Intrepid ET reporter Jonny Muir proves it's now possible to enjoy breakfast in Peterborough and lunch in Paris thanks to a new high-speed rail link.

He was among the first people in the country to use the new service from London's St Pancras station launched yesterday (November 14).
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A little more than four hours after rolling away from a gloomy Peterborough, I was strolling along the chestnut tree-lined boulevard of the Champs-Élysées, humming La Marseillaise.

Yesterday, following the completion of a 68-mile high speed railway link between London and the Channel Tunnel, Paris, the world's most glamorous city – along with a swathe of Western Europe – moved a giant step closer to Peterborough.

For the first time, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Moulin Rouge and Notre Dame – romantic names that once seemed so distant – are literally on our doorstep.

After a 50-minute rail journey between Peterborough and London King's Cross, I was one of the privileged few to travel on the first commercial train – Eurostar 9024 – to carry passengers on the high speed line to Paris.

The re-christened St Pancras International, a short walk from the front doors of King's Cross, is the new home of Eurostar, succeeding Waterloo International 13 years to the day continental services began from the south Thames station.

But even a three-year, £825 million refurbishment couldn't mask the organised chaos behind the station's Victorian Gothic facade.

Beneath Paul Day's nine-metre bronze statue of intertwined lovers, there was a scrum of journalists, campaigning cyclists, armies of schoolchildren, gesticulating station staff and Greenpeace protestors, while the hectic din was punctuated by occasional outbursts of applause.

Among the mutterings of the throng, three words were repeated over and over, summing up the day: strikes, champagne and, most poignantly, historic.

Above the melee, rather like the string quartet on board the Titanic, the London Symphony Orchestra played on.

As the 12.30pm service pulled clear of platform five, dozens of cheery drinkers quaffing from glass flutes at Europe's longest champagne bar turned to wave at the departing train.

Never had I witnessed such buzzing excitement at a train station, places that are ordinarily bastions of frustration and misery.

The golden ticket holders were a diverse bunch, from a plethora of journalists who would capture the day in words and pictures, to those who wanted to say "I was there", while one of the passengers, Cornishman John Harper (76), wanted to complete a treasured double. He travelled on the first Eurostar service out of Waterloo International in 1994.

Within 35 minutes, the 400-metre long train was under the waters of the English Channel, flying along at 186mph, a speed maintained across the Fens look-a-like countryside of northern France.

The train was late arriving into Gare du Nord – only by four or five minutes – but late nevertheless. No one was grumbling though, even the most cynical of train travellers. After a 294-mile journey – the first of thousands – Eurostar could be forgiven.

On the French side, there was none of the English pomp or razzmatazz, just a crowd of cheering train drivers and a moody customs official.

However, the French capital's transport workers had rolled out their own brand of the red carpet – gridlock.

Helpfully, the workers chose the first day of the new Eurostar service to go on strike over pension demands, meaning no service on the Metro, the Paris equivalent of the Underground, and a city clogged with cars and cyclists.

When in Paris, do as the Parisians, so I wandered down Rue de Dunkerque, where I stepped inside the simply named Paris Nord Café and ordered escargots de Bourgogne. Or for the non-French speaker – Burgundy snails. A steaming plate of them. Bon appetit.

Half a dozen arrived, still in their shells, and thankfully dead. Coated in a green sludge, they resembled shrivelled mushrooms, with a salty, rubbery taste, similar to something I might have found washed up on the beach at Hunstanton.

Snail-powered, I set off on foot, first to the Place de la Concorde, and then south west along the Champs-Élysées towards the Arc de Triomphe.

Soon after, at a time when I would typically be battling with traffic on my bicycle in London Road, I watched a red sun set behind the Eiffel Tower.

As darkness descended on Paris, I retraced my steps along the Champs-Élysées, walking slowly to allow my senses to soak up the Paris night: the aroma of roast chestnuts, the glowing lure of the road-side restaurants, the stream of beautiful women, the Eiffel Tower's twinkling lights and the tooting horns of a noisy metropolis.

In a flash of time I was home, in the back of a black cab bound for Old Fletton, the memory of Paris a blur of bright lights and snail shells.

Such is life in our globalised fast-forward world. For £77, a hassle-free return trip to Paris, Brussels and beyond is no longer inconceivable to Peterborough's citizens.

And when mulling over the options for a long weekend or a day-trip, Paris will quite rightfully be mentioned in the same breath as the heady attractions of Ely, Mablethorpe or the Peak District.

Travelling to Paris from just £77

THERE are now 13 daily connections to Paris and seven to the Belgian capital, Brussels, from Peterborough. Shortest journey times are four hours, and three hours and 40 minutes, respectively.

Standard class return fares to both destinations start at £77.

Passengers will be able to purchase through tickets to Calais, Lille, Disneyland Paris and 75 other Eurostar destinations in France, including the Alps and Provence.

A new 68-mile stretch between King's Cross and the mouth of the Channel Tunnel at Folkestone, known as High Speed 1, was completed at a cost of £5.8 billion to British taxpayers.

Before its completion, trains on the English side could only travel at a maximum speed of 87mph, compared to the new limit of 186mph.

According to Eurostar, travelling by train, rather than by air, releases 10 times less carbon dioxide emissions. The operator has pledged to further reduce its emissions by 25 per cent by 2012.

Eurostar began direct services between Waterloo International and Paris Gare du Nord on November 14, 1994, when the journey took two hours and 55 minutes.

In 2003, journey times were slashed by 20 minutes when the first section of High Speed 1, between the Channel Tunnel and the Fawkham junction in north Kent, was opened.

Eurostar operations to and from Waterloo International ceased on Tuesday.

Although the quickest journey to Paris will now be two hours and 15 minutes, the record is two hours and three minutes.

From Monday, Eurostar services will stop at a new station named Ebbsfleet International, 10 minutes from King's Cross.

For more information or to book tickets, call GNER telesales on 08457 225225, or Eurostar's contact centre on 08705 186186.