Yes get your maps out and just see how far we travelled in two days or really it was in about 26 hours and you will all see that we truly are AMAZING TRAVELLERS toot toot. We are actually not that amazing but here is the story anyhow.
We left Oakley after the 50th Wedding Anniversary of the year with Maureen and Joe and headed into Oxford to drop the car off and catch the train to London. Of course we ended up heading back into Oxford a different way to normal which not only freaked us out a little but gave us a chance to see a different side of Oxford. It was not however the "Houso's" side that I got to see back in 2006 thank goodness but a side of grand houses and wide streets, very nice indeed. We followed the train signs all the way to the station where Tara dropped me off with the bags and she continued to Avis to deposit the car. No sooner than he had left she was back after running back to the station. Great effort that as it allowed us to catch the earlier train and thus ease the time pressures that could arise in London. Job done Tara great work.
The train trip was easy we just sat in seats and let the train do the rest. We ate a yummy roll and headed into Paddington Station. We needed to get to St Pancras so a quick trip on tube sorted that out and soon enough we were in the departure lounge for the EuroStar trip to Paris. Funny feeling in there as it felt a bit like everyone was waiting for an EasyJet flight even when everyone has their own seats, weird. Why people race off to get to the train first and get off the train first will always confuse us but hey that is just how it is right? The EuroStar to be fair is a great service but is starting to look just a tad tired to us. Frayed seats and outdated decore makes you feel like you are on the 60 bus route back home but then again where else can you get to another country for so cheap? Righto stop complaining now.
Arriving in Paris we had to obtain Metro tickets and unlike in London where we had the use of Mark and Jayne's Oyster cards (thanks so much they were awesome!) we had to buy those little tickets. This is the onle thing that we reckon Paris could fix up but in their defence the tickets are cheap so they are allowed to have something wrong with them. Oh and Tara's big bag had a real struggle to fit through the turnstiles too but she managed, Aussie ingenuity at it's best. A short trip to the Latin Quarter on a busy metro had us walking around a familiar area and feeling pretty good about ourselves too. Hotel du Commerce was our stop and when checking in the lady at the desk made a great song and dance that we were in the "Superior Double Room". Come on lady we only wanted the room with a shower and a toilet!! We checked in, showered up and headed out for a walk and some food.
Being in the Latin Quarter is great as we know our way around, it is close to the Notre Dame and it is really close to Rolfey's favourite restaurant "Le Palais". That place is freaking awesome, cous cous til the cows come home and big beers, ooh we love you Affligem. So much food and such a great place we will go there every time that we are in Paris. A photo was taken outside of this place to prove it's authenticity.
A quick walk down to the Notre Dame saw us watching fire eaters and other nutty stuff afer taking some photos of that lovely church at night. We will never tire of that place. So tired now back to the room for sleeps.
Waking in the morning we headed to the patisserie at the bottom of the road and bought escargot's, not the garden variety but the pastry type and set of to eat in front of the church again. This would be the last time for a few weeks that we would be in Paris and so it seemed like a great place to eat and relax and it was. A quick stroll back to the hotel had us packing our things and Metro-ing it off to Gare du Montparnasse to catch the TGV to Niort a place that neither of us knew anything about but a place that was going to be in the middle of our house hunt of so we thought. It turned out that it wasn't but that is just how things go. The TGV ran on time and very quickly and we disembarked in Niort on a very warm day. It was not long before the walk started to make us sweat and when we got to our B and B we were ready for a rest. Unfortunately that rest came in the form of us sitting outside the door as there was a mix up with time but it all turned out OK even if we did look like hobo's for an hour or so. Alls well that ends well.
So we were in Niort after a great train ride, we do love the TGV especially in first class. Next story will be all about our house hunt and Niort.
Tara and Paul
