Day 8 Sat 22nd June London to Amsterdam

Our final morning at the wonderful Pullman London St Pancras. We had another unbelievable breakfast with Murray & Lorraine.  We were sad to say goodbye to the amazing staff, especially in the Dining Room as they  treated us like family. We walked to St Pancras International station, went through customs and security and boarded the Eurostar.  It took about 1½ hours to get from London to Brussels.  The weather was terrible so a good day for travelling. Going through the tunnels at high speed is a weird experience.  On entering and leaving each tunnel our ears really played up for a few seconds.
We arrived at Brussels and had an interesting time trying to find out way around the huge station to the platform for our next fast train (Thalys) to Amsterdam. We had a 2 hour wait.  It cost 50 euro cents to use the toilet at the station!!!
Once on board the Thalys it took us no time to get to Amsterdam.  The high speed trains are amazing.  We were just whizzing past cars on freeway.  It was whisper quiet and smooth and the seats very comfortable.  Some of the photos today are taken out the window at speeds of up to 300 kph !!!  I LOVE my Lumix camera.
Arrived in Amsterdam about 4 pm and after asking directions to the hotel we walked through crowds and rain lugging suitcases!!  It wasn't worth getting a taxi as we were told they would rip us off and it wan't far enough to get one.
We all had a quiet tea in a nearby cafe( the hotel has no restaurant) and early to bed. Tomorrow at 4 pm we board  The Avalon Artistry II for our first river cruise

Eurostar at St Pancras Station

Eurostar route

boarding

seats on the Eurostar

Breakfast on the eurostar

Thalys route Brussels to Amsterdam

Thalys fast train

Thalys seats

Taken at nearly 300 kph 

wind turbines at 300 kph

an absolute fluke that I got this one (300 kph)

a lovely photo of Lorraine at Tower of London