John and Cindy's Travel Adventures: Saturday, June 3, 2017 - Goodbye UK

Off we go - this time it's by train - the Eurostar! I've been on Amtrak before (with two lovely forever friends to Chicago) but John never has been on one. So he was the newbie this time. This was a non-stop trip to Paris. It was another one of those engineering wonders --- taking a train through a tunnel under the English Channel. I know of several individuals in my family and social circle that would not have been able to make that kind of a trip. But John and I did just fine. In fact, after finally getting settled in our coach seats, we ended up taking naps. John had to nudge me awake because I was beginning to snore. LOL! And I woke myself up once because I was snoring again.....Good gravy...can't take me anywhere without drawing attention.

Once arriving in Paris - holy Toledo was that an eye-opener. I've been pan-handled before while working in downtown Minneapolis. But heaven forbid - as soon as John and I step off the train and into the main part of the station, five people haggled us for money, first asking if we were English (John's Packers hat was a dead giveaway), but they wouldn't take "no" for an answer right away. Not to mention being haggled by several taxi drivers. We had other plans of how to get from the train station to the hotel room, but unfortunately, those plans didn't work out, so we ended up needing a taxi anyway, which was way more expensive than taking an Uber (which by the way - they are truly the lifesaver when it comes to getting from one location to another in a strange city.) THEY ARE AWESOME!!! And so very glad they are worldwide.

Usually on our major travel days we don't schedule any type of tour - it's classified to us as a "down day" - that time to rest up from the hussle and bussle of getting our lives together to move again. But this day we decided to do an evening tour of the Eiffel Tour. The "skip the line tours" are the true way to go. We have done those for quite a few of the tours we've been on.

BUT -- before the Eiffel Tower "skip the line tour" John and I decided to wet our whistles at none other than Starbucks! Yes, Starbucks is all over the UK and Paris and just about the same menu items as well - with a European flavor.

We really lucked out with our tour guide for the Eiffel Tower - Jack. A very pleasant lad of Scottish decent and was extremely funny with jokes during the entire tour. What was really nice about the tour was we all had earpieces to wear so we could hear Jack tell the different fun facts about Paris and it historical (or hysterical) markers. He told the greatest stories and was a great guide. He was a history major when he attended Cambridge. Now he is a lawyer - pour bastard! LOL! :) (sorry --- I couldn't resist).

Our tour was to the second level - perfect level to see across the city from all sides. We saw so many different sites. Just take a gander at these pictures.