I will be posting in the following parts
Part 1 - York - paris
Part 2 - Paris to Italy
Part 3 - Italy
Part 4 - Italy - Strasbourg
Part 5 - Strasbourg - York
During the Summer, I took a trip from York to Italy (Lake Garda) by rail, here is how it went.....
Day 1 - York to Stevenage
The 16:01 East Coast from York to London Kings Cross was the first journey in this trek. In the hands of 43300 "Craigentinny" and 43306, the train was packed from the start. Owing to this service being an all stopper, it was full of people travelling to the intermediate stations between York and the Capital. Interestingly, 5 minutes before this departs York, there is a non stop service straight through to Kings Cross, how I wish I was on that but Stevenage is my destination this afternoon.
The journey passes by smoothly, I noted 67026 "Diamond Jubilee" in Doncaster West Yard as well as 2 U.I.D DBS Class 60's in Decoy (I'm pretty sure one was 60091 but could not be certain). 20 minutes late on arrival into Stevenage due to signalling problems between Grantham and Newark North Gate was no worry to us as we had no further connections to catch.
That night we were booked into a Premier Inn, ready for the next two days ahead.
Day 2 - Stevenage - Paris
In the morning, I had a McMuffin in a mucky Mc Donalds in Stevenage, and in the evening I was having a burger on the Champs-Élysées.
The first journey in the day was in the hands 365540 on the 09:50 to London Kings Cross. the train was running 7 minutes late upon arrival at Stevenage (what the train had been building up since Cambridge) but made up time slightly on the way to Kings Cross where Finsbury Park was the only stop to be had. Numerous 313's and other FCC stock were seen at Hornsey Depot as well as GBRf 66722 in Metronet livery. A 377 was also seen, this was the first time I had seen one on the ECML side of FCC's operations.
Forgetting to look on arrival, I walked to the north end of Platform 7 but no thunderbird was in so after that, we made the short walk across to St Pancras, buying snacks for the journey ahead. In the Eurostar platforms on arrival, I saw my train being prepared, the 12:25 9O24 London St Pancras - Paris Gare du Nord in the hands of 373021. The train had already come in from Brussels in the morning and would go back to London and back to Paris again in the evening, how many miles is that?
This was my first time on Eurostar and the experience was mixed. The trains are definitely in need of a refurbishment, they were un clean and certainly seemed out of date. However, the journey was smooth and on time all the way. It was a shame the French anthem wasn't played once we were out of the tunnel, would have made the trip (maybe they should start doing this...)
That night we would be staying in the Mercure hotel next to Gare de Lyon. We reached there via a coach transfer then headed straight back out to explore the wonderful sights of Paris. We took Metro Line 1 to Franklin D. Roosevelt before transferring to Line 9 to take us one stop to Alma - Marceau. From there, we took a river cruise along the beautiful River Seine on this fine summers evening. We passes sights such as the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. As we disembarked, evening was turning into night so we made our way for some food.
Having tea on the Champs-Élysées was one of life's highlights.
Taking the same route back to Gare de Lyon, it was straight to sleep, well.. not really. The lightning was worse than I have ever witnessed it in my life before, except for that, I could not fault the hotel.
Part 2 coming up shortly...!
Part 1 - York - paris
Part 2 - Paris to Italy
Part 3 - Italy
Part 4 - Italy - Strasbourg
Part 5 - Strasbourg - York
During the Summer, I took a trip from York to Italy (Lake Garda) by rail, here is how it went.....
Day 1 - York to Stevenage
The 16:01 East Coast from York to London Kings Cross was the first journey in this trek. In the hands of 43300 "Craigentinny" and 43306, the train was packed from the start. Owing to this service being an all stopper, it was full of people travelling to the intermediate stations between York and the Capital. Interestingly, 5 minutes before this departs York, there is a non stop service straight through to Kings Cross, how I wish I was on that but Stevenage is my destination this afternoon.
The journey passes by smoothly, I noted 67026 "Diamond Jubilee" in Doncaster West Yard as well as 2 U.I.D DBS Class 60's in Decoy (I'm pretty sure one was 60091 but could not be certain). 20 minutes late on arrival into Stevenage due to signalling problems between Grantham and Newark North Gate was no worry to us as we had no further connections to catch.
That night we were booked into a Premier Inn, ready for the next two days ahead.
Day 2 - Stevenage - Paris
In the morning, I had a McMuffin in a mucky Mc Donalds in Stevenage, and in the evening I was having a burger on the Champs-Élysées.
The first journey in the day was in the hands 365540 on the 09:50 to London Kings Cross. the train was running 7 minutes late upon arrival at Stevenage (what the train had been building up since Cambridge) but made up time slightly on the way to Kings Cross where Finsbury Park was the only stop to be had. Numerous 313's and other FCC stock were seen at Hornsey Depot as well as GBRf 66722 in Metronet livery. A 377 was also seen, this was the first time I had seen one on the ECML side of FCC's operations.
Forgetting to look on arrival, I walked to the north end of Platform 7 but no thunderbird was in so after that, we made the short walk across to St Pancras, buying snacks for the journey ahead. In the Eurostar platforms on arrival, I saw my train being prepared, the 12:25 9O24 London St Pancras - Paris Gare du Nord in the hands of 373021. The train had already come in from Brussels in the morning and would go back to London and back to Paris again in the evening, how many miles is that?
This was my first time on Eurostar and the experience was mixed. The trains are definitely in need of a refurbishment, they were un clean and certainly seemed out of date. However, the journey was smooth and on time all the way. It was a shame the French anthem wasn't played once we were out of the tunnel, would have made the trip (maybe they should start doing this...)
That night we would be staying in the Mercure hotel next to Gare de Lyon. We reached there via a coach transfer then headed straight back out to explore the wonderful sights of Paris. We took Metro Line 1 to Franklin D. Roosevelt before transferring to Line 9 to take us one stop to Alma - Marceau. From there, we took a river cruise along the beautiful River Seine on this fine summers evening. We passes sights such as the Notre Dame, Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. As we disembarked, evening was turning into night so we made our way for some food.
Having tea on the Champs-Élysées was one of life's highlights.
Taking the same route back to Gare de Lyon, it was straight to sleep, well.. not really. The lightning was worse than I have ever witnessed it in my life before, except for that, I could not fault the hotel.
Part 2 coming up shortly...!