Cherrio Mate!!!

Well before I really get into Eurostar and the trip to Paris I just want to mention The Pride of Paddington Pub we went to last night for fish and chips. It was absolutly GREAT, only l6.95 for Fish and Chips. Beer was cold, people were nice, and scenery while eating was great as well. Fish was large, flakey, and lightly breaded. Highly recommend this place just out the door from Paddington Station to the right.



Again our "signature" brown egg breakfast greeted us this morning with that wonderful English toast...bigger than US Toast, and of course my favorite Black Current Jelly and real English butter, chased with a small glass of English orange juice and of course that tasty English coffee!!! UMMMMMMM I just enjoy sitting there savoring my breakfast and watching how other people get the shell off their eggs!! ;-)

Well enough about breakfast, we took the Lil Black London cab to Waterloo today to commence our journey on Eurostar to Paris. I had really been looking forward to this because being the 3rd son of a railroader when trains were popular in the US, I was curious to see how Europe had done in maintaining their rail system. The signs had been there all along, but it was obvious that this country had the foresight to keep their rail system maintained and up to date while the US let theirs fall into disrepair.

All those years the government has been subsidising the airlines (and they all still are going bankrupt) and sat by while the privately owned rail companies were going down the drain. The government never stepped in to maintain the tracks or take control till it was much too late and too far gone. Now you see what we have...one passenger train daily in a city like Dallas, and even that train has to stop on the side to give way to freight trains.

Well not in Europe...the Eurostar (one of them) is scheduled out of London at 12:09 arriving in Paris at 2:59 London time. Do you think they were late or standing on the side while freight trains trudged by???? Nope, we left ON TIME and arrived ON TIME, averaging over 100 mph for the entire trip, and a very smooth ride. This is the French countryside as we came into France. I was really impressed...but a sight that impressed me even more was when we were pulling out of Waterloo station in London there must have been 5 passenger trains all leaving at the same time and about that many arriving. It looked like Dallas and Ft. Worth used to look years ago. I even remember when Anadarko had 13 passenger trains daily and only 8 taxi cabs.

Oh well, enough of THAT soapbox, just a little disenchanted with OUR government, but then I guess who isn't, what with Georgie boy making us all look like idiots and war mongrels.

Anyway the trip was great, had lunch on the train and caught a Paris taxi to the Hotel.










Well I made a great impression when we arrived at the hotel...when we were checking in I thought damn,these French women have an odor about them, but wasn't about to say anything. Then as I started up the stairs it was evident that I had steppen in a pile of dog s___ just outside the door and tracked it in on their beautiful white marble floor. The whole lobby smelled and I had to go out to the street and beat my sandles on the pavement, then bring'em upstairs and use my toothbrush to clean it. I hope I remember that in the morning when I go to brush my teeth.

The room is GREAT though, the place is the Hotel Ecole Centrale on Rue Bailly and so far is the nicest of the places we've stayed in. The windows open out (we're on the 5th floor) and the flavor and cool Paris air just come streaming in...along with all those people screaming in French!! ;-)



We put our stuff up and as usuall took off walking. We went through a couple of artsy squares, by the Center Pompidou, then across the River Seine.













We continued along the narrow streets and soon came upon Notre Dame Cathedral. Was very nice but to tell the truth I prefer the "Fighting Irish of Notre Dame"!! We walked back across the river and through a street carnival that was going on along the river, then headed back toward the hotel stoping to have crepes for dinner.







I was looking for a Glace, but unfortunately had passed all the shops already. John did stop and have a Donner...I took a bite, very tasty!!!

Back to the hotel now and that's it for another day. This hotel was gracious enough to have a fridge in each room stocked with mixers...if I'd JUST stopped and gotten the 'mix'!!







All the pictures I took today were movies to be incorporated into the DVD titled "My European Vacation", so not a lot of pics today. Has ANYONE heard from Joe, did he come back from Chicago or did his dad kill him??????