| Day 1:
London to Paris Day 2: Versailles Day 3: Tours Day 4: Chateaux Day 5: Bordeaux |
Day 1: London to Paris Tuesday, 9 September, 2003 After spending one day in London to adjust and recover from my flight (a very good idea in retrospect), I took the Eurostar "Chunnel" train direct from London Waterloo station to Paris Gare du Nord. I was very excited about taking the Eurostar--after all, it's not every day one gets to go under the English channel. Other than a bit of a delay caused by "a security problem in Calais," the voyage went off without a hitch. The Eurostar trains are exceptionally long--a fact that became quite clear to me as I walked to my seat in the 18th car of the train, which happens to be the very last. The station platform at London Waterloo snakes along for what must be approaching a half mile to accommodate the trains--it's actually very impressive. I overheard an usher saying that, when full, each train holds around 750 people. The trip takes just about 3 hours, about 20 of which are spent in the darkness of the tunnel. The train does reach some impressive speeds, especially through the French country side, but the first half-hour out of London is surprisingly pokey. A card advertising the cafe car was passed out to all passengers. It depicted various food items with arms and legs and, er, in love. Hilarious. Examples:   My fromage et jambon crescent melt was tastey--but, to the best of my knowledge, it was not involved in any kind of sorted love affair with a mustached cup of coffee. False advertising? Je ne sais pas. *
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I met Ben Cavanaugh at Gare du Nord and we spent the better part of the afternoon working out are plans for the week. We stayed that night at 'Le Village', a hostel on Rue d'Orsel in Montmartre. The hostel was clean and the staff was very friendly. The accommodations, while certainly not luxurious, were quite acceptable. Most notable, though, was the view from our window of Sacré Coeur--quite striking, really. One thought on Montmartre: Yes, it's charming and picturesque in that Amelie way we all love--but there's something slightly odd about any place where a 20 minute walk down a major boulevard will bring you past approximately 3.027 billion sex shops. I didn't observe any gigantic crowds of sex-store patrons anywhere... so I'm not exactly sure how so many of these places are able to survice. Strange, non? |
 One of many little villages seen from a distance en route between London and Paris. This one's on the French side.  The view as we entered the Paris metropolitan area from the North.  The view from our room's window at 'Le Village' |
