train to Paris! March 30

After having an appropriate breakfast of scones at Chris and Ken's, Katrina took us to Bromley South where we took an express train to Victoria and then the Victoria tube line to St. Pancras station where  we picked up our Eurostar tickets, our first time riding as seniors.  (Sigh). $62 each.

We woke Georgie M. up from sleep to meet us for a coffee.  We met at the Booking Room, a lovely restaurant lobby of the very posh St Pancras Hotel.  The coffee was expensive, but it was so worth it to be warm, comfortable and able to chat in quiet.  (Thanks to Shirley for her recommendation)
It was so wonderful to meet Georgie who is doing a junior term in England and who recently got her British citizenship.Then, promptly at 2:00, the train left. It was very crowded with the start of the Easter holidays and the British escaping the coldest March in 50 years. We ate hummus and crackers. The train took just about 2.5 hours. We arrived at the Gare du Nord and walked, a little bit crookedly, to the Gare de l'Est where we picked up Metro line 7 to Pyramides. We got turned around trying to find Rue du Marche in the 1st arrondissement, where we have stayed before, but we did manage to find it. It is a funky, rather dingy little studio with a futon, two-burner hot plate and up two rickety, narrow flights of stairs, but the location near the Tuileries and the price of €90 per night cannot be beat. And, it is so nice to feel like we know the neighborhood. We called Nick on Nantucket using Viber, set up by Katrina. And, then we went to the ATM for some euros, shopped in a little market and had a dinner of jambon, Brie and bread and caught up on our email.w