We took the EuroStar train from London to Paris, and it was awesome!  It took two hours and 15 minutes to make the trip at speeds of 200-300 km/hr.  There were two tunnels that were 35 meters below the English Channel bottom and each was about 25 miles long.  All the necessities were included with our seats:  USB outlets, electrical outlets, headphone outlets, vanity mirror, laptop storage groove beside the seat, adjustable footrest, reading light, pocket for holding small items, overhead and underseat storage, and reclining seats that did not invade the space of the passengers behind us–there was that much leg room.

We had a full meal served to us in our seats.  There was also a snack/dining car, but the delivered-to-our-seat meal was included in the ticket price and the dining car was not.  I had some kind of quiche with a dinner roll, a salad, a beverage, a raspberry tart for dessert, and a piece of chocolate to finish it off.  Not to mention beverage service that included wine, of course.

The next wonderful surprise was our hotel.  We have a small suite with a seating area, sleeping area, and bath.  There’s an amazing amount of storage space, so we unpacked four days’ worth of stuff and put everything out of sight.  We haven’t had window screens anywhere we’ve been, so there must be a shortage of bugs in Europe.  An added amenity in this hotel is the electrical blinds outside each window (hotel windows open in Europe) so we can open the windows and still have some privacy.  BTW, you pronounce privacy with a short “i” if you’re British.  I don’t think we’ve ever been in such a clean hotel room–spotless and probably dust-mote free as well–and it’s a great place to hang out.  What a shame that we want to see Paris more than we want to hang out in our room.  If it had a little kitchen, it would be a nice one-bedroom apartment.

After we settled in, we spent our first hours in Paris walking to the Louvre and strolling through the Tuilleries after dinner.  Life is good!