London/Paris trip, 4Jan - Eurostar to Paris

Had to be out of the hotel by 10am, so we left and puttered around St. Pancras, bought lunch for myself (kalmata olives, small sausages, cheese and beer, see the pic), Noreen got soup and something else and then checked in for our train ride to Paris. There was security (like pre-9/11 airport security), a bored Frenchman stamping passports and we waited for our train. I converted what £ I had left into Euros. The Eurostar was just a bullet train, nothing fancy. We got to Gare du Nord and started to walk to our hotel, but eventually gave up and grabbed a taxi. This was a very good idea since our hotel was uphill. Our hotel was in the Pigalle area of Paris, where the red light district used to be (it used to be called Pig Alley by the Allied troops during WW2) and this turned out to be a very good location. The hotel was small, no elevator, but fortunately, our room was only up one flight of the tight, winding staircase. The dinner plan was to meet the Arsenal France guys at a sports bar to watch an Arsenal match, so we took a cab to the bar, but they weren't there. The bartender suggested another bar, so we walked there, they were closed, so we kept going and found a sort-of English pub that had the match on and there were a couple of Arsenal supporters watching the match. Noreen was still feeling yucky, so I ate my burger, drank my beers and we went back to the hotel.