconsfield gold mine and the rescue attempts. In London it even got higher coverage than the potential fall of Prime Minister Tony Blair and the shooting down of a British helicopter in Iraq with 4 deaths and the resulting problems in Basra.
No comments:
Post a Comment