Paris

My astoundingly profound (or not) insight of the last 24hrs is that many train stations in Ireland north & south could do with upping their game. I came into London Euston yesterday, walked over to St Pancras International to scope out the Eurostar departures then nipped briefly into King’s Cross station to pay homage at the Harry Potter shop. Unfortunately security didn’t allow me into the shop with my 2 rucksacks so I contented myself with marvelling at the substantial queue of Potterheads waiting their turn to pose for a photo at Platform 9 and three quarters. I went in search of dinner instead. Anyway, the likes of St Pancras (pic below) & King’s Cross bring a sense of grandeur to train travel. At the very least Lanyon Place could get a piano - there was a young man in St Pancras belting out an energetic repertoire as I pondered my meal choices & he was still going strong when I returned from an impulsive decision to have a chicken burger purely because I was in the notion for some chips. I think the last time I had a takeaway burger & chip was in the noughties, although back then I don’t think gourmet takeaway burgers were a thing in Belfast and certainly not a katsu chicken burger. The word ‘gourmet’ is clearly a powerful one because the price tag for yesterday’s indulgence nearly gave me a hernia.

Onto Paris, arriving in Gare du Nord last night & this afternoon leaving from Gare du Lyon. The snap below of Gare du Lyon doesn’t do it justice but the façade is certainly impressive.

This morning, as my hostel was just a hop, skip and 200-odd steps from Sacre-Coeur I made my way there. The last time I was at Sacre Coeur was as a student in the late 90s and in wintertime so it was nice to be there on a warm sunny day. I enjoyed being an aimless tourist wandering around Montmartre to soak up some Paris vibes.

Right now I’m on the train to Barcelona, it’s a double decker & the journey is meant to take about 6.5 hours though we’ve had a significant delay because of an issue on the tracks. My seat mate initially (the air conditioning broke down in our carriage and we had a game of musical chairs without the music) was from Holland & had been an au pair in Cobh about 50 years ago so we had a nice chat. She thought I’m completely mad with my long train adventure to Santiago de Compostela for a weekend. I dare say she’s probably right.