To Paris & 5kg jars of Nutella!

Another rainy day! Thank goodness it was spent on a high speed (up to 300 km/hr) and comfortable train heading to Paris through beautifully green and tidy rolling hills with fantastic villages and houses tucked into hillsides and valleys everywhere.

It was a chance to look over our travel plans and decide what we may do over the next three days. We are really looking forward to catching up with Theo and his family on Saturday. Theo's father has kindly offered to pick us up from Paris on Saturday morning and take us to their home in St Quentin, about one-and-a-half hours north of Paris.We will then be able to stay for Theo's 18th birthday party with all his friends and family and no doubt enjoying the local champagne! They will then take us to the airport the next morning to fly home.

Arrived at the station and had to queue for a taxi which was longer than the taxi ride. The apartment is someone's own and she took great pleasure in showing us everything about it and where things are including a tour of the local area.

Strolled around the local area including taking in outside views of  Notre Dame but cloudy skies made it difficult to photograph.

Also went on the Metro system to two large shopping complexes - Lafayette's and Printemps. Not that impressed with some parts as they have a lot of selection of different brands but very little stock on offer from any of them.The glass dome of Lafayette's is impressive.

We found the local shops had great stock so there is no need for the big shopping complexes! Tomorrow promises to be very busy and we can see tired feet coming up!

Oh yes - and the Nutella!