After a long day of trains we were glad to find our hotel again lying right next to the station in Rennes. We stayed at hotels rather than hostels right through France in the end. We found hostels were either lacking in numbers or overpriced to the point that we could stay in one of the cheap Accor hotels (Ibis or Etap) for the same or less, Accor being French and having bucketloads of options in each place.Looking opposite to our hotel, Barry´s smile soon wide...

Reims, the biggest town of the champagne region in France, took us a bit by surprise. Expecting a rustic old town surrounded by vineyards, it actually reminded us of many typical country Victorian or Australian towns in its size and atmosphere. The backstreets of three or four story apartment buldings were typically French, as were the randomly placed monuments and statues.While not particularly impressive for any one reason, it obivously is home to about a doz...

After a short train ride we had reached Paris for a three night stop. Thinking we might be up against it for time in a city that pretty much everyone raves about, we were quick to go for a walk around a few of the common touristic haunts. Our accommodation was in the Madeleine area, from which we headed over through the grounds around the Louvre, then down to the Seine River and across to Place de Concorde.Already noticing the much higher prices for a feed afte...