Our last day in the Netherlands took us to The Hague to see one of James's old work buddies Bas. It was only an hour away on the train and was so different to Amsterdam - a lot less crowded for a start! We had a lovely day seeing some of the sights like the palace and parliament buildings - of course we sampled some beers too so that we had a completely authentic experience!

On Sunday morning we were up early for our train to Paris, it was only about 3 hours, so we arrived just before lunchtime. The train was lovely - nice big comfy seats, smooth and quiet - none of this Virgin malarkey! Managed to navigate through the metro relatively painlessly and find our little place without too much trouble - we're getting quite good at working out where we are going, we almost feel like pro's! Paris was just a one night stop, so we knew we needed to make the most of it so, after dumping the bags with the new hosts, we headed out on foot to see the sights. We didn't invest in a little map this time, but we knew we needed to head North…8 hours and 12 miles later, we'd seem some of what we set out to see. We did manage to walk all the way up to the top of Monmartre though for a pretty spectacular view across the whole of Paris. As we'd walked so far, we thought we'd brave the walk back rather than getting the metro. In search of something cheap(!) to eat, we wandered for a while near our apartment and happened to stumble across a Mauritian restaurant recommended earlier by our hosts - turned out to be pretty damn good. I (Podge) had also managed to pick up some antihistamines to try and reduce the colossal great big lumps on my legs left by said friendly mosquito in Amsterdam (see previous blog) - all being well, I won't be scarred for life. Shattered after our long stroll, we headed home for bed - which was a pull out sofa in the living room - another new experience to tick off the list!

Feeling refreshed and slightly sore legged, we headed out again to soak up more of Paris before our train to Bordeaux later that day. Armed with some croissants, our next stop was the Eiffel Tower! It was quite a simple walk from there - head north to the Arc de Triomphe, then down the Champs Elysees and back down to meet the river and along to Notre Dame…but no, we ended up heading back away from the river and having a rather long and quick paced walk back to Notre Dame with just enough time for a few quick snaps before we headed back to load up again and find our next train.

Having been walking around for much of the day, we'd not really had much to eat, so arrived at Montparnasse station a bit hot, bothered and hungry. Nevertheless, we'd made it for our next part of the journey - TGV to Bordeaux.

And here we are! After 4 hours whizzing through France accompanied in the carriage by a rather noisy small person and a couple of awfully whiffy locals, we arrived safe and sound. Navigated another new tram system and made it to our little apartment - home for the next 3 nights. Finally, a bit of a chance to relax and decamp slightly. Tomorrow we head for an explore around Bordeaux, Wednesday we'll venture up to Saint Emillion for a potter and some lunch…. Then Thursday to Spain.

Can't believe we've been away for 2 weeks already, time has flown by…hope you're all well.

Lots of love

xx