Paris in the Spring

We nipped off for a weekend with friends again ....

We travelled down to London by coach and then across to St Pancras station to catch Eurostar to Paris. 
Once we had managed to fight our way through the rush hour on the tube, we arrived inside the main hall. 
 The main entrance to the Eurostar terminal is on the ground floor and there are plenty of shops and eateries, so we stopped for coffee and cake!
There was a change this time .... armed Police.  I still find it so unnerving to see our police .... armed.  It's not quite right somehow and yet seeing their presence does make one feel safer.
We moved down the hall to the ticket office and customs area, where PJ had a problem with his ticket.  The Eurostar lady explained that we were too early for our train but if we wanted to go on the next one she would arrange new tickets for us!  
Did this bode well for us?  An extra hour in Paris!!  Yes!!
Soon we were through the customs area and waiting for our train.  An American family were seating opposite us, each one tapping away on their mobile phones .... what happened to talking to one another?!!?
We rode the escalator up to the train and there she was.... waiting for us....... such a darn long train ..... and our coach always seems to be at the other end!  lol
The train was not too full, so there was a gentle hum of conversation as we left the station.
It seemed that in no time at all we were arriving at Gare de Nord in Paris.... where we walked out into the Paris sunshine ... not!   
We had to go get our tickets for the Metro and then find our hotel where our travel tickets and a whole weekend of shopping, eating, chatting with friends, was waiting for us.