Eurostar to Paris is not as scary as one imagines (and other things).

Its Wednesday 10th May and we have just arrived in Paris. The past week has been spent enjoying the amazing hospitality of family – and catching up with “the kids”! We stayed for three nights at son Pierces 300 year old pub at Twickenham and accompanied daughter Paige to her 500 year old pub in Beaconsfield. Wondering what to do whilst staying at Twickenham a quick search on one of my favourite apps “Find near me” revealed Hampton Court Palace was a 5 minute Uber trip down the road. Although a freezing cold day – we spent numerous hours exploring the former home of King Henry VIII, learning a lot about his 6 wives (2 of which he had executed) and his extravagant lifestyle. A good ole English cream tea helped restore warmth and was followed by getting lost in Hampton Court maze – built in circa 1700 and the oldest surviving maze in the U.K.

Some things to know about London – food can be expensive. To help with costs – most supermarkets offer a 3 pound deal – sandwich, chips or fruit and a drink. The sandwich (or roll) are great. Train travel is extremely expensive. Look for deals. On the second night of our arrival in England we ordered a “two together” card over the internet (this would give us a 30% discount on most travel providing we travelled together). We ordered it on a Friday night and the photographed, plastic card arrived Monday morning. Which leads to something else about London – the mail delivery (6 or 7 days a week) is generally great compared to Australia.

Today we made our way to London St Pancreas to catch the Eurostar to Paris. A (curious) quick search showed that the tickets I had bought 6 months ago for 45 pounds were now going for 191 pounds -proving it’s definitely best to book in advance. Whilst slightly daunting going through first UK then French customs at St Pancreas – all in all it was pretty straightforward. Before long we found ourselves sitting in our comfy, free wifi included seats.

Previously I had been slightly nervous at the prospect of travelling at least 57km, 75 metres in parts below sea level but this nervousness proved unfounded. We were not made aware of when we entered sub sea level and it was only after travelling for 10 minutes or so below ground that I began to wonder if this was “it”! Another 15 minutes or so later – and we emerged back into daylight (yes it only takes 20-25 minutes of below sea level travel to reach France). After desperately looking for signs that we had “done the scary” bit – I found the signs in a French flag flying, cars driving on the right and French road signs. A sigh of relief was pretty much made redundant seconds later as our train started reaching speeds of 301km per hour. Realising that I had better start getting used to these speeds – by the time we reached Paris (less than 2.5 hours in total) – I was a high speed pro.

We have just partaken of the menu du jour (3 course set menu) accompanied by a carafe of rose. We have strolled along the Seine and taken photos in front of Quasimodos Notre Dame Cathedrale. Tomorrow – the rest of Paris awaits.