We got out of the taxi and I had our tickets printed in one hand and my passport in the other. We walked in and scanned our tickets at the podium and continued on through the gates. After security, we had passport control. I handed the agent my passport and he didn't even say anything to me. He looked at me and stamped my passport. We continued to the small cafe in the station to get a sandwich for breakfast. Next, it was up the long escalator and to our train. We walked to our coach, number 14, and found our seats. We sat down and before we knew it, we were whisked out of the station and were travelling at a speed near 200 miles per hour under the English Channel and into the city of Paris.
After arriving at Paris Gare Du Nord station around 8:00, we looked for the exit because we wanted to get out in the city as quickly as possible. Even something as easy as this was hard because they were all in French. None of the signs even had an English translation. We decided to follow the crowd but were nervous that the whole city was going to be like this. Outside of the station, we saw a sign for our bus tour. We quickly boarded our bus and were on our way to the center of the city. We were slowly making our way through the rush hour traffic which is terrifying. Nobody gives anyone on the road the right of way! I was shocked to see how many close calls there were in the short time I had been there. We continued to all of the destinations everyone must see while in Paris. These included the Louvre museum (which was closed), Notre Dame Cathedral, and the Eiffel Tour.
My favorite stop was the Eiffel Tour. We climbed the stairs up to the first observation deck which is pretty high. However, I wanted to keep going all the way to the summit. I continued climbing up the stairs until I reached the top. I felt like I was on top of the world (literally) and took in the panoramic view of the city. After returning to sea level, we walked through the gardens and headed for Champs de Elysees.
We walked down the famous street and found a cafe to eat at. After our meal, we took the Metro back to Paris Gare du Nord station. We had to be back at 7:30 PM to catch our train back to London and wanted to leave ourselves plenty of time to check in and clear customs. Once on the train, I immediately fell asleep. We walked about 8.5 miles and I couldn't feel my feet. I awoke to the announcement that said we had arrived back in London.