St Pancras.....good or bad?

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vbc

Guest
Location
Bristol
So just before the first Eurostar train leaves St Pancras, is it money well spent?

The station now looks drop dead gorgeous on the TV, much better than my last visit in 1971 (I think) on a special school train for a trip to the Tutankhamen exhibition. Think I might take a trip down just to have a look around and an overnight trip to Venice is very tempting also.

However, it seems that cycle access is sub standard, which is a shame, Ken Livingston should have seen that one coming.
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
It's always been a superb building to look at from the outside...I'm glad that something like that has been preserved. Haven't seen the inside yet (may be down that way in Dec though), but one thing bugs me...the longest champagne bar in Europe? Well whoop-di-f*ckin'-doo. It's only the Brits who drink the stuff anyway, and most of that gets chucked down the sink after corporate do's, and what the hell are they trying to say to the average person who might just consider going by train to Yoorp rather than hopping on a queasyjet....ooh, it gets me riled, it does!
 

wafflycat

New Member
I'm off to the new St. Pancras in the near future. Not taking bicycle - on this occasion the bike doesn't figure in the journey. I am an 'average person' and for the journey I'll be making, going Eurostar compares well in terms of time and cost (and comfort as far as I can pre-judge the train option) as compared to flying cattle-truck airways. I've flown cattle-truck airways in the past and I've *never* found it an enjoyable experience. Indeed so much so, I prefer going to mainland Europe by car/ferry as opposed to flying, especially if I'm taking the bikes, as they go on the bike carrier on the back of the car. The forthcoming Eurostar journey will be the first all-train one and I'm looking forward to it.
 

Paulus

Started young, and still going.
Location
Barnet,
St. Pancras is a lovely station. The architecture is superb and the fortune that has been spent on it has been worth it imho. It is a shame that the teminal at Waterloo will not be used as was originally planned, as a secondry teminal, but SWT will eventually get it back. The Eurostar teminal was built on what was known as the Windsor side, as the trains for Windsor, Reading and Hounslow used to depart from what was almost a separate station. It was demolished to make way for the high speed link.
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
I like the idea of the train journey waffly, it's just the cham[pagne bar I don't get.... now the world's longest cycle rack I could understand, but....
 

wafflycat

New Member
There's a pub there as well, Fnarr, so you wouldn't be denied your pint :blush:

I adore the idea of the champagne bar. I shall be visiting it and sampling its wares if it's got anything to do with me. There's something *romantic* about a long train journey and champagne figures in that! And there's going to be *lots* of romance in my train journey. My other half & I will be the older couple snogging & sipping champagne :tongue:
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
wafflycat said:
There's a pub there as well, Fnarr, so you wouldn't be denied your pint :blush:

I adore the idea of the champagne bar. I shall be visiting it and sampling its wares if it's got anything to do with me. There's something *romantic* about a long train journey and champagne figures in that! And there's going to be *lots* of romance in my train journey. My other half & I will be the older couple snogging & sipping champagne :tongue:
But the champagne thing is only a british thing...even the french think chamapagne is overrated...they just get precious about it so their farmers can riot. :biggrin:
 

Pete

Guest
For those thinking of a trip on the Eurostar today, well, they might get as far as Gare du Nord and no further... Never mind, I'm sure camping out at GdN must be a whole lot of fun, and IIRC, we found quite a decent café on the concourse, last time we were there. Enjoy yourselves!
 

Pete

Guest
wafflycat said:
of course champagne is a British-thing, as we invented it despite what the French would have you believe :blush:
It is true, is it not, that "champagne" [the drink] must always be pronounced "sham-pain"? Never "sharm-pann-yuh" which would be grotesque :tongue:.
 

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
laurence said:
i feel sorry for people arriving by Eurostar now - before you'd see the houses of parliament and the eye... now what? still, they will be arriving at the entrance to Valhalla (douglas adams fans)

Well, they can see how well Britain welcomes asylum seekers, and just how possible it is to thrive in London as a panhandler or prostitute! And how comfortable the streets of Kings X are for sleeping on or pissing on. And you can play 'dodge the drug dealer'.
 
Fnaar said:
Well, they can see how well Britain welcomes asylum seekers, and just how possible it is to thrive in London as a panhandler or prostitute! And how comfortable the streets of Kings X are for sleeping on or pissing on. And you can play 'dodge the drug dealer'.

this is true. there is always the british library to seek refuge in, or, better still, the nature reserve just around the corner.
 
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