Happy birthday, Eurostar!!! I *heart* you!!!

Can you believe it? The Eurostar turns 15 this weekend! :D To celebrate, the powers that be are throwing a birthday party of sorts and it's possible to win tickets to it - just go to this website here. It feels like yesterday that I was watching the two tunnels meet under the channel when the French and British workers shook each others' hands. I also remember when the French kicked up a fuss about it being called *The Chunnel* because they felt it didn't adequately reflect the French bit. Hehehe. Incidentally, the French name is Le tunnel sous la Manche (the tunnel under the Channel). Even as a Francophone, that's not very catchy.

When I was planning my first trip around Euroland, I was adamant that I HAD to travel from Paris to London via The Chunnel. Some people were all *Eh? But you can get a plane ticket from Paris to London for like a pound.* Maybe so. But that doesn't take into consideration the time and ticket costs required to take to get from various budget airports! Why do that when I could get from the centre of each city in less than 3 hours?! In fact, its just over 2 hours now that it's moved from Waterloo to St. Pancras!

Checkin' out Gare du Nord in Dec 04.
Wow, look at all that crap I'm bringing. Wouldn't have been able to take that as hand luggage on a plane!

I remember being all :D when you felt the train kick in and go fastfasterfaster! and then my ears popping as we went under the Channel! WooOOooooOOoo! Seriously, oh so cool. When the Great European Adventure 2007 kicked off in ...er...2007, Lydia, Pooey and I did it all again - centre of London to centre of Paris. It was so sweet, I could barely contain my excitement while I was on the choo-choo!

So excited, I had to hide it from the others...

before showing it to the world!
Pooey didn't understand my excitement at the time.

At the end of 2007, the London terminal moved from Waterloo to a new and sparkly one at Kings Cross/St Pancras. Unforch, I didn't take any pics of the station (dammit) because I was stressed out at how long it was taking me to get a cab from OKR and then worried about the crappy London traffic. So stressed that when I got to the station, I checked in right away. Foolish me. But the ride was worry-free (as usual!) and I revelled in the sing-song bilingual trip.

But I'm not the only one filled with love for the Eurostar! Pooey soon understood my love when she took it to meet me in 2008 and again then she went and infected Fen-Fen with the love when they went to Paris this past October (without me. *sniff*).

You've certainly brightened up our lives, Eurostar. Happy FIFTEENTH birthday!!! xoxo