Monday 24 October - Torino to Paris then London

We had an early breakfast and took a taxi to Torino Porta Susa station which is being rebuilt.  The new overall roof will be beautiful but at the moment it is a real mess and seems to house a lot of homeless people.  The toilet was the closest to a Chinese toilet I have ever seen in Europe.  There are only four platforms available and our train followed an Italian high speed train and a commuter train into the one platform.  A Spanish Talgo train, presumably from Barcelona, hauled by an Italian locomotive came in just before we left.  We left a couple of minutes late boarding passengers but in spite of slow running managed to arrive at Gare de Lyon two minutes late.  The journey through the Alps was interesting and there was a lot of slow running through very long tunnels.  Once into France the country was dotted with small towns and settlements.  We avoided Lyon and then ran through the uninteresting open country between there and Paris. Mistletoe can be seen easily this time of year when the leaves have fallen.  Bach Organ music entertained me until Modane and them I switched to Mozart Don Giovanni until Paris.

Paris Gare du Nord.  The Thalys set has been decorated for the Tintin movie by Spielberg, the autographed this set the next day in Brussels.

The trip across Paris was very easy on the RER line D and we had a lot of time to get a snack and check in to Eurostar.  The journey to London was quite comfortable with just one stop at Ebbsfleet International.  Western Kent is Man of Kent country but I was really at home when we crossed the Medway because I am a Kentish Man.  The Medway was shining silver grey in the late afternoon sun.  We had a good view of the Medway road suspension bridge.  We arrived in St. Pancras just two minutes late.  It was a long walk down the platform as we were in the last car.  The Hotel Megaro is just across Euston Road from St. Pancras and we have a great view of it from our room.