crossing the English Channel

i was a little bit worried about traveling to france because i've never traveled to a non-english speaking country without a translator.  in my past trips to italy, my relatives were always there to translate for me.  on my trip to taiwan, we had a tour guide with us the whole time who translated everything for us.  so france without a translator and speaking no french at all other than "merci" and "au revoir" made me uneasy.  i downloaded the english-french translator on my phone so i can have it handy in case we needed it.

taking the train to paris was a great choice.  we were able to get our train tickets at 50% off because our friend's friend worked for Eurail (as they say, it's not what you know, but who you know!). plus taking the train was much more convenient and relaxing.  

waiting to board our train

we arrived at the St. Pancras station with enough time to eat some breakfast at Le Pain Quotidien.  the food was a little bit expensive but that's how it is at airports and train stations.  i enjoyed my croissant and paul and michelle each had their belgian waffles. going through security was a breeze and boarding the train was quick.  

i really enjoy riding the train.  you get a lot more leg room and you can get up and walk and stretch for a little bit.  it was just a little over 2 hours from london to paris so i just read from my kindle while michelle watched video on her tablet.  paul took a nap for most of the train ride.

we arrived at gar du nord and took the metro to our hotel which was only a few stops away.  when we got off the metro, we walked around and around the station for a little bit, trying to find the exit.  a older gentleman took pity on us and in his english spoken with a thick french accent, asked if we needed help and we asked for the exit.  he pointed at the huge sign that says, "sortie" and said, "sortie.  that means exit in english."  "merci!"  i exclaimed!  we climbed the stairs and to what was plaza republique and walked just a few feet to our hotel and we were "home".

we stayed at crowne plaza paris republique.  i picked this location because it was very close to the metro station (just a few steps away) about 15 minutes away from central paris, and 10 minutes away from the gar du nord eurostar train station.  there was also an abundance of restaurants around the hotel so it was not difficult to find a place to eat.

this is not my photo but our room had a view of the courtyard
this is what it looked like

kicking it in Paris

one of paul's best friends and his family was waiting for us at the hotel when we arrived. joel and his family now lives in austria and we had agreed to take a paris vacation at the same time.  we have not seen them in about 7 years and it was a real treat to spend some time with them. this was definitely one of the highlights of our trip to paris.  hopefully we can spend time with them again soon.  the 1 day we spent with them really wasn't enough to catch up.  

on my next post, i will write more about this lovely trip to paris!