Enroute to Paris

Awaiting the train
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We had a wake-up call at 6:00 am so that we wouldn’t have to rush – after a tea & coffee we departed the Amsterdam Hilton via taxi to Amsterdam Central Station. Easy cab ride – around 17 euros – we arrived in plenty of time for our 8:56 am Train. At the station we validated our EurRail Pass – very easy – just showed our passport and they stamp our tickets to officially start the clock on our rail pass.

Since this was our first experience with rail travel in Europe – we were a little anxious trying to figure out the dynamics of rail travel. The THALYS arrived on schedule – our tickets were for reserved seats on Car #3 seats 52 & 53. Our first challenge when the train arrived was figuring out which car was #3 – we asked and the conductor pointed us to the end of the train.

Exceptional meal onboard
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We boarded and left Amsterdam only to find out that we were on Car # 13. On these trains you don’t “schlep” your bags through the cars to get to # 3. We were told that at the next stop we were to disembark and run to the front of the train to get to our car. With 4 bags this was a little of a challenge as the train stop was only 3 minutes and we had to traverse the platform next to the train to get passed the 10 cars in front. We made it … a little out of breath and a whole lot smarter, because we now know how to figure out the ID for the cars.

The Grande Dame --- Tour Eiffel
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Traveling on the THALYS is unbelievable -- I’m actually writing this journal as we travel 60- 80 mph with hardly any noise or train movement. Our seats are very comfortable and quite large. They have a stewardess that served us breakfast and snack – including coffee & tea. We in the US have a lot to learn from the Europeans regarding traveling via train.

Just arrived at our hotel, Le Meridien Montparnasse – we chose to get a reservation for our taxi – so it was a breeze.

Before I go on … I need to correct the speed of the THALYS – I asked the conductor how fast we were going – he said 310- 320 kph – that translates to just under 200 mph – WOW !!! I need to also comment about the lunch we were served – with a bottle of wine and chocolates – I can’t think of a better way to spend a Tuesday then in Paris!

It’s just near 2:00 pm – we have 4 hours free before we meet our group for drinks at 6:00 pm – our plans are to do some exploring …

We headed off to try our luck with the metro – Sally had done some research and she found that purchasing a “CARNET” was our best deal (that’s a packet of 10 metro passes).

Our first stop was the Eiffel Tower – what a site! - We’re still pinching ourselves that it’s Tuesday, May 1^st and we’re in Paris. We strolled along the Seine for about 1 ½ hours watching the canal boats. Then we took the metro back to the Hotel and stopped by a grocery store to pick up some cheese, bread & wine.

At 6:00 we’re off to a meeting with our Tour Group – we met our tour leader and she went over the schedule for our trip – they severed wine during the orientation – the only way to have an orientation in Paris.

At 8:00 pm we headed out for dinner to a local café – since today is a National Holiday in France – “Labor Day” – many of the restaurants are closed. We found a local place called “Indiana Café “ we both had a ½ liter of Amstel Light and went for the real French meal of a cheeseburger and frites.

Another exciting day on our journey – starting with a 200 mph train ride and ending with a beer in a café in Paris – Life is very Good.