Living in the UK we’re very spoilt when it comes to traveling without much hassle. Airlines like Easyjet, Ryanair and the like have made it incredibly affordable to get to other parts of Europe. Train companies like Virgin make it possible to get to other parts of the UK. And a little-known company called Eurostar make it quick and easy to get from London to Paris; Brussels, and Amsterdam. After our day trip to Brighton, a day trip to Paris was the next milestone to cross, and what better way to spend the day before Hannah’s birthday than in the ‘city of love’.

We were woken up by ’Shake it Off’ by Taylor Swift and yawned as our vision came into focus. It was 5 am and we needed to get to Brockley station soon to get our train from Kings Cross at 07:01. Luckily we didn’t need to pack much as we would be back the same day so our main priorities were; entertainment for the journey, a water bottle, passport, and a list of things to do while we were there. We walked out of our flat like zombies barely realising where we were as we hobbled down the stairs. The streets were completely empty and quiet, no cars or pedestrians just us and the cool autumn wind. We got to the station with time to spare before our train arrived, everything was going to plan, in fact even better than planned. We even had time for some breakfast at Benugo, a trendy looking cafe in Kings Cross, for some reason it was the only place open so early in the morning. A porridge for me, a tea and bacon egg muffin for my wife. Once our bellies were satisfied, we made our way to the Eurostar kiosk, printed out our tickets, and made our way through the various barriers. Passport control, baggage check, you’d think there would be less security in a train station compared to an airport but it was more or less the same with less walking between each checkpoint before getting to the waiting area.

I really enjoy the look and feel of the Eurostar, Kings Cross lobby. It’s the closets feeling of business Class an economy traveler can have. Dark oak wooden floors and surfaces that always looks freshly varnished, well-kept leather blue seats, large plasmas screens hanging from the ceiling some specifically for displaying train times, others for displaying adverts, as much as I loved this area, I couldn’t stay there for too long on this occasion. Unbeknown to us our train was boarding earlier than we expected which resulted in us being rushed up to the platform soon after we got through security. We jogged up the ramp, found our coach, then made our way through to our seats. After taking out the essentials; headphones, iPad, PlayStation Vita, we slumped ourselves onto the comfy seats and enjoyed what felt like a relatively short trip from one capital to another.

Arriving at Gare du Nord didn’t feel like we were in a different country; the people looked similar, adverts were primarily in English, and the station looks like any other train station, the new country feeling began to hit us once we escaped the designated Eurostar part of the grandiose. Conversations were loud, stores had French words outside of them with euro signs on their posters instead of pounds signs, and the ticket machines for the Metro were–difficult to understand. After we pulled what we thought were day trip metro passes out of the architecture when hit the underground bridges going the Centre de Pompidou, personally my favourite part of Paris.

Centre de Pompidou was the place where I had my first Nutella Crepe and French hot chocolate, it was the place where I purchased my first fridge magnet and the place where I saw some really impressive french art. The area was a large art gallery surrounded by trendy shops with entertainment and outdoor works of art, sadly, the queue to get into the gallery was more than the length of three double-decker buses outside of the building so there was no chance we were going to get in, nevertheless we enjoyed the area and the various bits of art around it. Next top, Notre Dame.

I visited this illustrious church on my first visit to Paris and was impressed with the architecture, just not with what was inside. On it again that sentiment didn’t change. The inside of Notre Dome was dark, full of candles, statues, and the colourful light from the stained glass windows. As one of the few free attractions in the French capital it was unsurprisingly busy, people in the central seated area of the church were either kneeling to pray or doing it in front of the altar, there was plenty of Catholic merchandise at various areas for those so inclined. The sculptures were impressive, but I’m not much or a medieval sculpture person, neither was I much into catholicism history so I was eager to leave the place no soon after entering. The foliage on the outside was well kept, and I was surprised to see a group of sparrows moving around inside the bushes, I don’t remember seeing it on my first visit and was completely enamored by it. The other tourists–busy taking selfies in front of the famous building unlike me had no interest in the natural spectacle that lay before them which was a shame. Notre Dame done, it was time to get something to eat, and we obviously went for the most French lunch we could ever think of eating. Pizza.

