Day 6 - Travel Day

Checkout at the Airbnb was 10:00am, so we packed up and headed to Chippenham Railway Station, arriving about two hours early for our 12:30 train. We took the train to Paddington Station, then the Tube to King’s Cross St Pancras for our Eurostar.

Check-in for our 3:30pm Eurostar was at 2:15pm, and of course, we were a little late. And just to add a little excitement to the day, one of the wheels on our suitcase decided it had had enough and broke! So, we spent the rest of the journey through the station basically dragging the poor suitcase behind us.

Security and passport checks went smoothly, and boarding followed soon after. Eurostar Plus was great — roomier seats, plus a light meal and beverage included.

The high-speed train from London to Paris takes about 2 hours and 16 minutes. Around 35 minutes of the journey is through the underwater section of the 50-kilometre Channel Tunnel (the famous “Chunnel”). We barely noticed we were underwater, other than a little ear popping.

We arrived at Gare du Nord and grabbed a taxi to our B&B. Paris is one hour ahead of London, so it was already close to 8:00pm by the time we arrived.

Our hosts, Monique and Louis, were wonderful — super helpful and spoke perfect English. We freshened up and headed out for dinner at Le Petit Marcel, which Monique had recommended.

After dinner, we walked down to the Seine and over to Notre-Dame Cathedral. Seeing Notre-Dame at night was pretty magical and felt like the perfect introduction to Paris.

We wandered around for a bit before heading back to the B&B, arriving around 11:00pm.Read more