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London to Paris on the Eurostar

Thursday 12/27/18
London to Paris on the Eurostar

We woke early, had buffet breakfast at the hotel and took a taxi to St. Pancras Station for the Eurostar. We were hours early so we had drinks at the Champagne Bar on the second floor next to the Tiffanys Christmas Tree and waited for Howard. We moved to another restaurant (MI+ME) with Howard at the end of the train station near the kissing statue and had lunch. It was chilly outside, even under the cover of the train station. There is an indoor restaurant we should have eaten at but I only found it when we were getting ready to leave. It was great though to sit and catch up with Howard.

Going through Eurostar security, Kayla went first and the security guard yelled at her "Why would you do that?" It was stupid of him. She had just been moving a tray from the lower conveyor belt to the upper conveyor belt - no big deal at all. Kayla said he was probably just having a bad day, but we are all still laughing about it. None of us really know what he thought was wrong but none of us will forget it.

The Eurostar ride was nice and relaxing. Most of the ride is above ground. The train is only under the water for a relatively small part of the trip. This gave us a good tour of the English countryside and then the French countryside before and after the Chunnel. Plus, we had a meal and wine en route.

Our first struggle came when we got off at Lille and had to change trains to get to Paris and our connecting train was a 20-minute walk with luggage between two train stations. Momma almost died. Fortunately, we made it to the second train station and were off to Paris. I'm afraid I do contribute to Momma's near death experiences more often than not. I rush ahead to see where we have to go and to see if I am even going in the right direction (I am prone to going the wrong way occasionally) and Momma feels compelled to race to keep up with me. No dialogue has resolved our issue, but I will try harder to communicate more on the next trip.

It was after dark already, and we took a taxi to the hotel. The taxi driver was very nice and talkative, not like the rest of the taxi drivers in Paris for the rest of the trip (The rest were all quiet and solemn, maybe pompous, I don't know. Except for the taxi driver that dropped us off at Milan and Christina's apartment. He was very nice and conversational.).

We were all very impressed with the hotel. You feel like you are in a deserted part of Paris as the hotel is actually on the water (it is a floating barge) with the rest of the city high above us on the banks of the Seine. Our rooms were pretty tight but with amazing water views of the Seine. We ate at the hotel restaurant which is more like a bar with low lights and wall-to-wall windows looking out at the many tourist dinner boats that glide up and down the river.

After food and drinks and a really entertaining discussion (and video that I have promised to delete but have not as of yet), we left the restaurant full and happy. Momma went to sleep. Kayla, Troy and I walked down the river to the building next door and to the rooftop bar there (Rooftop Cafe Oz). The nightclub was just getting started and very quiet for a nightclub (the people, not the music - and the music was all American. America obviously rules the music industry). All three of us, including Kayla, felt very old there so we only stayed for two drinks before going back to the hotel and calling it a night. We later learned that our hotel, the riverside walkway to the rooftop bar and a shot of the rooftop bar were all in the movie, "Mission Impossible - Fallout". I had watched that movie flying to London. I watched it again flying back to Atlanta just to see those scenes.

These photos start with us in the elevator leaving the hotel in London and then a London taxi to St. Pancras Train Station. The London taxi's have rear seats that face each other and are probably uniquely recognized as London taxi's.






These photos are in St. Pancras Station (before Kayla got yelled at by security). Howard met us here. I can't believe I did not get a photo of us all together. Sorry Howie.





Here are all four of us on our Eurostar train to France.







And these shots are from our hotel on the Seine - Off Seine. I must have taken these shots the next morning because we did not get to the hotel until well after dark on the 27th.




See Momma inside sitting for breakfast.

Here is an impressive video on YouTube showing how the hotel was built and transported down the river to Paris, put together and finished. I can recommend this hotel for anyone going to Paris.


http://offparisseine.com/







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Page 2: London to Paris on the Eurostar





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