This is Wednesday morning and we have been up since 4:30 AM.
Grabbing a cup of tea in the room, we
checked out of the St. Ermins and met our driver for a trip to St. Pancras
Railway station for our trip to Paris.
The check in at the station went very quickly. We had to clear customs and go through
security. The waiting area was cold
enough to “hang meat”. 20 minutes before
departure they called our train to Paris.
It left at exactly 7:01 AM.
They served a continental breakfast about the time we entered
the tunnel under the English Channel.
The ride was smooth, the seats were comfortable and the trip was fairly
quick, 2 hours and 15 minutes from London to Paris. It left on time and arrived on time, not
always the case with airplanes. We have
noticed that the tracks in England are in better shape and smoother than the
ones in France.
Arriving at Paris Nord railway station, we were met by our
driver. Think of the stereo typical
Parisian and you have a picture of our driver.
I am not Catholic, but I was wishing for some beads to pray with as we
roared through the Paris streets. It was
see how fast we can get going in the shortest amount of time and hope that the
breaks work in the next 20 feet. He was
cussing every stop light and just about every other car. We did arrive at the Mayfair hotel in one
piece.
(Praise the Lord).
The hotel is nice and the front desk and bellboy are friendly and very
helpful.
After checking into our room, we went looking for our tour. The place we were suppose meet, had a sign
telling us to go 300 meters down the road to their main office. They neglected to mention that it was 300
meters down the road and then up a street.
With some help from a gentleman at a money exchange kiosk, we were able
to locate it just in time to get on the bus for the tour.
The tour drove us around the city to see some of the
sights. The traffic was so heavy that it
was start and stop all the time. This
made for a not so nice tour. With all
the traffic, there always seemed to be another bus in our line of view.
After the tour, we started back toward the hotel. Spotting a nice looking restaurant we stopped
for lunch. Would have liked to have been
able to eat outside, but too cold and windy.
After lunch we found our hotel, and it was now time for a bath for Judi
and a shower for me. We have about 2
hours to rest and clean up before being picked up for dinner at the Eiffel
Tower.
The evening has turned out to be the best part of this day
in Paris. We were picked up from the
hotel and taken to the Seine River for a magnificent river cruise. The river at night is wonderful. The lights of Norte Dame, the river bridges
with their diverse lighting, the many building and especially the Eiffel Tower. As we approached the Tower, lit with it’s
yellow lights, they turned on the flashing white lights which seemed to jump
all over the tower. The view from the
river was spectacular.
After leaving the boat we were escorted to the tower and
took the elevator up to Club 58 for dinner.
We had reservations for dinner at 9:00 PM. We had a outstanding view of the city from
our table, Paris at night is beautiful.
Our dinner was very good, as was the service. Dinner on the Eiffel Tower is quite an
experience to remember. After dinner we
returned to our hotel around midnight, after an unforgettable first day in
Paris.
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| Eiffel Tower at night |
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| The Arch |
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| Night on the Seine |
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