Freshly made pizza with ham and melted bits of blue cheeses, the taste wasn’t authentically Italian but was a very impressive meal, like a French take on classic pizza. The place we ate at was called Margherita on a quaint cobbled street off Rue De L'ancienne Comêdie. This street was full of restaurants, notably the Un Dimanche à Paris which is a Michelin guide restaurant right opposite where we sat. Definitely somewhere to check out if you fancy good pizza in Paris. Our next destination was Jardin Du Luxembourg which, if you know your Parisian geography you’ll quickly pick up on the fact that going from Gare du Nord, to Pompidou, to Notre Dome then to Jardin Du Luxembourg probably was not the most efficient route to visit all the places but it was good exercise for the both of us.

Jardin Du Luxembourg was completely empty on my first visit to Paris, maybe because the weather wasn’t so good, maybe because I visited it on a weekday when most Parisians would be at work or school, but for some reason on this Friday it was incredibly busy. There were a group of school kids on some sort of art trip with sketchbooks walking around the park, a lot of people sitting on one of the many free metal green chairs soaking up the sun, some were lying on the grass, and some were tourists taking pictures of and admiring the park. We found a slightly less popular part, took two chairs each and rested from all the walking we had done. Although it was much quieter where we were,  we could still hear a combination of conversations, footsteps, and birds nearby which hindered how relaxed we were. After around half an hour of rest, we got up and continued walking around the park. We walked to an area with much less grass but a few sectioned off areas for playing French game called boule, I had never seen anyone play it before and Hannah explained the rules to me. I’ve got to say, the game itself didn’t seem that interesting, but there were a handful of people enjoying the sun and entertainment. Our next destination was Musee d'Orsay which was originally built in a train station. You learn something new every day.

Our visit started and stopped outside the museum primarily because we had planned to visit many other places, also ticket prices were more expensive than we anticipated, although the statues outside were impressive (yes they weren’t medieval). We walked at a leisurely pace towards the Eiffel Tower, the view of the Seine and the grounds below the raised part we walked on was impressive. The bottom section loved very modern and hipster with a row of pop-up stores and colourful art on the pavement, Hannah even spotted a longboarder she knew down there, sadly he was too engrossed in his conversation to look up and notice us. We made our way to Champs Elysee and the weather changed from sunny blue skies to gloomy grey ones, however, we were still impressed with the scenery, the autumnal colours from the trees and many leaves that were on the ground. The grandiose buildings with impressive architecture, and golden statues on top of bridges and long poles, Paris is truly a marvelous city to walk around it. After making a pit stop to a convenience store and getting some water and chocolates we made our way towards the tower from the back, instead of the front which had a grass runway leading up to it. It was the closest I had ever been to the tower and I took many pictures to reflect that. We stayed there for a few minutes to further admire the tower and people watch before heading to the next attraction, Arc de Triomphe.

As I mentioned before to one who knows Paris well it will sound very unusual to walk from Musee D'Orsay to Champs Elysee to the Eiffel Tower then to the Arc de Triomphe since the Arc de Triomphe is on the Champs Elysee, but we now know for next time. The famous Arch built in commemoration to Napoleon’s triumph couldn’t have been in a more decorated part of Paris. Placed in the center of a large twelve road roundabout with streets that contained the most expensive and high-class stores in the whole of the capital, stores like Luis Vuitton, Dior, and Chanel. The place wasn’t only bustling with plenty of tourists but cars too. We didn’t spend too long looking at the Arc as we were taken away with the glitz and glamour of the place, but during our exploration, we stumbled across a film premiere. The film 'Detroit’ starring John Boyega, (Fin from Star Wars) was having it’s opening night on the day we happened to be in Paris and in the exact location we were, what a coincidence. We waited for no longer than two minutes before large black vehicles started pulling up towards the red carpet, we both had our cameras at the ready trying to get a good view of the stars amongst the myriad fans and paparazzi. We weren’t aware of the other actors that walked out, but when the main star of the film emerged from his vehicle–we started snapping like crazy. Luckily he appeased the crowd for much longer than those before him, shaking hands and signing posters as he strode so we had plenty opportunities to get good shots.

It was dark, we were exhausted, and our train back to London would depart in around an hour so we found the closest metro station and made our way back to Gare Du Nord but soon realised–we couldn’t. We hadn’t bought a ticket for the whole day but just for one journey, we were told by the metro staff member after trying and failing to get through the barriers. Good thing we walked instead of taking the public transport everywhere, our inner city travel might have ended up a lot more than it did. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only mess up we encountered that evening.

