A Tale of Two Cities, part 2

Eurostar is a high speed train line that connects London to Paris through the Channel Tunnel.  From when the Channel Tunnel first opened in 1994, until 2007 when the terminal was moved across town, Eurostar carried nearly 82 million passengers from Waterloo Station through the tunnel to the continent.  My family and I were among those passengers in late January 2000 to board the sleek comfortable Eurostar train.  We were leaving the busiest train station in Britain, heading for the busiest station in all of Europe, the Gare du Nord on the north side of Paris.

Trains departing Waterloo pass the Battersea Power Station on the way out of town.  For unsuspecting travelers this is an unexpected surprise, as it was the setting of the cover of the Pink Floyd album "Animals".  We enjoyed watching the very urban London scenery pass by as the train made its way to the tunnel.  As we finally arrived at the tunnel, we made a fuss to the children about it.  But, although we were reaching top speeds of 189 miles per hour, we lacked a visual point of reference with which to enjoy the speed.  20 minutes later we emerged from the tunnel and were in France. 

We arrived at Gare du Nord, children and luggage in tow, and walked the few blocks to the Alba Opera Apart'hotel.  I have a tendency to forget that city blocks are larger than they appear on the map, especially when pushing prams and pulling suitcases through busy city streets.  We tried to contain our excitement long enough to get to the hotel and unpack our bags, but it was difficult not to gawk at this historic yet vibrant living city as we made our way just over half a mile to the hotel.

The Alba Opera Apart'hotel offers hotel rooms and small apartments, close to the border between the 9th and 18th arrondissement.  It is close to the historic Montmartre region, a reasonable walking distance to the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur and the Moulin Rouge caberet.  The hotel was as charming as could be.  The room was on the 3rd floor, and the elevator was so tiny (and cute) that we could only send the luggage up the elevator, and had to walk the stairs to meet the bags when they arrived.  Despite our inability to speak French, and the proprietor's inability to speak English, she gave us lots of great information and a local map showing us the Metro stations and nearby points of interest.  We exchanged information using gestures and even a bit of Spanish, since the proprietor was of Spanish descent.  As we re-loaded our kids into their matching prams and prepared to head out of the hotel for our first foray into the City of Lights, we knew this was going to be a fantastic adventure.