Edinburgh to Paris via a London Pub

Ahh, the romance of train travel: The Orient Express, The Ghan, The Spirit of the Outback (in descending order, I think***). Crystal chandeliers swaying to the rhythm of the the rails, silver service and fine champagne in the Pulman dining car of the Flying Scotsman. Actually, the famous Scotsman does still fly but, "malheureusement" (got to start getting into that French feeling) only on special outings on regional lines, but check it doing 100mph.

Your intrepid travelers have to settle for the much more prosaic LNER  (formerly Virgin) fast train

St Pancras Station, they don't build
them like they used to!

from Edinburgh to London (King's Cross station) then changing to the Eurostar, which departs from the very imposing, the splendidly gothic St Pancras station. Having left Edinburgh at the quite civilised hour of 9:30 AM we arrive at Gare Nord, Paris at 18:37 PM, our cost, a very reasonable $830 for us two.....both first class naturellment! First class gives us more leg room, comfy seats and complimentary food and booze....its the only way to travel. However, at £44 a bottle, we did forego the Duval Leroy champagne. Yes, I know, I know, that's really letting the side down,  but, I say, forty four pounds when "train bubbles" are free!

The Skinner's Arms

 Happily, the two stations, King's Cross and St Pancras, are  but a very short luggage trundle apart and we had a  90 minutes changeover. What else to do but sample a pint at a London pub just to say that, once again, we enjoyed London hospitality. Down a side street we found The Skinners Arms, perfect.  Must have been a rather smelly neighbourhood in the past. I really think there must be more corner pubs in central London than there are corner coffee shops in central Sydney!

We are nearing Paris so we really must get in the mood with Edith Piaf, of course, here Need I say more, no.

Your travelers had no intention whatsoever of trundling our bags about Paris at 6:30 in the evening in search of our hotel. Been there, done that and then not happy!  So its a short taxi ride from Gare Nord to our apartment hotel, Citadines Bastille Marais , 11th Arrondisment. ("Oui, monsieur, we have been in Paris several times. We know how close the hotel really is to gare Nord!" This to forestall a Cooks tour and subsequent fare.)

Our hotel is not far from the Place de la Bastille (without la Bastille, long since demolished) and the very picturesque Canal Saint-Martin. This video (admittedly a tad touristy but enjoyable) does give a great feel for the

Canal Saint-Martin

Canal Saint-Martin and surrounding area. We elect to spend a whole day just taking in the wonderful atmosphere..., un long dejeuner avec une bouteille de vin blanc maison...what bliss.  No prize for the translation, its fairly obvious, isn't it? 

For the evening meal, we have found a lovely little cafe serving

authentic French Onion Soup. Hot and brown, strips of onion in a beef  stock soup deliciously gratineed with croutons and cheese on top of a large piece of bread, all grilled. Voila!! Bon appetit!! 😋😋😋

The Canal, in part, was built for bargemen to bypass the long loops of the Seine around central Paris. Napoleon Number 1 ordered construction to start in 1802 and construction continued until 1825, all funded by a tax on wine. Now that must have been popular!!!

Here's Val raising a glass in a little corner cafe in Paris, left bank, low season, in fact winter time. Very slow custom, it seems, for the waiter on the corner opposite.

Below is our expedition's chief dork at the Champs-Élysées  Christmas market. Contrary to appearances, he's not chatting up the (un)impressed bird (I'm really really not) but negotiating for a cup of vin chaud (hot mulled wine).

Coming clean: both pics are from our November 2013 visit to France ahead of our 11 month house exchange in 2014. And, yes, it really was that cold in Paris.  

We leave soon for La Charante where we will visit old haunts and old wonderful friends we met in the great year 2014.  

Love to all, Val and Bryan

****Not to denigrate the great experience of a night on the Spirit of the Outback, a slow journey to Longreach (for our European readers, that's in central Queensland)   ADD PIC of Beds

Bryan in the cabin on The Spirit of The Outback.

Val sits opposite and the cupboard and chair back fold

down to form a single bed. Val has one that folds down 

so our tootsies touch. With the beds down there is precious

little room to change. But we loved the whole experience!