The joys of travel

Bonjour

We just spent a long weekend in London to celebrate aunt’s 91st birthday. So close and yet so far. We were very organised and had booked and paid for the train from Cherbourg to Paris, then Eurostar from Paris to London. We had a Metro train to catch in Paris and then the London Underground to our accommodation (also booked and paid for) plus the hire car.  What could possibly go wrong? A train strike, that’s what. First leg was train to leave Cherbourg at 7.30 am and got there in plenty of time to find lots of people staring at a blank departure board wondering why their train wasn’t listed. There had been no announcements or publicity and still have no idea why there was a strike. The only train we could get was at 10.30 – too late to get our connecting Eurostar train and also too late to pick up our hire car in London.

Anyway, eventually we got to London only 11 hours after we left home and things picked up from there.

The Eurostar was fast, efficient and easy. We reached speeds of 260 km an hour but you wouldn’t know because it was so smooth and quiet. There was a lot of snow on the ground in the French countryside (which always makes everything look prettier than it is) but no snow in England.

 

And then we sped through the tunnel for about 20 minutes and according to google, it’s about 50 kms long. The time and money involved in building the tunnel must have been enormous, but it seems to be very well used. Both our trains (to and from England) were full or nearly full and they are scheduled every hour. The tickets are not a cheaper option (compared to the ferry) so they must be making some money, although the profits took a dive in 2016 after the Paris terrorist attacks.

St Pancras Station is still impressive and still boasts the title of “Europe’s longest champagne bar”. Here’s a few photos of the station.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a nice change to be able to have announcements and signs in English. Even the lifts are very British and polite….

 

One noticeable thing about London was how it is in much need of a good clean up. There was litter EVERYWHERE. It may have something to do with the added security measures and removal of many of the rubbish bins. The French use the transparent plastic bags but in London the few bins that were available were overflowing with rubbish and it seems people just throw their cans, bottles, cigarette buts, etc wherever.

Apart from the train strike, the travelling was a good chance to see some of the country side. Hard to imagine suffering through the heatwaves in the southern hemisphere, while everyone here is hanging out for some warmth and sunshine.

C’est tout pour le moment

L & M