We got up very early and took an Uber to St Pancras Station. Cat came with us because she had a screen to drop off at her office which is near the station, so our journey turned out to be convenient for her too! We have never been in the Eurostar or through the Channel Tunnel before, so we were both very excited. The Eurostar has pros and cons. To start with the cons it’s pricey, although it’s cheaper if you book quite far ahead, as we did. You have to arrive 90 minutes before the train’s departure, to go through passport control and security. which means that we needed to be at St Pancras at 6.30 a.m. for our 8.01 a.m. train. This is just about as early as you need to be at the airport to catch a plane. The pros are that you travel from the centre of London to the centre of Paris, which is very handy, and also you go through two passport controls at the beginning of your journey, so when you get on the train you are have already changed country, and you can just stroll off at the train at the other end.
Our seats were comfy, forward facing and beside a window (carefully booked by me!) however there wasn’t much to see except flat countryside. And once we entered the channel tunnel there was nothing to see at all of course! We were only in the tunnel for twenty minutes until we emerged into France. I dozed a bit and the two and a half hour journey flew past. It was very exciting to arrive at Gare du Nord and walk into the streets of Paris.
First of all we went to the Louis Blanc Hotel, which I booked because it’s only 15 minutes walk from the station. We were very pleased to find that our room was ready early so we could put our cases straight into our room, which was plain but smart and clean.
And then off we went on foot to Montmartre, one of our very favourite places in Paris, and had lunch sitting outside a café in the Place du Tertre and wandered around the streets and it was blissful. The waiters of Paris are reputed to be unfriendly but I have never found them so; they were laughing and joking with us. When I forgot which salad I had ordered the waiter said “Alzheimer’s?” with a cheeky smile! Later we walked down the hill through Pigalle and onwards to Galeries Lafayette, where we were in good time for our Macaron making class. What great fun it was! There were twelve of us in the class and our lovely French teacher, Marie, was so kind and helpful. All of the other students were American and very friendly. Marie was absolutely precise in her cooking and instructions and I really felt that I learned a lot from her. We each made two pistachio macarons and two chocolate macarons, and took them back to the hotel in little boxes. Excellent experience!
Our final plan for the day was dinner in the Café Les Deux Gares, situated between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est. We had dinner in a restaurant with the same name several times more than forty years ago and we thought that it would be fun to revisit it. But alas we didn’t recognise it, and the location seemed slightly wrong. So I think that our old café, with its red and white checked paper tablecloths where the waiters used to write the “addition”, and ceramic carafes of very cheap wine, probably closed years ago. The new one is very nice though, and we sat outside in the evening sunshine and had a very tasty meal. We were both exhausted when we got back to our hotel!
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