The trip we are doing is a 40th Anniversary trip of the original Central Kingdom Express. In those days it took 42 days on trains. Luckily for us trains have improved quite a bit, so we only have around 12 days on the train to come. On the original trip the participants were apparently piped on to the train, so ….. at this point, those of a nervous disposition or with bagpipe phobia, should look away ….. we started the day being piped through St.Pancras station to the Eurostar.
This certainly created quite a stir on the platform and we tried to hang back pretending we had nothing to do with it. However, it seemed that Eurostar, never ones to kiss a promotional opportunity decided to allow the Piper into the waiting area and he then entertained everyone waiting including people clearly heading for Disneyland (Mickey Mouse ears are a dead giveaway of your destination!). They clearly must have thought they were there already.
After a very smooth ride across to Paris, we spent half an hour on a coach battling Parisian traffic and could probably have walked quicker to our hotel – the Paris Hilton Opera. A lovely quirky room and great location.
Because of the train being delayed two hours while they defused the unexploded WWII bomb, we didn’t have much time, but we did manage to wander down to the Louvre quickly for a look round. The evening was then spent at Les Fouquet’s restaurant on the Champs Elysees for a welcome dinner.
