The Eurostar Experience....

This was special - as it was my first visit to Paris. And i was travelling by Eurostar. I've always loved travelling by trains and the Eurostar, based on the TGV, is right at the forefront of train technology along with the bullet trains of Japan. All promised to be a great experience....

Arrived at Waterloo International Eurostar Terminal, checked-in, went through customs and everthing was fine, nice & comfortable and before I knew I was sitting in the train looking forward to the roughly 2.5 hours the train journey....

The Eurostar started noiselessly and travelled at a comfortable pace through to Dover - the English countryside was breathtaking in the setting sun. The driver announced that we would enter the Channel Tunnel and would be under for about 20 minutes. Sure enough, 20 mins and a very smooth ride later we emerged from the tunnel on the other side in France.

This was when one got to experience the real speed of the TGV technology and the Eurostar (since the French run their TGV trains on modern tracks unlike their poor English cousins who still live on the old). The neat villages in the tidy French countryside shot past the window and in the the strange light that is there every evening, one couldnt help but feel that one was part of a lovely and beautiful painting....