On approach to the Eurostar section of Gare Du Nord we spotted a large crowd at the base of the stairs, people were agitated and confused as to why staff members weren’t letting them get onto their trains. We picked up on a few conversations that said trains had been delayed but it must have been delayed by a lot for a crowd of roughly 200 to congregate inside the station. About an hour later, a Eurostar staff member walked halfway down the stairs and announced there was a signal failure in the tunnel and all the trains schedules form 19:35 onwards had been canceled until further notice. The whole crowd was shocked and bewildered as were we. Phone calls were being made to loved ones, a group began chanting to be let on the train, and many just walked out of the station in anger. We stayed for as long as we could waiting to hear further announcements, we really wanted to get back to London for Saturday to further celebrate Hannah’s birthday but there was a slim chance of that happening, until. A member came down, possibly the same one that made the first announcement the 19:35 train is now ready for those who booked it. We got excited, although ours was the 21:13, maybe they might announce ours in a few hours, we’d get home really late but at least we’d get home. Alas, our wishes didn’t become a reality, no more trains were announced instead, compensation leaflets were passed around saying Eurostar would cover our food, hotel and any return tickets we would buy so–we took them up on it.

The Kyriad Hotel next to Gare De l'Est station was close to being fully booked and we were lucky to have got a room, we were told by the hotel staff. Although the Kyriad was about a ten-minute walk from the Gare du Nord, and we’d eaten a pretty filling dinner of chips and steak, we were still frustrated at the whole scenario. We hadn’t packed to stay overnight so we had to purchase essentials like toothbrushes and toothpaste, we didn’t have a change of clothes or underwear. Hannah was in tears at points and I tried my best to comfort her, to stay calm and thank God in all our circumstances. Eventually, we went to sleep, hoping that tomorrow would be better.

We got back to Gare du Nord long before our 09:10 train but the queue was the longest I had ever seen for a train. People who hadn’t booked a new train but left from in the confusion last night were there waiting to get on, people for later trains were waiting in different lines. We were still queuing long past 09:10 but when we finally got through our security checks and arrived on the platform–we were told our train had left. There was nothing we could have possibly done to have avoided that scenario and weren’t in the minority. About 60 to 70 people had also missed the 09:10 train because of the long queue, some had even left the station completely. Yet more tears, confusion, and calls to loved ones were made, people thought they’d have to stay in Paris for another day. The group grew angry complaining to the staff members who they there. Their response was the 'the train was at 09:10 so you should have been here for that time’, but they weren’t in the queue, they didn’t know that we were powerless as to what time we made it onto the platform. We gave them our names and waited by the doors to see what would happen next, the magic of Paris had definitely worn off now and we weren’t looking forward to staying another night.

Soon the 10:30 train arrived and people started boarding, we didn’t expect anything to happen but suddenly, names started being shouted out, names of those who had missed the 09:10 train. We were among the few who sat near the person announcing, many had walked to the other side of the station expecting their names to be called on a tannoy but it was just being shouted out. Many names disclosed fell on deaf ears, but those who were around responded; snatched their temporary tickets, and ran to the platform at full speed. The announcer eventually got to my name, I asked for two tickets and ran down to the train with Hannah. We both got seats in two different coaches but it was fine, we were on our way home at last. Well, we were until an American couple sitting in Hannah’s newly designated seat refused to move resulting in her being kicked off the train.

Understandably the couple probably had a rough previous night and had a family to get back to so their urgency to stay on the train made sense, but it wasn’t fair at the cost of someone else losing their seat. I’m not the arguing type so I had no intention of going up to them and making them move, instead, I walked off the train with my wife giving my seat to someone else who needed to get home. Now we were back to square one, not knowing when we would get out of the French capital, not knowing if we would need to stay another night. We stood on the platform close to a young woman wasn’t able to get a seat, looking for assistance, waiting for someone to tell us what to do, we were three of 27. The manager of the train came up to us and told us there were no more seats available at all, Hannah began to communicate in her best French saying it was her birthday and she really wanted to get home. He spoke to someone on his walkie then told us there were two seats available in business class, it was between the two of us, and one girl, I didn’t know what to do. On one hand, we would get home on time, on the other, this girl won’t get home on time or at all today. Hannah, however, knew exactly what to do. She burst out into tears and told the conductor how her birthday had been destroyed by what had happened the night before and this morning. He hesitated, but in the end, let us get on the train, I would have been surprised if he didn’t after that.

Aside from the debacle with the Eurostar, we had a fun time in Paris, seeing all the attractions we did, and eating all the great food. We wouldn’t go back there in a hurry but I’m super thankful we were safe whilst there and had safe travels overall. I’m grateful for the fact we had the finances for a trip like this and I’m super thankful to my lovely wife who agreed to spend the day before her birthday in a foreign country with me.

Ollie