We took the high speed Eurostar passenger train from London St. Pancras and crossed the British channel to reach Paris on 25 August 2014. The idea of crossing the Channel Tunnel has long been at the back of my mind. As an engineer, I could appreciate the engineering complexity of building a tunnel under the sea. The Channel Tunnel at 50.5 Km long is only second to the Japanese Seikan Tunnel at 53.85 Km. There are two 25 ft diameter rail tunnels, 98 ft apart and with a 16 ft diameter service tunnel in between.
Like all great cities which are situated by a river, lake or sea front, Paris' magnificence and beauty is accentuated by River Seine. A river cruise along Seine allowed us to learn the history and appreciate the majesty of this great city quickly.
Even at slow cruising speed, it was still too fast to really appreciate the design of the many bridges and the splendid architecture and facade of the buildings by the banks. On the bridges, we were told that there are 37 of them with the oldest at 430 years old and the newest just 20 years.
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| River Cruise. |
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| This massive amount of locks left at the bridge side rail add another couple of tons of load to the bridge structure! |
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One of the most prominent sights in Paris was the Eiffel Tower. It was practically visible from every corner of Paris.
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