BREAKFAST IN LONDON, DINNER IN PARIS – Wednesday

Dinner last night at the Parcel Yard Pub was just fine.  Elaine had Artichoke Soup followed by Chicken, Ham, & Leek Pie..  For me, Pork Terrine with Rhubarb Compote followed by Steak and London Pride Pie.  All yummy.  We tucked in quickly after dinner.

Just minutes after checking out of the Great Northern Hotel we were across the street in St Pancras International Station to board the 10:25 AM Eurostar for the trip to Paris.  Back in 2008 we took the Eurostar, now celebrating its 25^th birthday, through the Channel Tunnel (Chunnel) from St Pancras to Brussels.  The train is ultra modern and very nice.  The trip through the tunnel sounds exciting but is, in fact, pretty boring —  for twenty minutes or so you can’t see anything while in the tunnel..  On Eurostar, so they say, everything is first class, so the various seating options are standard, standard premier, and business premier.  With our standard premier tickets, we were served a continental breakfast that was pretty mundane but tasty none the less.  The ride was nice, and the train was spot on time arriving at Gare du Nord at 1:47.  With the hour time change, it’s only two hours and twenty minutes to Paris.

It was cloudy and rainy when we left London, but it was a beautiful sunny afternoon in Paris.  On arrival we used our pre-purchased Paris Visite Metro passes to ride the two stops on the RER train from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon, the station where will board the TGV to Barcelona on Friday morning. We checked in at the Mercure Hotel Gare de Lyon located right at the station.

Once settled in the room, we went for a walkabout along the Seine and then stopped at La Verre a Vin for glasses of French red from the Rhone.  Delicious.  Back at the hotel I called l’Aubergeade to reserve a table at 7:30 PM.  It’s about a 20 minute walk and gets rave reviews on TripAdvisior.  Reports on the restaurant in tomorrow’s blog.