A few days ago I arrived at St. Pancras International rail station full of excitement to board onto the Eurostar to Paris, I'd been invited along as part of a press trip so met with a group of six others before we set off after initially living it up in the business class lounge. Our final destination was Basel in Switzerland but as Paris was the transfer point we were given an afternoon to make the most of being there. The comfort and luxury of travelling Eurostar by business class is so relaxing that it doesn't actually feel as if you are travelling at all, it was the perfect way to de-stress after catching a 5.50am national rail train earlier on in the morning. Once we had arrived in Paris we were surprised with a line up of 2CV cars waiting to take us on a half hour tour of the city, if you are taking a trip to Paris you really must consider a ride in one of these, it was so much fun! Not to mention the rather yummy driver that we had. On the website they offer lots of different types of trips but my advice would be to go for the 1.30hr tour around Paris which costs around £140 for two people.
Our 2CV cars all pulled up to the Arab Institute for us to go and take a look at the Orient Express exhibition, I've always been intrigued by the luxury and decadence of the Orient Express so was excited to get to have a look at exactly what it would have been like back in it's day. The exhibition included some original posters and dinnerware within the Arab Institute itself along with lots of information on the history and routes of the train, outside was a restored version of the original carriages to go in and explore.
Continuing with our afternoon in Paris we were treated to a bite to eat on the top floor of the Arab Institute which gave incredible views of the city, as our time in Paris was short yet sweet it was great to have an overview look of the city before heading off to Basel.
Shortly after our lunch we were picked back up by the gang of CV2s once again and set off for Paris-Gare de Lyon station to board the TGV to Basel, luckily our train was ever so slightly delayed so I had the chance to run into a pharmacy to pick up some skincare products. A beauty blogger's got to do what a beauty blogger's got to do.
Fares from London to Paris start at just £69 standard class return per person with voyages-snfc.com.
I will tell you all about my adventures in Basel tomorrow..
