The Irish Sea: Passing through England

 At 9:30AM we were set to leave the Lille-Europe on the Eurostar Line. That is the one that connects London and Paris via the Chanel Tunnel known better as the "Chunnel".  We were ready, but the train was not.  Arriving from Brussels there was a delay.  Ordinarily not a problem but today we had a very tight schedule changing trains in London where we arrived at St. Pancras International Station and were to leave for Liverpool from another station, Euston Station.  They are a little over a half a mile apart and through unfamiliar territory.  The Eurostar's delay was due to personnel problems.  I can't help but wonder if it is not related to the sporadic rail strikes that are occurring all over Europe.  At any rate, we went through the Chunnel exactly 20 minutes later than planned.  Cutting the transfer time down from 70 minutes to 50 minutes.  Arriving in London, we immediately went to the taxi stand where we found a huge line of taxi riders and no line of taxis.  It was one of those moments when nothing need be said.  Sandy and I made eye contact and immediately started hot footing it to Euston Station.  We made it with time to spare.  The good news was that British First Class Rail Travel really is first class, along the lines of airlines.  We have been traveling by rail for the last 5 weeks on Eurail First Class.  The British trains stand apart from the others. 

The Lille-Europe, Eurostar Station from our hotel room

Standing in the queue for our train to London

Today's Travels

Waiting for our platform to be called at Euston Station

That's our train, Liverpool Lime Street

Sandy enjoying her Teriyaki Noodles on the train.

England from the train window

England from the train window

England from the train window

We arrived in Liverpool in a cold, driving rain.  This limited any site seeing to the area around the train station which is essentially the center of town.  Even though I had hoped to do more, I was glad to get to see some of Liverpool's public buildings and statues.  Liverpool is very much a work-a-day town and you can see it in the buildings and neighborhoods. 

The Liverpool Lime Street Station

Queen Victoria

Lastly we grabbed a cab to take us to the Stena Terminal where we had reserved a cabin on the Ferry to Northern Ireland. Tonight we are to sleep on the Irish Sea.

Sailing away from the busy port of Liverpool