We managed to book some tickets in advance at a very cheap rate for a Eurostar crossing to Paris. We planned for a Friday afternoon getaway from London because we had to allow enough days in London to get Molly and I Brazilian Visas……….I would otherwise suggest NOT traveling into Paris on a Friday afternoon!
The Eurostar station at Kings Cross-St Pancras is excellent – modern, well serviced, free wi-fi, helpful staff. It is actually very similar to flying except you can take whatever you like on the train – sandwiches, extra picnic bags……fluids etc!
You do French immigration checks at the station, board the train and then less than an hour later you are looking at the French countryside…..granted it does look a lot like British countryside but you get the point.
And then you arrive at Paris Gare du Nord – Paris North Station. Of course at first you think the train has gone further than Paris, maybe as far as Nairobi or Kinshasa. In many ways it resembles a zoo and some of the smells are similar. People are going in all directions, people asking if we speak English just want money, not assistance, the plethora of French language instructions at Eurostar London are not reciprocated here in Paris, and as with many of our journeys, we have NO PLAN!!!
We walked outside and it was a bit scary, walked back into the station, no better, then thought about just getting a Hotel room and escaping the madness…….NO, can’t do it, let’s get out of here. 30 minutes of pacing around and queuing later and we finally had tickets to Charles De Gaulle Airport – guaranteed to have car hire and be far enough away from Paris city to allow us a clean getaway to the country. We knew Paris would always be there for us to investigate.
The Eurostar station at Kings Cross-St Pancras is excellent – modern, well serviced, free wi-fi, helpful staff. It is actually very similar to flying except you can take whatever you like on the train – sandwiches, extra picnic bags……fluids etc!
You do French immigration checks at the station, board the train and then less than an hour later you are looking at the French countryside…..granted it does look a lot like British countryside but you get the point.
And then you arrive at Paris Gare du Nord – Paris North Station. Of course at first you think the train has gone further than Paris, maybe as far as Nairobi or Kinshasa. In many ways it resembles a zoo and some of the smells are similar. People are going in all directions, people asking if we speak English just want money, not assistance, the plethora of French language instructions at Eurostar London are not reciprocated here in Paris, and as with many of our journeys, we have NO PLAN!!!
We walked outside and it was a bit scary, walked back into the station, no better, then thought about just getting a Hotel room and escaping the madness…….NO, can’t do it, let’s get out of here. 30 minutes of pacing around and queuing later and we finally had tickets to Charles De Gaulle Airport – guaranteed to have car hire and be far enough away from Paris city to allow us a clean getaway to the country. We knew Paris would always be there for us to investigate.
In the absence of photos from our eurostar trip I offer this, from Regents Park, London. This is a Scandinavian Troll - out and about with members of the Troll Spotters club.....true story!
RSS Feed
