Paris on the Eurostar

I booked myself onto an earlier Eurostar than planned on Friday and skived off from the office with a little bubble of excitement fizzing inside. Over the fence….under the walll….freeeee!!

The Eurostar is a great way to go. A short tube from the office, no queues (not at that time of the afternoon anyway) and sitting on the train with my magazines and knitting in no time. The 16:10 from Waterloo is definitely the family service – lots of kids and what I figured were expat families with Dad in his suit intentlylooking at his blackberry and Mum juggling stroller, drinks and kids.

Walking down the carriage to buy my mini vin rouge and brie baguette I was struck by the amount of technology being used. I counted 7 people in one carriage watching DVDs on their laptops, every second person texting and all the kids glued to little games thingies. The majority of people only taking their ipod earplugs out just long enough to answer their phones.

And yes, I was the only person knitting. And sans iPod. No street cred whatsoever.

Smithy met me at Gare du Nord and we swung by the hotel before going to Boeuf Sur Le Toit for dinner. Art Deco, delicious, definitely touristy but in an enjoyable way. The table of English rugby fans nearby obviously had a few Welsh among them judging by the quality of the singing that struck up around midnight. I think they got away with quite a few numbers only because they were actually quite good but the suave maitre’d stepped in when the volume became roof raising.