Today we had to leave London, a massive city and many interesting sights. A friend asked if we flew to Paris and the answer is yes, sort of.

We checked out of our hotel, took the tube to the train station St. is Pancras where we were booked on the Eurostar to Paris for 12:31. We were required to arrive 90 minutes ahead of time for security checks..The train station was massive and the number of folks lining up to board was huge. In fact, my thought was that not all of us are going to be able to ride.

Security was like going through the airport. We had to show passports, had to run all of our luggage through scanners like at the airport and we had to pass through a body scanner as well, with coats and belts off. Then we had to go through French security before being allowed to board.

Karen had reserved first class seats for us which came with a table between us and I’m glad she did. Our car was not full and it came with a full meal. Oh, by the way, the Eurostar had 13 cars. Of course the Eurostar goes underground to cross the English Channel. A fact flashed up on screen in the train said that when we were under the channel, the train was 100 meters from the surface of the water. That’s 328 feet. Our ears popped as we descended just like they do in the mountains.

And even while we were on land in England and France, some of the track was underground, so it was impossible to see anything. Shortly after the train departed, porters arrived with a choice of quiche with spinach and with couscous or baked chicken with couscous. Karen and I both took the quiche, which also came with a sweet mango tart. It all was delicious.

The monitor on board said our speed was 184 miles per hour. Yes, we were flying on the rails. It took us about two hours to reach Paris. When were above ground in England and France, we saw a lot of farming going on. Large fields of corn appeared to be just ripening. Also, lots of sheep and hay fields that had been harvested.

We arrived at Nord de Gard train station in Paris. Karen quickly figured which metro we needed to take to get close to our hotel. It took us about 20 minutes to get to our stop and then about 10 minutes to walk to the hotel, Hotel de Notre Dame. It was down a narrow street only wide enough for a small car but mostly there were bicycles. It was larger and nicer than the one we had in London. We even had chairs to sit in and a desk.

After getting unpacked we decided to do some exploring by foot. It was about 6 p.m. when we left the hotel. We lost another hour when we arrived in Paris due to the time zone. Our hotel is about a 10 walk to the Notre Dame cathedral. It is still being repaired from the 2019 fire that destroyed its roof. The entire structure was fenced off, but a viewing stand had been built for folks to sit and watch the work. Much of it being done outside. It is a massive structure and we regret we did not get to go inside. We are told it will reopen in December this year.

We found that walking around France is much easier than in London. There are many narrow streets where only bikes go. And, there seemed to be cafes on every corner, and not all of them sold French cuisine. But we had to watch out for bikes which flew down the streets.

After our walk, we returned to our room. We are on the fourth floor. The elevator says not more than four people in at a time, but they would all have to be as skinny as Karen to get four in. With me in the elevator with her, I don’t think there would be room for anyone else.

The hall is narrow and is carpeted with a design that looks like cobble stones. There are also two sets of stairs on the hall. Our room, 47, is the last one on our hall. There is only one key and it’s one like I’ve never seen. It’s metal and seems to have a spring in it. It’s small and round. And, there is only one key. It must be left at the front desk when we leave the hotel.

It has been a busy day and it didn’t take us long to fall asleep.

The top photo is a selfie of us in front of Notre Dame cathedral, which is still under repair. The bottom photo shows Karen with our food served on the Eurostar train shortly after we left the station in London.