The chunnel is kewl

I've been in London since early October and have not had a chance yet to see almost anything outside of London. I did mange day trips to Manchester for a football game, York for a meeting and Kent for some understanding of the sites - but nothing really outside of London. Most of this has been due to the lack of time given I spend a lot of time traveling to/from New York (next trip is this coming weekend).

So this last weekend when I found myself with nothing to decided to take the train from London to Paris just for the day. Left at 620am, got to Paris around 930, wandered around, caught the 615p train back and got back to my flat in London at 8pm ish. ±2:30 train ride, no airport hassles.

Wandered around the Louvre. As in the past I find it just too big to deal with - I think you have to live in Paris to get much out of the place. Waaaay too many great things to see, way too little time. Found the same true in New York, was better to just do a couple of halls and then flee the museums and come back another day. Did wander to the Mona Lisa - though you can barely see the darn thing. First too many crowds; Second it's too small to see from 10+ feet away where the barrier is. I do not know what the optimal viewing distance for that painting might be, but it is certainly closer than 10 feet.

On the flip side one of the better museums is the Musée de l'Orangerie and I do not know how many people bother to visit it. If you find yourself in Paris make a point of seeing it.

Spent the rest of the day just wandering around.

From an engineering point of view though going through the chunnel was cool. Apx 20 minutes travel time for the 20 odd miles under ground. The English Channel kept Britain at protected/bay for hundreds of years of military history, but now you can get from London to Paris in a few hours with out getting your feet wet.

We forget how things change and how much easier it is. Though I'll still complain when my flights are delayed even though I'll be sitting, mostly, comfortably in a seat in the sky.